What does the robber Kneißl have to do with Schwabsoien?
A whole lot.
Because one of the two gendarmes who he killed in 1900 is buried in Schwabsoien: Benedikt Brandmeier.
Erwin Hartmann and Juditha Wolf from the Historical Working Group have investigated his story and that of the robber Kneißl and have written it down in a 60-page document.
Schwabsoien - Bavaria around 1900: The social structures are clearly divided into the authorities and subjects, social advancement is hardly possible.
The fate of the legendary robber Kneißl heats people up.
Convicted innocently at the age of 17 and forced to commit crimes out of poverty, he cunningly rebelled against state power.
While the authorities hunted him down as a criminal, the common people worshiped him as a rebel and folk hero even during his lifetime.
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The tombstone of the policeman who was shot.
On the other side stands Benedikt Brandmeier, royal gendarmerie station commander.
The Söldner son, born on October 31, 1862 in Schwifting (small farmers who could not live from agriculture alone and were therefore dependent on additional income as craftsmen or day labourers), married Magdalena Lachenmayer (born on April 11, 1869) out in 1894 Sachsenried.
He is stationed in Altomünster.
The paths of the two men crossed on that unspeakable November 30, 1900 in Irchenbrunn, when there was an exchange of gunfire between Kneißl and the two gendarmes.
Brandmeier was hit in the leg and so unfortunate that an artery was hit and he bled to death shortly afterwards.
His colleague was seriously injured and died three weeks later.
"As a schoolboy, around the age of twelve, I became aware of Mathias Kneißl and his life story," says Erwin Hartmann, a member of the Schwabsoien/Sachsenried Historical Working Group.
In the attic of his parents' house he had found editions of the Schongauer Nachrichten from 1951, the year he was born.
There the "Factual Report by Alto Gruner" entitled "Mathias Kneißl, Life and End of Schachermüllerhias" was printed in an 18-part sequel.
The reason for this was the 50th anniversary of Kneißl's execution.
"I read it briefly and was so fascinated that I almost devoured the entire report." At school, says Hartmann, he hadn't learned anything about it.
And co-author Juditha Wolf cannot remember that this was ever an issue.
Hartmann's interest increased further when he discovered at the time that the gendarme who had been killed by Mathias Kneissl was buried in the Schwabsoien cemetery.
"I can still remember the tombstone on which it was carved: died by murderer's hand a.
Nov. 30, 1900.” Much to Hartmann's regret, this no longer exists today.
From then on he collected everything he could get his hands on about the Kneissl robber, followed everything that was reported in the media or filmed.
The impetus for compiling this brochure came from Juditha Wolf, who also manages the Schwabsoien municipality archive.
She came across documents from Brandmeier's last granddaughter, who now lives in Schongau: Benedikta Freimut.
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The last granddaughter of Benedikt Brandmeier: Benedikta Freimut with a picture of her grandfather.
© Trunk
She left photos and documents to the Historical Association and willingly provided the information needed to create the brochure.
"So I said: let's do something!" says Juditha Wolf.
The Brandmeier couple had three daughters, Viktoria, Magdalena and Maria.
They lived in Schwabsoien in house number 13 ½, today Schönachstraße 8. Benedikt Brandmeier had bought the house in 1897.
Five years after her husband's death, Brandmeier's widow married Georg Marb.
She died in 1937 at the age of 68.
The eldest daughter Viktoria married the master butcher Josef Höfler from Denklingen and moved back into her parents' house.
There the couple ran a butcher's shop, a small farm, and ten children were born.
Three of them died in infancy, including the firstborn Benedict.
The ninth child is Benedikta Freimut from Schongau, born in 1931. The fact that she was given the first name Benedikta, after her maternal grandfather, was more of a coincidence, as the 86-year-old explains with a smile.
The mother had sent her husband to the registry office immediately after the birth with instructions to register the child as Bernadette.
By the time he got there, however, he had forgotten what name his wife had chosen.
"All he could think of quickly was Benedikta," she says, still amused about it today.
Her grandfather was always present for Benedikta Freimut, although she never got to know him.
"We had a portrait of him on the wall at home and there was also one of him lying in the coffin," she recalls.
In addition, the mother once fetched the old uniform trousers from the attic and hung them up in front of the house, probably to air them.
Then you saw the bullet hole.
But unfortunately she doesn't know anything about the whereabouts of the pants.
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The Brandmeier family lived in this house in Schwabsoien, today Schönachstraße 8.
Photos/Repro: Trunk
"Today I still have so many questions for my mother about my grandfather," she regrets.
To commemorate him, she carries a small photo she clipped from the newspaper a few years ago in her purse, which she has tucked behind the pictures of her own family.
Erwin Hartmann and Juditha Wolf worked on the brochure for two months, meticulously combing through documents and compiling the history of the two men and their families.
It shows the life of the Kneißl and Brandmeier families in an easy-to-understand text sequence, peppered with photos and documents, including a copy of Kneißl's execution certificate.
A highly recommended booklet that illuminates the legend of the Schachermüllerhias from an additional page and enriches the written local history.
It is available in Schwabsoien town hall from mid-September.
Myrjam C. Trunk
