1. Wegfraß is not the only one to have found out that Pfeiffer was found guilty; in the same year as her book, 2003, a biography of Pfeiffer appeared* that had figured the same thing out. I'm still trying to get my hands on it for details, but today I obtained an article via ILL that cites this 2003 publication, so I at least know that it says he was guilty.

* In a local history booklet series for Friedrichshagen, which was founded under his administration. This is why I need a local history booklet series for Fredersdorf!

2. One of the things he was responsible for was paying spies that would go to Saxony and try to find families willing to emigrate to Prussia. This was considered a very dangerous activity, and when he was accused of embezzling, he argued that spies weren't cheap and sometimes demanded more money, because of the danger, and if he didn't get as many colonist families as he'd originally estimated, it wasn't because he was dishonest, it was because families that had originally committed to emigrating bavked out.

All this reinforces my impression that emigrating without permission in Germany was just not a thing. I don't think I had an example from Saxony, but now I do.

Anyway, I wasn't expecting the Spanish inquisition spies to show up in this document, and when I saw them, I had to research what that was all about and share it with salon.