Rabod Wilhelm von Kröcher

Rabod Wilhelm von Kröcher was an active officer in the Royal Prussian Army and a show jumper. He graduated from grammar school in Gütersloh in 1900. Von Kröcher studied at the University of Heidelberg but did not graduate. Instead, he joined the German Cavalry and became lieutenant in the 6th (Brandenburg) Cuirassier Regiment “Emperor Nicholas I of Russia” in 1910. He served in this unit until 1913, when he was transferred to the Gardes du Corps as a first lieutenant, later as captain in the reserve.

Von Kröcher won a silver medal in the individual event at the 1912 Stockholm Olympics on his horse Dohna losing in the jump-off to the Frenchman Jean Cariou. He then served as a riding teacher in the Gardes du Corps in Dresden.

After World War I he retired from military service and lived on Rittergut Vinzelberg in Saxony-Anhalt until it was seized by the government in 1945. In 1921, von Kröcher married Freda von Rundstedt-Badingen-Schönfeld, the daughter of Prussian officer, manor owner and parliamentarian Werner von Rundstedt. The couple had three sons.