Margarete of Hohenlohe convicted of aiding Ehrhardt

July 24, 1923 

Hermann Ehrhardt

 A court in Leipzig, Germany, today convicted Princess Margarethe of Hohenlohe-Oehringen "of perjury and abetting the flight of Captain  Hermann Ehrhardt. She was sentenced to six months in prison. 

The sentence was reduced to the "irreducible minimum in view of extenuating circumstances, chiefly that the Princess had been victimized and tricked into perjury by Captain Ehrhardt." The Imperial Court, from a political point of view, "practically convicted the absent Captain Ehrhardt of treason."

He was also referred to as "no gentleman," because he "induced the Princess to commit perjury to try and save him." He also escaped from the Leipzig jail, "leaving the Princess to stand trial alone." Before the judge imposed the sentence, he asked Princess Margarethe why "she hesitated to take back her perjured statement and had acted with such flapperish defiance."

"I was merely silly," the princess responded. The Chief Justice asked her: "You were then, victimized and misled?" "Yes, I see that now." 

This was the Princess' final comment before she was sentenced to six months in prison. The Judge referred to Ehrhardt as a leader of the Kapp Putsch. He added that there would be no amnesty. 

"The Princess must be convicted of perjury and giving a traitor aid and comfort. I realize Ehrhardt's splendid qualities of courage, bravery, and military discipline, but his bright escutcheon received a blot with his perjury. But he did not stop at that. The worst was his behavior toward the Princess. Through his powers of suggestion he made her commit the most wretched swindle, then during her preliminary interrogation, instead of warning her against it, he directly drove her into committing perjury. He capped his infamy by fleeing jail ten days before the trial started, leaving the Princess in the lurch. Perhaps his followers and admirers too will now recognize Ehrhardt's true character."

HSH Princess Margarethe Viktoria Pauline Dorothea Luise Helene of Hohenlohe-Ohringen was born July 20, 1894.  She is the youngest child and only daughter of HSH Prince Max (1860-1922) and Countess Helene von Hatzfeldt.