Károly Leiningen-Westerburg

Károly Leiningen-Westerburg (; 11 April 1819, Ilbenstadt (today part of Niddatal, Germany) – 6 October 1849, Arad) was a German honvéd general in the Hungarian Army, and a member of the German House of Leiningen. He was executed for his part in the Hungarian Revolution of 1848, and is considered one of the 13 Martyrs of Arad.

Early life Count Karl August was born into an ancient noble family in which several members pursued military careers, including his brothers Johann Ludwig (1807–1864), Viktor August (1821–1880), and Georg August (1815–1850), with the Imperial army. His father, Friedrich, Count zu Leiningen-Westerburg (1761–1839), inherited the county of Altleiningen, but had divorced his first wife, Charlotte von Zech und Rautenburg (1777–1841), in 1798 after six years of childless marriage. By the time Count Friedrich remarried Eleonore Maria Magdalena Breitwieser (1781–1841) in 1813 (initially morganatically, whereupon she became created Frau von Brettwitz) he already had several children by her, legitimised by their parents' marriage. Karl, being born after the wedding, was legitimate from birth.

Life and Martyrdom Count Károly married rich Hungarian noblewoman Erzsébet Sissányi de Törökbecse (1827–1898, of Greek-Aromanian descent) in 1844, thereby becoming proprietor of the large Hungarian estate of Törökbecse. In the autumn of 1848, the Temesvár regiment was mobilized, and Károly volunteered for the campaign waged against the Serbs. By December 1848 he had become a major, was promoted to lieutenant colonel in March 1849, and to colonel in April. He acquired more renown during the spring campaign and was promoted to the rank of general on July 1. Discharged on July 2, along with Louis Benedict Szőny, he joined the Hungarian uprising.

Károly's widow Erzsébet remarried in 1854 and with her second husband, Count József Bethlen de Bethlen (1824–1896), bore four more children (István, Béla, Miklós, Anna).

In 1911 a statue to Károly's heroism and martyrdom was erected in Törökbecse.

In 1999 a bilingual memorial tablet was erected at his birthplace in the monastery/castle in Niddatal-Ilbenstadt by the Association of Hungarian Organizations in Germany (Bund Ungarischer Organisationen in Deutschland e.V. - BUOD).