this post was submitted on 10 Nov 2025
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Throughout Germany, he's still known for his efforts for introducing the potato, which earned him the affectionate nickname of "Kartoffelkönig" - "potato king". (To this day, people still lay down potatoes at his grave)
Initially, people in Prussia, just as the French, wanted nothing to do with potatoes, thought of them as potentially poisonous and at best suitable as pig fodder. In order to overcome those misconceptions and superstitions, Frederick famously had soldiers guard potato fields, instructed them to only half arsedly pursue potato thieves so they could get away, and to allow people to bribe them to look the other way.
He also was a bit of a reformer and introduced ideas of enlightenment into his government. He for example introduced compulsory education for everyone (that was not out of pure altruism, though, because he wanted his soldiers to be able to read and write), and instituted religious freedom. (He asked all religions to have their sacred weekday on the same day, though, because he liked the thought of all religions in his realm worshiping their god on the same day)
I've never heard this before, and I really want to believe this since I've never heard anything more stereotypically German in my life ( Alles in ordnung! ) but do you have a source? I can't find anything, perhaps because I'm not using the right keywords.
I don't remember where I read this, but I'll look around. It was just a half sentence in a larger article on his religious reforms. I only remembered it, because I found the idea funny.