The Escape Attempt in Steinsfurt on 5 August 1730

 Throughout the life of this significant Prussian king, the Steinsfurt lattice farm played an important roll. Here, in the early morning hours of 5 August 1730, his escape attempt failed, fleeing the reach of his strict father, King Frederick Wilhelm I of Prussia.
Together with him and 40 accompanying travelers, the Prussian group was on a trip through southern Germany during the summer of 1730.

Since the travel route was intended to come rather close to the Rhine, the 18-year-old crown prince wanted to use the opportunity to put an end to the constant and ever fiercer conflicts with his father from 1728 onward by escaping abroad. The escape preparations along with his friends surrounding Hans Hermann von Katte, however, were not kept secret.

Attentive officers took notice of the escape attempt and blighted it.

Frederick’s father reacted by calling a war court and accused him and those who assisted the escape of treason and desertion.

The execution of Hans Hermann von Katte at the Küstrin fortress (which Frederick, by father’s orders, was forced to witness) and the escape attempt at Steinsfurt formed a decisive phase in the life of Frederick, who would go on to be crowned King of Prussia in 1740.