Legend hunter

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Robbed from the rich and given to the poor, the doughnut baker Simale is said to have money and gold - like Robin Hood in England. The legend hunter Max Müller went in search of clues: on Sunday, October 13, he tells the story of the Wolscharträuber on television. Carinthian actors re-enact scenes from the legend.

(Bild: ORF)

On the car ride through the Wolschart forest, more than a few children were told about the Wolschart robbers who lived here, about the Krapfenbäck Simale, their captain, who was glorified as the Carinthian Robin Hood. "The legend hunter" Max Müller was also on the lookout for clues: to be seen on October 13 on ORF.

For two years, Anton Lackner, the keeper of the Kraig and Nussberg district courts near St. Veit, was after him: after Simon Kramer, the doughnut baker Simale, the captain of the Wolschart robbers, who liked to steal money from the houses on Sunday mornings when the farmers were at church or rob the maidservants.

On September 17, 1809 at around 10 pm, the soldiers came to the inn on the Wegscheide, where 24-year-old Simon was sitting. "I played the innkeeper, served the robbers drinks and talked Simerl into desisting from his illegal activities," Siegmund Kogler reveals. The former principal from Metnitz has been active in the Burghofspiele Friesach for years and got in touch when amateur actors were needed for the shoot. There is no text to learn, as the actors, who mostly come from theater groups in the region, are supposed to play scenes from the respective legend, but Max Müller, the legend hunter, then speaks. "You have to take a bit of time for the shoot, but it's a lot of fun. I loved being part of it and I'm already looking forward to the broadcast on Sunday!"

Old profile

After Simon Kramer escaped from parish prison in Weitensfeld in 1807, criminal judge Ferdinand von Litzelhofen drew up a profile: "Description of the person: A prowling, very thieving fellow, called Krapfenbacker Simele, who is commonly accused of being in a connection with the notorious thief Laurenz Strauß, who was arrested here. This man is a native of the local town of St. Veit, about 20 years old, and of a rather tall, undersized stature, with a round, well-colored face, black eyes, brown hair and knees bent inwards. On his body he was wearing a short brown jacket, a bluish body shirt, black leather shorts, boots and a round hollow-brimmed hat."

The Klagenfurt criminal court counted 43 people in Simon Kramer's circle and accused the Wolschar robbers of 35 crimes.

The doughnut baker Simale was sentenced to life imprisonment with public labor in iron and exhibition on the show stage, but he managed to escape a second time - with his girlfriend Juliane Regenfelder.

Erwin Beiweis from the Keck theater group can also be seen as the soldiers' commander. Because the story of Krapfenbäck Simale ends fatally. The robber chief is shot on the Wegscheide and then exhibited at the Galgenbichl in Klagenfurt-Annabichl as a deterrent.

Was Simale really a robber with a heart?
In Carinthia, Simale the doughnut baker still enjoys the reputation of a Robin Hood who took from the rich and gave to the poor. During the French Wars, he is said to have robbed the war chest of Napoleon's soldiers and distributed the money among the needy. "The legend hunter" has his doubts. Was the robber from Wolschartwald really motivated by good intentions? Or was he just a scoundrel who stole anything that wasn't nailed down? Will the myth of the Robin Hood of Carinthia stand up to the investigations of the "legend hunter"?

Sunday evening on television
All this and more will be told by actor and singer Max Müller from Klagenfurt in the TV format "Der Sagenjäger" on Sunday, October 13, from 6 p.m. on ORF 2.