Katte, Hans Hermann von (Berlin, 1704-30, Küstrin), a son of the Prussian Field-Marshal H. H. von Katte, a lieutenant, and a close friend of Friedrich II, when the latter was still Crown Prince. He was an accomplice to Friedrich's plan to flee the country in despair over humiliations inflicted upon him by his father (see Friedrich Wilhelm I). When the plan came to the King's notice, Katte was ordered to be tried by court martial and condemned to be beheaded in the courtyard of Küstrin where Friedrich was imprisoned. Friedrich was ordered to witness the execution from the window, to which Katte bowed as a final token of his loyalty. An essay on Katte is included in vol. 2 of Th. Fontane's Wanderungen durch die Mark Brandenburg (Die Katte-Tragödie) (1870). He is also the subject of a drama (Katte) written in 1914 by Hermann Burte.

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