Laissez-passer
Grande Armée Curfew Pass for Maurice Bouchard, Berlin, 1808, gift of Dr. Walter Borchardt-Ott and Ruth Jarecki (née Borchardt-Ott), 2012
This certificate allowed its owner to proceed to Frankfurt on the Oder from Berlin to supply the French troops; Jewish Museum Berlin, Inv.-Nr. 2012/249/15, gift of Dr. Walter Borchardt-Ott and Ruth Jarecki (née Borchardt-Ott). Further information on this document can be found in our online collections (in German).
“The civil and military authorities are requested to allow Mr. Maurice Borchard, supplier to the French Army, bearer of this pass, to proceed unimpeded to Frankfurt on the Oder to conduct supply transactions there, and to give him aid and assistance as needed.”
Supplying the French troops
Behind the French-sounding name Maurice Borchard , to whom this curfew pass was issued, was a 27-year-old Jew named Moritz (Mendel) Borchardt. Born in Berlin in 1781, he had already founded a shipping company in Hamburg at a young age. When he returned to Berlin around 1805, his experience transporting goods proved useful in the occupied Prussian capital. As early as 1807, he and his brother Heinrich were tasked with supplying the French troops. They delivered large quantities of grain, straw, and hay.
The curfew pass
The document is adorned at the top center with the Napoleonic imperial coat of arms. The exact description of Moritz Borchardt’s stature and appearance is not filled in, nor is his signature. However, we know from a passport issued a year later that he was five feet and three inches tall (160 cm), with black hair, a black beard, blue eyes, a round mouth, a broad chin, a long nose, and an elongated face. The certificate is signed by the general of the division and commander of Berlin and Mittelmark (Moyenne Marche) Jean-Baptiste Joseph Noël Borrel. There is also evidence of trips between Berlin and two garrison towns where French troops needed supplies. A handwritten note for a trip from Berlin to Prenzlau in October 1808 can be seen at the bottom left. On the reverse side of the pass, a trip from Berlin to Küstrin in November and the return trip to Berlin in December that same year are certified.
French withdrawal from Berlin
At the end of 1808, the French withdrew from Berlin. In the following year, the Royal Prussian Kurmark Government issued a certificate to the Borchardt brothers stating that they had carried out, to the satisfaction of the government, “important supply business of all kinds” for the Grande Armée. Four years later, after the defeat of the French at the Battle of Leipzig, Moritz Borchardt was entrusted with supplying the Prussian army. He subsequently visited France on several business trips, including one in July 1815 to the headquarters of General Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher, who had sealed Napoleon’s final defeat at Waterloo just a month earlier.
Aubrey Pomerance, Archive director
French withdrawal from Berlin
At the end of 1808, the French withdrew from Berlin. In the following year, the Royal Prussian Kurmark Government issued a certificate to the Borchardt brothers stating that they had carried out, to the satisfaction of the government, “important supply business of all kinds” for the Grande Armée. Four years later, after the defeat of the French at the Battle of Leipzig, Moritz Borchardt was entrusted with supplying the Prussian army. He subsequently visited France on several business trips, including one in July 1815 to the headquarters of General Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher, who had sealed Napoleon’s final defeat at Waterloo just a month earlier.
Aubrey Pomerance, Archive director
Certificate to the Borchardt brothers stating that they had carried out “supply business” for the Grande Armée; Jewish Museum Berlin, Inv.-Nr. 2012/249/8, gift of Dr. Walter Borchardt-Ott and Ruth Jarecki (née Borchardt-Ott), photo: Roman März. Further information on this document can be found in our online collections (in German).
Certificate to the Borchardt brothers stating that they had carried out “supply business” for the Grande Armée; Jewish Museum Berlin, Inv.-Nr. 2012/249/8, gift of Dr. Walter Borchardt-Ott and Ruth Jarecki (née Borchardt-Ott), photo: Roman März. Further information on this document can be found in our online collections (in German).
Citation recommendation:
Aubrey Pomerance (2021), Laissez-passer. Grande Armée Curfew Pass for Maurice Bouchard, Berlin, 1808, gift of Dr. Walter Borchardt-Ott and Ruth Jarecki (née Borchardt-Ott), 2012.
URL: www.jmberlin.de/en/node/8215
