56 EAST PRUSSIA TO THE GOLDEN GATE 



border. In the middle of this village stands the church, 

 surrounded as is customary in our own villages of East 

 Prussia, by the churchyard. Ottensen has three cele- 

 brated graves, beautifully described in Friedrich Ruck- 

 ert's poem: "The Graves at Ottensen." The first one is 

 marked by a simple stone; it is located close to the church 

 and seldom without flowers, which his countrymen and 

 foreign pilgrims lovingly place upon the last resting place 

 of one of Germany's greatest poets, F. G. Klopstock, the 

 author of the "Messiah." The second grave of note, 

 much larger, but just as unpretentious, is a sad reminder 

 of the cruelties of war. In 1813, when Napoleon's most 

 heartless general, Marshal Louis Nicolas Davoust, Duke 

 of Auerstadt, Prince of Eckmuhl compelled General 

 Tettenborn (a German commander in temporary service 

 of Eussia) to vacate Hamburg, he imposed a fine of forty- 

 eight million marks upon the city and crowned his god- 

 less work by driving thirty thousand poor from their 

 homes and out of the city during the ice cold Christmas 

 night, while some of his hordes set fire to that quarter 

 of the town, just vacated, after appropriating the little 

 they could use. A holocaust of eleven hundred persons, 

 mostly aged or very young, who were unable to with- 

 stand starvation, cold and sickness, were found dead or 

 dying on Christmas day in the fields near Ottensen, while 

 the church bells were announcing the coming of the Sa- 

 vior! And the remains of these victims are mostly bur- 

 ied in this simple spot of gentle, all-embracing mother 

 earth.* 



*A recent article stated that the descendants of Marshal Da- 

 voust were endeavoring to fasten the responsibility for the above- 

 mentioned crime upon subordinates, and circumstances beyond his 

 control. To them and such as they, the prophecy of Ruckert is 

 addressed in words like these : 



"In this grave lie buried a generation nigh, 



"Who from their silent chamber to the God of Justice 



cry, 

 "They call for help from Heaven, 

 "Out of their humble grave, 

 "To Him, Who loves the lowly 

 "And frowns upon the knave." — Transl, 



