Content uploaded by Michael E. Habicht
Author content
All content in this area was uploaded by Michael E. Habicht on Jun 27, 2023
Content may be subject to copyright.
Category:
People
Geographical:
Germany (Bavaria)
Country of origin of study:
Italy/Australia/Poland
Responsible institutions:
FAPAB Research Center, Avola Italy
Flinders University, Adelaide, Australia
Curtin Medical School, Curtin University Perth, Australia
Dep. of Medical and Surgical Sciences of Children and Adults, University of Modena, Italy
Dep. of Anthropology, University of Lodz, Poland.
Header:
Kaspar Hauser had been vaccinated.
A detailed medical observation debunks the legend of captivity without any
contact with humans.
Main text
Kaspar Hauser (1812? - 1833), the most mysterious gure of the 19th century, was vaccinated
against smallpox at some point in his youth, according to the famous Binder Decree (1828).
According to the regulations in Bavaria, Kaspar Hauser therefore had to have been presented
to a vaccinator at some point in his youth. This seriously calls into question the legendary tale
that he never encountered people until his appearance in Nuremberg on 26 May 1828. While
the story of his imprisonment has been called into question not only from the point of view of
psychology and has been denitively refuted with the inoculation scar, his origins remain
mysterious; a descent from the noble house of Baden cannot be ruled out.
Extended
On 26 May 1828, a child appeared in Nuremberg (Bavaria) who at the time both shocked and
thrilled the world. Unable to speak normally, it delivered letters to a cavalry captain, Friedrich
von Wessenig. In these letters, a foundling was reported who had allegedly been born in 1812.
On 7 July 1828, in a decree issued by the mayor, Jakob Friedrich Binder, the story that had been
established up to that point was made public. According to this, Kaspar Hauser had been
incarcerated all his life without contact with humans. This inhumane treatment triggered
national interest and gave rise to the legend of the neglected child (still known today as the
"Kaspar Hauser syndrome").
So far, however, hardly noticed are two important details, quotation from the Binder decree:
„…zu bemerken ist, daß er die bayerische Mundart spricht, wie man sie in der Gegend von
„Regensburg, Straubing, Landshut. etc. etc., vielleicht auch Altötting, Burghausen hört, und daß
er am rechten Arm geimpft ist“. ["...it should be noted that he speaks the Bavarian dialect as
heard in the area of Regensburg, Straubing, Landshut. etc. etc., perhaps also Altötting,
Burghausen, and that he is vaccinated on the right arm."]
Kaspar Hauser seems to have spent his youth in Bavaria and was also vaccinated against
smallpox in Bavaria (at that time the rst known vaccination and only compulsory by the state
in the Kingdom of Bavaria and the Canton of Thurgau). Nevertheless, the legend soon spread
that Kaspar Hauser was a prince from the House of Baden who had been deprived of his
birthright in order to bring a side line to rule. The punchline, however, is that smallpox
vaccination was not practised in Baden-Württemberg at the time. Modern psychology has also
questioned the story about the captivity and exposes the vaccination scar as an invention.
Who was Kaspar Hauser?
The identity of Kaspar Hauser remains unclear to this day. In 1996, Der Spiegel attempted to
expose Kaspar Hauser as an impostor in a media-rich campaign. However, the blood traces had
apparently been refreshed over the centuries with new blood from other people, as people
simply did not know about the DNA in the past and simply wanted a visible bloodstain for the
museum exhibition.
In 2001, a new genetic prole was created from the hat that had demonstrably belonged to
Kaspar Hauser and from hair samples that were kept at the time. It is a dierent prole than
the one from the blood sample. Except for a discrepancy in one allele value, the new sample
allegedly matches a descendant of Stéphanie de Beauharnais (1789-1860), the Duchess of
Baden. Therefore, the princely theory has not been disproved to date, as the discrepancy is
likely to be an allele jump, as often occurs in directly related persons after a few generations.
Based on current facts, Kaspar Hauser's descent from the House of Baden can therefore not be
ruled out.
The vaccinated hereditary prince?
Regardless of his origins, be he abandoned as a foundling by poor people or the mistaken
hereditary prince of Baden: Kaspar Hauser, according to his Bavarian language and his
inoculation scar, spent part of his childhood in Bavaria and was at some point presented to a
doctor for inoculation. He therefore certainly did not remain permanently without human
contact until his appearance in Nuremberg.
Title of the scientic study
Kaspar Hauser, the Child of Europe: are smallpox vaccination scars the clue to a two-century-
old mystery?
Clinics in Dermatology
Michael E. Habicht PhD, Elena Varotto PhD, Mauro Vaccarezza MD,
PhD, Andrea Cossarizza MD, PhD, Francesco M. Galassi MD, PhD
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.clindermatol.2023.06.001
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0738081X23000500#abs0001
Creative Commons (Copyright expired)
Picture of Kaspar Hauser as he shall have appeared in Nuremberg (Bavaria) in 1828
Johann Georg Laminit (1775–1848) in: Johannes Mayer, Peter Tradowsky: Kaspar Hauser,
Stuttgart 1984, p. 306. Image in the public domain from Wikimedia Commons
State decree on smallpox vaccination in Bavaria (1809). The persons had to be presented to the
doctors in a vaccination room in order to carry out the occulation. The fact that Kaspar Hauser
had a vaccination scar proves that he must have been in contact with people before 1828.
(Literally: „zur Vornahmen der wochentlichen gesetzlichen Schutzpockenimpfung den
Sitzungssaal und dessen Vorzimmer auf dem Rathhause zu überlassen“).
Stéphanie de Beauharnais is regarded in the prince theory as the mother of Kaspar Hauser.
Painting from 1806/7, a few years before the birth of the prince, who supposedly died 17 days
after the birth. Creative Commons:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/60/Gro%C3%9Fherzogin_Stephanie_von
_Baden.jpg?uselang=de
