Hans Hermann von Katte

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Hans Hermann von Katte (February 28, 1704 – November 6, 1730) was a close friend of Frederick II of Prussia who was executed by Frederick's father Frederick William I of Prussia when they plotted to escape from the Kingdom of Prussia to the Kingdom of Great Britain. It is believed by some that the two were lovers and were fleeing to Great Britain where they would defect to the service of George II of Great Britain and possibly return to Prussia to depose Frederick William.

Katte was a nobleman by birth, stemming from a long line of aristocratic militarymen. His ancestors were squires of Wust, a village in the eldest part of Prussia, the so-called Altmark. His father, Hans Heinrich Graf von Katte, was one of Frederick William's most regarded cuirassiers (a traditional horseman who donned the cuirass). Hans Hermann's mother, Dorothee Sophia von Wartensleben, was the daughter of a seasoned and revered field marshall, Graf Leopold Alexander von Wartensleben. Hans Hermann studied in Koenigsberg and Utrecht — his foci were French and Law. After the completion of his studies, he joined the Prussian Royal Army, which is no doubt where he met Frederick II. Due to a botched escape attempt, he was captured and found guilty by a court martial. He was sentenced to a life-long imprisonment, but the king wanted him to be executed, declaring that "it would be better that Katte came to death than the justice out of the world". Katte was beheaded in Küstrin (today Kostrzyn). Frederick was forced to watch the brutal execution at the behest of his father Frederick William. Von Kattes mortal remains rest in the crypt of the church in Wust.