A suicide pact on the Kleiner Wannsee lake
It was on 21 November 1811 that Heinrich von Kleist and Henriette Vogel went to a hilltop on the edge of a forest near the Kleiner Wannsee lake. They sat down at a little garden table they'd brought with them specially, and drank coffee, wine and rum. It was around 4pm when the writer took out two pistols from the picnic basket. He shot Henriette in the chest, before putting the pistol in his mouth and pulling the trigger. A dramatic exit. Heinrich von Kleist and Henriette Vogel were later buried in the spot where they died. Whether it was exactly the place that is marked today is debatable.
The grave is a simple affair: no bust or portrait, just a memorial stone with the writer's name and the dates of his birth and death. The Nazis had the gravestone engraved. They removed the original inscription ("Er lebte, sang und litt / in trüber schwerer Zeit, / er suchte hier den Tod, / und fand Unsterblichkeit - Matth.6 V.12") and replaced it with a quote from Kleist's "Prinz von Homburg": "Nun, o Unsterblichkeit, bist du ganz mein."
To mark Kleist Year in 2011, the Federal Cultural Foundation is planning to redesign the grave and hold an international art competition.
