Schinderhannes, the 'King of the Soon Forest'

Highway robbery, attacks upon farmsteads and blackmail were all committed by "Johannes through the woods", as Hans Bückler, the "Schinderhannes", called himself. He used this name to sign passes for movement in and through his area. The right to give these passes as well as the right to collect taxes were rights the "King of the Soon Forest" gave himself. It is no wonder that the authorities as well as the population didn't put up with it for too long. In 1801, the farmers made their first revolt against this robber baron.

Eventually he was caught and, in 1803, brought to court. Bückler, who had enlisted in the Austrian army under a false name, made a complete confession. At the same time, though, he asked for mercy for some of the members of his band and for his wife Julie Bläsius who had given birth to a son during incarceration in the wooden tower in Mainz. The plea for his followers and for his wife so impressed the public in the courtroom that he was suddenly seen not as a notorious robber, but as a gentleman robber baron and helper of the poor, like Robin Hood. The judges in Mainz did not share this opinion and during this sensational process they sentenced 20 people to death. The ruins shown here of the Schmidtburg near Bundenbach in the Hahnenbach valley, between Kirn and Rhaunen, were a one time hide-out of Schinderhannes. Die auf einem Felssporn äusserst malerisch gelegene Schmidtburg wurde vermutlich bereits im Jahre 926 zum Schutz gegen Einfälle der Ungarn erbaut. Die erste urkundliche Erwähnung geht auf das Jahr 1084 zurück. Nach dem Tode des letzten Wildgrafen der Schmidtburger Linie im Jahre 1328 wurde die Burg an das Erzbistum Trier verkauft. Bis zur Zerstörung durch französische Truppen im Jahre 1689 war sie dann Sitz eines kurtrierischen Amtsmannes.

In the play "Schinderhannes" written by Carl Zuckmeyer (1896-1977), he is depicted as a literary hero. The play premiered in Berlin in 1927. In 1958, a romantic film version starring Curd Jürgens and Maria Schell, was a great success.