Cassens, Johann-Tönjes Mord aus Staatsraison. Die Affäre Königsmarck

In 2016, the Hannoversche Allgemeine Zeitung reported on an interesting bone find at the construction site in the Leineschloss, now the state parliament building in Hanover, which could have provided information about a mysterious disappearance of Count Philipp Christoph von Königsmarck. The case dates back to 11 July 1694, when Königsmarck went to visit his mistress, the hereditary princess Sophie Dorothea of Brunswick-Lüneburg, at the palace.

The liaison was considered a scandal at the time, especially as the hereditary princess was married to George Ludwig of Brunswick-Lüneburg, later Elector and King George I of Great Britain. Königsmarck was never seen again and the hereditary princess was banished for the rest of her life. Many authors and historians took up this subject and tried to determine Königsmarck's disappearance as a state contract killing, partly through interpretations and partly through surviving documents. Johann-Tönjes Cassens has shed new light on this case, which is still relevant today, through detailed research and has reassessed it both criminologically and legally.