Heinrich von Kleist (1777-1811)

Death: 21st November 1811
Location: Kleistdenkmal, On the shore of the Kleiner Wannsee (Little Wannsee), Steglitz-Zehlendorf, Berlin, Germany
Cause of death: Suicide – self inflicted gunshot
Photo taken by: OTFW
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Heinrich von Kleist was a German poet, dramatist, novelist and short story writer. The Kleist Prize, a prestigious prize for German literature, is named after him. 

One of Kleist’s best known plays is Der zerbrochne Krug / The Broken Jug (1808). In the play, a provincial judge gradually and inadvertently shows himself to have committed the crime under investigation. 

Kleist became enthralled with the intellectual and musical accomplishments of the terminally ill Henriette Vogel and he agreed to do her bidding and die with her. They went to the shore of the Kleiner Wannsee Lake where Kleist shot Henriette in the chest, before putting the pistol in his mouth and pulling the trigger. 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.