As most of us know, the German Kaiser, Wilhelm II, left Germany at the close of the First World War, and took up residence-in-exile in Doorn, the Netherlands. Although the former Kaiser died in 1941, he was still around when the next generation of German soldiers entered Holland earlier.
Does anyone know what the Kaiser's reaction to the German invasion of the Netherlands, Belgium and France?
Did any high ranking German officials (government or military) visit Wilhelm II at Doorn? Did the former Kaiser play any public role at all (propaganda, etc) when the Germans swept through the Netherlands?
Are there any photographs of the former Kaiser with German troops - or officials - of the Third Reich during that period?
Thanks.
Kaiser Wilhelm II meets the Third Reich
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walterkaschner
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There is an excellent recent 2 volume biography of the last Kaiser written by a friend of mine, Lamar Cecil, a professor of history at Washington and Lee University, which is entitled "William II" and published by the University of North Carolina Press, the first volume "("Prince and Emperor") in 1994 and the 2d ("Emperor and Exile") in 1996. The latter volume contains an entire chapter dealing with the Kaiser's relationship with the Nazis at 317-36. Apparently the only high ranking Nazi who visited William II at Doorn was Herman Goering, whose visit took place in January 1931. The ex-Kaiser was not impressed, finding Goering to be "a vain creature, a mere army captain who would be consigned to obscurity once the Kaiser had regained his throne." vol II at 336.
When Germany invaded the Netherlands the Dutch confined all but four of the Kaiser's servants, cut off his telephones and imposed an 8 PM curfew. He was vastly relieved when the German troops arrived at Doorn, although they were forbidden to have any contact with him. Hitler offered him the possibility of returning to Germany, but William had sworn never to return until Germany was once more a monarchy, and kept to his word. He was delighted at Germany's victories in the West and when France asked for an armistice he wired Hitler, congratulating him on this "powerful victory sent by God." Hitler's reply, which he delayed for a week, was ceremonial and perfunctory.
At the Kaiser's funeral Hitler sent Arthur Seyss-Inquart and a few minor Nazi functionaries to attend, but the principal mourner outside the family was the 92 year old Feldmarshall von Mackensen, a hero of WWI but long retired and not a Nazi functionary.
Hope this is of some help, regards, Kaschner
When Germany invaded the Netherlands the Dutch confined all but four of the Kaiser's servants, cut off his telephones and imposed an 8 PM curfew. He was vastly relieved when the German troops arrived at Doorn, although they were forbidden to have any contact with him. Hitler offered him the possibility of returning to Germany, but William had sworn never to return until Germany was once more a monarchy, and kept to his word. He was delighted at Germany's victories in the West and when France asked for an armistice he wired Hitler, congratulating him on this "powerful victory sent by God." Hitler's reply, which he delayed for a week, was ceremonial and perfunctory.
At the Kaiser's funeral Hitler sent Arthur Seyss-Inquart and a few minor Nazi functionaries to attend, but the principal mourner outside the family was the 92 year old Feldmarshall von Mackensen, a hero of WWI but long retired and not a Nazi functionary.
Hope this is of some help, regards, Kaschner
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Zapfenstreich
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I have the books listed by Walter Kaschner and they are excellent. My impression of Wilhelm II was he was happy for Germany's victories but found the majority of Nazis to be social pariahs with mediocre abilities, at best.
Sadly, this was not the attitude of the Crown Prince who shamelessly sucked up to Hitler. I guess genetic deterioration had set in on the Hohenzollern family lines. Apparently, too many of Queen Victoria's descendants had intermarried. :roll:
Z
Sadly, this was not the attitude of the Crown Prince who shamelessly sucked up to Hitler. I guess genetic deterioration had set in on the Hohenzollern family lines. Apparently, too many of Queen Victoria's descendants had intermarried. :roll:
Z
According to William L. Shirer's "The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich",Kaiser Wilhelm II sent on June 17th,1940 from Doorn a telegram of congratulations to Hitler which read:
"Under the deeply moving impression of the capitulation of France I congratulate you and the whole German Wehrmacht on the mighty victory granted by God,in the words of the Emperor Wilhelm the Great in 1870:What a turn of events brought about by divine dispensation!
In all German hearts there echoes the Leuthen chorale sung by the victors of Leuthen,the soldiers of the Great King:Now thank we all our God!"
Apparently Hitler was not too impressed and drafted a restrained reply but whether it was sent or not is not clear.
"Under the deeply moving impression of the capitulation of France I congratulate you and the whole German Wehrmacht on the mighty victory granted by God,in the words of the Emperor Wilhelm the Great in 1870:What a turn of events brought about by divine dispensation!
In all German hearts there echoes the Leuthen chorale sung by the victors of Leuthen,the soldiers of the Great King:Now thank we all our God!"
Apparently Hitler was not too impressed and drafted a restrained reply but whether it was sent or not is not clear.
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walterkaschner
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Hi Zapfenstreich,
I particularly relished Lamar Cecil's summation of his views on the Kaiser:
"It may be written on Wilhelm's funerary tablet that he was a moral man granted a fulsome intelligence who worshipped God and hated war. But there the letters run out, and one is left with only the unelevating spectacle of a mortal called through destiny to immeasurable glory and great power but one who, with what seems like a relentless perversity, squandered those gifts and made such a travesty of authority that the wreckage not only of a life but of a once mighty nation was the unhappy consequence."
And I also thought particularly appropriate his quote from Alexander Pope:
"A man so various that he seemed to be,
Not one, but all of mankind's epitome
Fixed in opinion, ever in the wrong
Was all by fits and starts, and nothing long."
as well as Cecil's reference, in the last lines of the book, to the "brutal envoi" that the Duke of Wellington paid to King George IV of England, that he believes is well befitting of Wilhelm II as well:
"He was a sovereign, the Iron Duke regretfully concluded, who lived and died without having been able to assert so much as a single claim on the gratitude of posterity."
I recognize that one might question the connection of this post with the Third Reich but to my mind the causal link is not that remote, and I hope Marcus will see fit to tolerate it.
BTW, I quite agree with your observation as to the genetic deterioration of the Hohenzollern line. I can imagine Friedrich der Grosse rolling over in his grave at some of Wilhelm II's antics!
Best regards, Kaschner
I particularly relished Lamar Cecil's summation of his views on the Kaiser:
"It may be written on Wilhelm's funerary tablet that he was a moral man granted a fulsome intelligence who worshipped God and hated war. But there the letters run out, and one is left with only the unelevating spectacle of a mortal called through destiny to immeasurable glory and great power but one who, with what seems like a relentless perversity, squandered those gifts and made such a travesty of authority that the wreckage not only of a life but of a once mighty nation was the unhappy consequence."
And I also thought particularly appropriate his quote from Alexander Pope:
"A man so various that he seemed to be,
Not one, but all of mankind's epitome
Fixed in opinion, ever in the wrong
Was all by fits and starts, and nothing long."
as well as Cecil's reference, in the last lines of the book, to the "brutal envoi" that the Duke of Wellington paid to King George IV of England, that he believes is well befitting of Wilhelm II as well:
"He was a sovereign, the Iron Duke regretfully concluded, who lived and died without having been able to assert so much as a single claim on the gratitude of posterity."
I recognize that one might question the connection of this post with the Third Reich but to my mind the causal link is not that remote, and I hope Marcus will see fit to tolerate it.
BTW, I quite agree with your observation as to the genetic deterioration of the Hohenzollern line. I can imagine Friedrich der Grosse rolling over in his grave at some of Wilhelm II's antics!
Best regards, Kaschner
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Reading Dreadnought by Mr. Masse, is very interesting. You can get a feel for what germany as a nation went through as it grew.
The attitude of the royal family toward Wilhelm II was something else.
I can understand the english in one sense as to there attitude that they were senior of all royal families during Queen Victorea's rule. But the times when a King of a country and a prince of another meet in a third coutry, they demand that there prince comes first.
This is were I can understand some, of Wilhelm's antics.
The attitude of the royal family toward Wilhelm II was something else.
I can understand the english in one sense as to there attitude that they were senior of all royal families during Queen Victorea's rule. But the times when a King of a country and a prince of another meet in a third coutry, they demand that there prince comes first.
This is were I can understand some, of Wilhelm's antics.
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walterkaschner
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Hi admfisher,
I quite agree that Massie's "Dreadnought" is a very fine book indeed, and a grasp of the circumstances it portrays essential to an understanding of the causes (at least some of them) which led to WWI, and ultimately to the Third Reich and WWII.
Certainly Wilhelm II had a very ambivalent attitude toward Great Britain; there are some who believe that he blamed his English mother for his shriveled arm. And it is clear that he and the Prince of Wales (later Edward VII) heartily detested each other. But I have always found Edward VII far easier to like than the Kaiser; with all Edward's obvious faults - womanizing, gambling, gluttony and drinking - none placed the future of his nation in jeopardy, and he dispayed an enormous amount of decency and common sense, which Wilhelm II was virtually devoid of. (Oops!)
Regards, Kaschner
I quite agree that Massie's "Dreadnought" is a very fine book indeed, and a grasp of the circumstances it portrays essential to an understanding of the causes (at least some of them) which led to WWI, and ultimately to the Third Reich and WWII.
Certainly Wilhelm II had a very ambivalent attitude toward Great Britain; there are some who believe that he blamed his English mother for his shriveled arm. And it is clear that he and the Prince of Wales (later Edward VII) heartily detested each other. But I have always found Edward VII far easier to like than the Kaiser; with all Edward's obvious faults - womanizing, gambling, gluttony and drinking - none placed the future of his nation in jeopardy, and he dispayed an enormous amount of decency and common sense, which Wilhelm II was virtually devoid of. (Oops!)
Regards, Kaschner
dreadnought
So then we agree, Dreadnought is a great book to read to get an understanding of Germany.
With the comment on the POW and Wilhelm II, we both see the pettey attitudes of these two. Funny thing for me is the way Queen Vic made the two of them get along on certain occasions.
But when reading the book I see a young Germany trying to catch up to the older Great Britian.
This is a jealously gaurded position for the British.
On the other hand the different alliances that were proposed and cut makes one wonder what our goverments have in agreement with other countries now.
The possible US, Britian and Germany pact would of been something. It is a total pity that Germany and Great Britian could not form an alliance early in the 1900's.
But then on the other hand the book starts me thinking that Germany got part of what it wanted after two wars. The end of the British world rule.
It's a thought.
Grant
With the comment on the POW and Wilhelm II, we both see the pettey attitudes of these two. Funny thing for me is the way Queen Vic made the two of them get along on certain occasions.
But when reading the book I see a young Germany trying to catch up to the older Great Britian.
This is a jealously gaurded position for the British.
On the other hand the different alliances that were proposed and cut makes one wonder what our goverments have in agreement with other countries now.
The possible US, Britian and Germany pact would of been something. It is a total pity that Germany and Great Britian could not form an alliance early in the 1900's.
But then on the other hand the book starts me thinking that Germany got part of what it wanted after two wars. The end of the British world rule.
It's a thought.
Grant
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walterkaschner
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Hi admfisher,
Yes its a thought indeed and one that has some merit. But consider another thought that harks back to Bismark's policy, which Wilhelm II discarded when he dumped the old pilot of the German ship of state (you may have seen the Punch cartoon).
IMHO Bismark's basic policy was to maintain Germany as the strongest military and political power on the continent, to be acheived by centering Germany as the hub of friendly relations with the other significant powers - France, Austria, Russia, Great Britain, Italy, Turkey - and insuring that the tensions of those powers with each other were greater than their tension with Germany. He well understood that Germany, landlocked as she essentially was, could not prevail against a combination of Great Britain's sea power with two of the other major continental land powers. So after establishing Prussia's ascendancy over Austria in 1866 he urged (successfully) that easy peace terms be granted Austria, and urged the same (relatively unsuccessfully) vis-á-vis France after the 1871 war had solidified Prussian hegemony in Germany.
Although the issue of Alsace-Lorraine prevented any great freindship arising between Germany and France, Bismark was wise enough to succeed in at least partially deflecting France's ill will in Britain's direction in connection with the contest for colonial expansion, in which he saw that Germany itself had no realistic interest. And he was careful to maintain a cool relationship with Austria, which allowed Germany to preserve a similar relationship with Russia, thus avoiding a hostile combination between Russia and either France or Austria which could have led to a war on two fronts. IMHO had Germany continued Bismark's policies the result could have been the avoidance of WWI, of the Russian revolution, of WWII and of the Cold War, and Germany could have enjoyed the role of the dominant nation - militarily, economically and culturally - in Europe today.
But Wilhelm II in his supreme and overweening arrogance utterly destroyed that possibility, not just in the sea power contest with Britain but in countless other contexts. IMHO, the result has been that Germany has become a second or even third rate power in every sense of the word, and that in effect Britain's centuries-old goal of no one dominant power on the continent has been acheived. So perhaps in this sense both Britain and Germany got the result they wished for for the other, but not for themselves.
Regards, Kaschner
Yes its a thought indeed and one that has some merit. But consider another thought that harks back to Bismark's policy, which Wilhelm II discarded when he dumped the old pilot of the German ship of state (you may have seen the Punch cartoon).
IMHO Bismark's basic policy was to maintain Germany as the strongest military and political power on the continent, to be acheived by centering Germany as the hub of friendly relations with the other significant powers - France, Austria, Russia, Great Britain, Italy, Turkey - and insuring that the tensions of those powers with each other were greater than their tension with Germany. He well understood that Germany, landlocked as she essentially was, could not prevail against a combination of Great Britain's sea power with two of the other major continental land powers. So after establishing Prussia's ascendancy over Austria in 1866 he urged (successfully) that easy peace terms be granted Austria, and urged the same (relatively unsuccessfully) vis-á-vis France after the 1871 war had solidified Prussian hegemony in Germany.
Although the issue of Alsace-Lorraine prevented any great freindship arising between Germany and France, Bismark was wise enough to succeed in at least partially deflecting France's ill will in Britain's direction in connection with the contest for colonial expansion, in which he saw that Germany itself had no realistic interest. And he was careful to maintain a cool relationship with Austria, which allowed Germany to preserve a similar relationship with Russia, thus avoiding a hostile combination between Russia and either France or Austria which could have led to a war on two fronts. IMHO had Germany continued Bismark's policies the result could have been the avoidance of WWI, of the Russian revolution, of WWII and of the Cold War, and Germany could have enjoyed the role of the dominant nation - militarily, economically and culturally - in Europe today.
But Wilhelm II in his supreme and overweening arrogance utterly destroyed that possibility, not just in the sea power contest with Britain but in countless other contexts. IMHO, the result has been that Germany has become a second or even third rate power in every sense of the word, and that in effect Britain's centuries-old goal of no one dominant power on the continent has been acheived. So perhaps in this sense both Britain and Germany got the result they wished for for the other, but not for themselves.
Regards, Kaschner