Smoking Allowed

The Leipzig city commander Victor von Prendel, colonel of the Imperial Russian Army. After the Battle of Leipzig and internment of the Saxon king in Berlin, the Russian governor-general Prince Repnin took over the administration of Saxony, based in Leipzig. On 21 October 1813, Prendel was appointed city commander and remained until the return of the King in 1814.
Born in Tyrol and a dragoon officer, Prendel became well known and popular in Leipzig for the measures he took to normalise life for the citizens of Leipzig, ensure food security, accommodate the many wounded and care for them, bury the thousands of fallen to stem epidemics and organise the Russian troops returning from France. In return, many announcements and temporary changes in the law have been preserved, which, despite the sad events and their rude tone, are not without a deeper wit in their linguistic formulation, in order to shake up the people of Leipzig and get their lives back on a normal track after the great battle. As long as there were military hospitals in the city, smoking tobacco and cigarettes on the streets, which at that time was still generally forbidden by the city council, was tolerated. Prendel therefore decreed: ... "is deliberately permitted as an ideal means of health, but not allowed." From the end of April 1814 onwards, he strictly enforced the ban again, as now "no more leniency is necessary" and "everything is back in the old good order".