Dorothea of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg

Dorothea was born in Glücksburg in 1636. She married at the age of 16 and became Duchess of Celle. When her first husband died, Dorothea was 29 years old. There was another man who was widowed during those years: Frederick William, Elector of Brandenburg, a friend of her first husband.

The two were married in 1668, and Dorothea became Electress. She accompanied him on all his travels and campaigns, on hunting trips as well as to the battlefield. Within ten years, she gave birth to seven children and only left the army when one of these births was imminent.

The Legend of the Poisoner

For a long time, few information were passed on about Dorothea – and what was known was not at all flattering: In the 19th century, rumours circulated about Dorothea being an evil stepmother, a poisoner and a money-grubbing land divider.

In addition to the ’notorious soldier of fortune‘ Carl Ludwig Freiherr von Pöllnitz, who ‘frankly admits that most of his memoirs consist of lies’ [1], Theodor Fontane also contributed to this negative image of the former Electress with his Wanderungen durch die Mark Brandenburg.

Mother, advisor to the Elector, investor

Dorothea appears to have had a good relationship with all her children, both biological and adopted. Her relationship with the Elector is also said to have been characterised by a remarkable degree of affection and equality. Dorothea was a loyal companion and advisor to him, with whom he also discussed strategic issues. She was there for him during the depressive phases that repeatedly overtook the Elector.

Dorothea was a skilled investor. In her marriage contract, she had agreed with the Elector that he would pay her an annual income of 8,400 Reichstalers. Two years after their marriage, the Elector had to pay a pledge for the office of Schwedt-Virraden, which he was unable to do. After careful consideration, Dorothea paid the amount from her ‘private coffers’ – and in return received sovereignty over Schwedt.

In Schwedt, she stimulated economic activity by limiting compulsory labour – but only for property owners. She successfully attracted Jewish and French settlers. After a fire, she redesigned part of the city centre and financed its reconstruction. She used her influence on the Elector to protect her own properties from war taxes and passing troops. Dorothea was also the founder of Berlin’s Dorotheenstadt district. She had a centrepiece of today’s capital built on a sandy field outside Berlin. Together with her husband, she developed Potsdam into a second residence. Frederick William gave her the Caputh hunting lodge, which she had rebuilt and decorated.

The first Brandenburg colonialism

From the beginning of their marriage, Frederick William had followed the colonial ambitions of European powers with great interest. He too wanted to profit from the trade in people, gold and ivory.

In 1682, the Elector commissioned the founding of the Brandenburg-African Company (BAC). A year later, the company established Fort Friedrichsburg near what is now the city of Princes Town in Ghana [2]. From 1683 to 1717, Brandenburg colonists participated in the transatlantic slave trade. During this period, the BAC sold tens of thousands of children, women and men into slavery via Fort Friedrichsburg and the Carribean island of St. Thomas. Thousands of people died on their ships: In the winter of 1692/93, only 682 of the 738 enslaved people survived the crossing on a ship called Friedrich Wilhelm. [3]

Dorothea’s colonial role

As a close confidante and advisor to the Elector, Dorothea’s role must also be taken seriously with regard to Brandenburg’s human trafficking. She advised her husband on strategic issues and drew the financial basis for her investments – her annual pension – from his fortune. In 1685, the Brandenburgers built a second base near what is now the municipality of Akwidaa. [4] The small fortress with harbour access was named Fort Dorothea after the Electress and presumably served as a defensive and trading post. Its exact function and its relationship with the local population are the subject of a Ghanaian-German research project. [5]

While it remains unclear if Dorothea was involved in the process of naming the fortress, the Electress’s stance on the colonial issue can be seen in the castle of Caputh: She commissioned a large ceiling painting in the porcelain chamber that glorified Brandenburg’s colonial ambitions. [6]

Dorothea liked to surround herself with luxury items and she owned numerous objects of colonial origin. What is more, there is evidence that several children of Turkish, Tatar and African origin were abducted to her court. The stories of these children have not yet been sufficiently researched. Currently known are the Christian baptismal names of the painter Friedrich de Coussy [7] from present-day Guinea and Dorothea Christiana from present-day Turkey. There is also evidence of a child of Tatar origin aged 7 or 8 years around 1680.

Taking responsibility

The history of the Brandenburg-African Company was already thoroughly researched at the end of the 20th century. Nevertheless, the period of early Brandenburg colonialism is hardly anchored in the German public understanding of history. The reasons for this are the separation between biographical narratives and colonial history, as well as rhetorical relativisations of colonial crimes (by using framings such as ‘only’ 30 years, ‘colonial adventures’).

What is needed is a systematic investigation of German colonial history in collaboration with researchers and the local population in the formerly colonised areas, [8] the examination of German museum and private collections according to decolonial principles, as well as the classification and, where appropriate, restitution of colonial artefacts. With this revision of the text Dorothea von Glücksburg, the project FrauenOrte im Land Brandenburg is taking a step towards confronting the German colonial past. In its current version, the text marks the beginning of a process.

FrauenOrt Dorothea Glücksburg in Schwedt

16303 Schwedt, Wirkungsstätte von Dorothea Sophie von Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg

53°03’22.5″N 14°17’37.9″E / Google Maps / OpenStreetMap

Further German links & literature

Patricia Vester 2026: Popelleicht. Oder: Wie die Wahrheit ins Museum kommt (Workbook, im Erscheinen)

Patricia Vester 2026: Dunkelgold (Workbook, im Erscheinen)

SPSG 2023 (Hrsg.): Schlösser. Preußen. Kolonial. Orte, Biografien und Sammlungen, Sandstein Kultur Verlag.

Kolonialismus begegnen: Schloss Charlottenburg

Claudia Sommer 2015: Dorothea Sophie von Holstein-Glücksburg (Vortrag)

Downloads

Kleinitz/Nyarko/Fiador 2024: Princes Town & Akwidaa, Ghana. Early ›Shared Heritage‹ of German-African Interactions: The Brandenburg-Prussian Forts on the West Coast of Ghana and their Local Communities

Claudia Sommer 2022: Das Deckengemälde der Porzellankammer (PDF)

Jobst Graf von Wintzigerode 2012: Aufsatz „Kurfürstin Dorothea
Stammmutter der Schwedter Markgrafen – Fürstliche Unternehmerin“ (PDF)

FrauenOrte Tafel von Dorothea von Glücksburg (PDF)

Fußnoten & Quellenangaben

1. Quote from Count Lehndorff’s diary (1757), quoted from Wintzigerode 2012: Electress Dorothea and translated by FrauenOrte Brandenburg.
2. At the time: Kpokeso
3. Kleinitz/Nyarko/Fiador 2024: Princes Town & Akwidaa, Ghana, p. 63.
4. At the time: Accoda oder Accada
5. Project: Brandenburg-Prussian Forts at the West Coast of Ghana and their local communities, 2023-2025, cooperation of the German Archaeological Institute, the University of Ghana, the Ghana Museums and Monuments Board and local communites of Princes Town and Akwidaa.
6. Sommer, Claudia 2022: Das Deckenbild der Porzellankammer im Schloss Caputh, SPSG.
7. Also: Friedrich de Cussi
8. An example is the project „Brandenburg-Prussian Forts at the West Coast of Ghana and their local communities“, 2023-2025.