“Unashamed of the Gospel”: Johann Hinrich Wichern and the Battle for the Soul of Prussian Prisons

Abstract

On August 23, 1859, a death occurred in the prison at Moabit, a largely working-class neighborhood in Berlin that housed the largest penitentiary of its time. An inmate named Jacobi attacked and wounded a fellow inmate, forcing the prison warden, Kügler, and the prison supervisor, Brother Anton, to intervene. When Jacobi showed no signs of calming down, Kügler and Anton tried to force Jacobi into a straitjacket. During the struggle, Kügler shot and killed the inmate.