In 1918, the German Empire collapsed, but even 100 years later, the descendants of the last Kaiser of Germany, Wilhelm II, did not lose hope of getting back what once belonged to the Hohenzollerns. We are talking about more than 4 thousand works of art that were in the possession of the son of Wilhelm II – Wilhelm, Crown Prince of Prussia (Kronprinzen Wilhelm von Preußen), palaces and castles, as well as land holdings.
What are the claims of the Hohenzollerns
The dispute and claims for multimillion-dollar compensation have been followed by the German and world media for many years. And now, it seems, this long-term conflict has come to an end. Georg Friedrich, Prince of Prussia (Georg Friedrich Prinz von Preußen), the great-great-grandson of Wilhelm II, issued a statement renouncing the Hohenzollerns’ claims to the German state for compensation. The Hohenzollern dynasty has withdrawn its claims for compensation, confirmed the hereditary heir of the last emperor of Germany.
After the end of World War II, as a result of the post-war partition of Germany, the eastern lands were ceded to the USSR, including many possessions of the Swabian Hohenzollern dynasty. Palaces, castles, estates that were in the east of Germany, were in 1945 in the Soviet zone of occupation. There, the property of large landowners was nationalized by the Soviet military administration, and after 1949 transferred to the GDR.
After the fall of the Berlin Wall on November 9, 1989 and the reunification of Germany, these palaces and estates were already on the territory of the Federal Republic of Germany. The land reform of 1945 remained in force, which means that all the property of the Hohenzollern dynasty on the territory of the former GDR was not subject to return to the descendants of the German Kaiser. Decades will pass before posterity decides to challenge this state of affairs. If the property of large landowners was nationalized by the Soviet military administration, and after 1949 it was transferred to the GDR, and it was impossible to return all this to the previous owners, since this was enshrined in international documents on the reunification of Germany in 1990, then no one deprived the former owners of the right to compensation. Guided by these considerations, the representatives of the Hohenzollerns decided to achieve satisfaction of their claims for multimillion-dollar compensation.
“Symbolic capital” of monarchs in the service of the Nazis?
The key issue in the case of deciding the fate of the inheritance of the dynastic family was the role that the descendants of the German Kaiser played in the development of National Socialism in Germany – in Hitler’s rise to power. Specifically, it was about the figure of the son of the last monarch of Germany: what role did Wilhelm, Crown Prince of Prussia, play in the history of the country between the First and Second World Wars? Did he assist the National Socialists and facilitate their rise to power? Did he do it in order to revive the monarchy? The fact is that the laws adopted in 1994 make it impossible to receive compensation if there was “complicity” with the Nazis. Historical documents confirm the closeness of the Crown Prince and Hitler, as well as with other representatives of National Socialist Germany. In archival photographs and video filming, Wilhelm, Crown Prince of Prussia, is captured next to Hitler. However, the hopes of the descendant of the monarchical dynasty on the revival of the monarchy in Germany did not come true. Disputes about the role and importance of the crown prince in the Nazi state are still ongoing.
So the historians Lothar Machtan and Stephan Malinowski, in their books on the biography of the Hohenzollerns and their role in the coming to power of the National Socialists, describe the son of Wilhelm II as a “terrible reactionary” who admired Mussolini and sought the favor of Hitler. And all this – for the sake of the throne. Malinovsky and his colleague Peter Brandt (Peter Brandt), after conducting an examination, came to the conclusion that it was with the significant filing of Wilhelm, Crown Prince of Prussia, that the National Socialist regime managed to gain a foothold in Germany. It is authentically known that the son of the German Kaiser in the presidential elections in Germany in 1932 called for voting for the candidate of the National Socialists – Adolf Hitler. Later, he proudly declared more than once that he provided Hitler with two million votes.
“The symbolic capital of the Hohenzollerns in 1932-33 was of great importance for the Nazis,” says German historian Jacco Pekelder. Even if the crown prince pursued his own intentions. The historian Frank-Lothar Kroll expressed his doubts. In a 2021 publication on the dynasty, he points out that Wilhelm, Crown Prince of Prussia, did not share the totalitarian ideology of the Nazis. This opinion is shared by other historians – Christian Hillgruber, Michael Wolffsohn.
Lawyers, politicians and historians have for decades been involved in a dispute over multi-million dollar compensation to the heirs of the German Kaiser. Now it’s time to finish this story. “I have come to the point where it seems to me wrong to resolve this issue in court,” said the great-great-grandson of Kaiser Wilhelm II. Assessing the importance of his ancestors, he said: “He who made friends with right-wing extremists cannot pass on the traditions of the dynasty.” State Minister for Culture and Media of Germany Claudia Roth (Claudia Roth) welcomed the decision of the head of the Hohenzollern family. Georg Friedrich, Prince of Prussia, hopes that a new discussion about the Hohenzollern dynasty, one of the most influential in German history, will become possible in society.
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