Nürnberg – He was the prince of darkness. And ruled deep in Transylvania over his dark realm – Count Dracula, the most famous vampire in the world. Or was everything really different? Is there – literally speaking – German blood in the vampire (if it has not been sucked out) and his historical role model?
Germany’s best-known criminal biologist Mark Benecke (51) is also head of the “Transylvanian Society of Dracula”. He went on the trail of the vampire saga, which the Irish writer Bram Stoker once around the real figure of the then Hungarian Prince Vlad III. knitted.
Foto: picture alliance / Heritage Images-“data-zoom-src =” https://bilder.bild.de/fotos/vlad-iii–1431-1476-fuehre-laut-benecke-nicht-den-beinamen-dracul–sondern-sein-vater- vlad-ii – 65eae6d092b54aa4b044edd40ce66d5f-78736852 / image / 4.image.jpg “/>
According to Benecke, Vlad III., (1431-1476) did not use the nickname Dracul – but his father Vlad II.Foto: picture alliance / Heritage Images
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Benecke on BILD: “It was not Vlad III, but his father Vlad II (1395–1447), who was nicknamed Dracul.” Dracul means dragon and has so far been equated with a devil from Wallachia (now in Romania) . According to Benecke, however, it was a religious title of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation.
Background: The German Emperor Sigismund von Luxemburg (ruled from 1433 to 1437) accepted Vlad II into his so-called Dragon Order. Even more: the German emperor made “Dracula” the protector of the church at a Reichstag in Nuremberg!
Benecke: “Above all, he committed himself to the fight against non-Christians.” Dracul was the opposite of what was then associated with the devil. By the way: Dracula author Bram Stoker visited Nuremberg twice, including a former torture chamber – and probably even knew the real story!
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