 |  |  |  |
Empress Augusta herself liked to rest here! She regularly walked out to Lichtental Monastery. The walks refreshed her body and mind and, in the monastery, she sought dialogue with the abbess there, Sophia Schell!
The emperor knew how much his wife enjoyed resting on the modest estate and purchased it from Gunzenbach farmers for 2,000 guilders. He gave it to Empress Augusta as a token of his love, unaware that this cosy place would become the scene of a crime…
The Prussian ruler Wilhelm I was out for a walk on a beautiful July morning in 1861. He was accompanied by the Prussian envoy Count Flemming. A young man overtook them, greeted them politely and allowed the king and his companion to pass. The next moment he pulled out a pistol and pulled the trigger – twice…
His Majesty was indescribably lucky! The first bullet hit a tree and the second bullet tore the king’s collar, but only grazed him lightly. Count Flemming was able to overpower the assassin – he was Oskar Becker, a 22-year-old student. He confessed to the offence, which he had committed out of fervent nationalism. He accused the king of not being sufficiently committed to German unification……. which became a reality ten years later! However, Otto Becker experienced the fulfilment of his wish behind bars: he was sentenced to 20 years in prison.
On the evening of the assassination, the whole of Baden-Baden celebrated the rescue of the Prussian ruler with a huge torchlight procession. Only the tree that was hit suffered for a while – souvenir hunters peeled off the bark of the silent hero so that it had to be protected by a fence. You see: it’s the tenth tree on the right-hand side of the avenue.
