Ernst II (Saxony-Altenburg)

Ernst II von Sachsen-Altenburg on an official photograph from 1915

Ernst II of Saxony-Altenburg (born August 31, 1871 at Altenburg Castle ; † March 22, 1955 in Trockenborn-Wolfersdorf ) was the last ruling duke of the Duchy of Saxony-Altenburg .

Childhood and adolescence

Ernst Bernhard Georg Johann Karl Friedrich Peter Albert von Sachsen-Altenburg was the only son of five children of Prince Moritz von Sachsen-Altenburg (1829-1907) and his wife Auguste , née Princess von Sachsen-Meiningen (1843-1919), a sister of Duke Georg II of Saxe-Meiningen . He spent his childhood with his four sisters Marie Anna , Elisabeth , Margarethe and Luise, with whom he was particularly close, in their parents' house, in the Prinzenpalais.

From 1884 he attended the Vitzthumsche Gymnasium in Dresden , 1886–1889 the Christians-Gymnasium in Eisenberg . In 1890 he began studying at the Académie de Lausanne , where he took part as a guest at the events of the Société d'Étudiants Germania Lausanne . From 1891 to 1892 he studied natural sciences as well as political science, history and philosophy at the University of Jena for two semesters. There he became a corps bow bearer of Franconia Jena . In 1892 he moved to the Ruprecht Karls University . There he also received the Ribbon of the Corps Saxo-Borussia Heidelberg in 1893 . In 1893 the prince attended the Kassel War School and passed the officer's examination in Berlin in 1894. In September 1894 he joined the 1st Guard Regiment on foot in the Prussian Army as a lieutenant . He served in the Great General Staff from 1903 to 1905 and took part in several army exercises.

Governing Duke

Immediately after the death of his uncle Duke Ernst I , he took over the government of the Duchy of Saxony-Altenburg as Ernst II with a patent from February 7, 1908. At the same time he became chief of the 8th Thuringian Infantry Regiment No. 153 and the 1st Royal Saxon Jäger Battalion No. 12 in Freiberg . In the same year he was awarded the High Order of the Black Eagle by Kaiser Wilhelm II . He was considered a prince close to the people who held regular audiences for everyone. He was also open to research and technology, for example, he owned one of the first cars in the duchy, went on a research trip to Spitzbergen in 1911 , opened an airfield - today's Leipzig-Altenburg Airport - and welcomed world travelers Sven Hedin and Fridtjof Nansen .

When the First World War broke out , Lieutenant General Ernst II became the commander of the 8th Thuringian Infantry Regiment No. 153, which was deployed as part of the IV Army Corps on the Western Front . On August 19, 1914, he was appointed General of the Infantry and was awarded the Iron Cross 1st Class after the Battle of the Marne . He then took over the 16th Infantry Brigade on October 7, 1914 and was appointed commander of the 8th Division on March 20, 1915 . On May 30, 1915, he received the order Pour le Mérite and retired from active service. On April 4, 1916, Ernst II was appointed to the head of the 8th Division a second time, which he commanded until he left in August 1916 due to illness.

In October 1918, when Germany's defeat in World War I and the collapse of the monarchy were already beginning to emerge, Ernst II hesitated to adopt reformed suffrage for the duchy. On November 7, 1918 riots broke out in Altenburg. The Duke tried to turn the situation around by appointing three Social Democrats to the government, but finally abdicated on November 13, 1918.

The polar explorer Wilhelm Filchner renamed the Vahsel Bay he discovered in Antarctica as Herzog Ernst Bay . However, this designation could not prevail.

Weimar Republic and the time of National Socialism

Ernst II lived from 1922 under the name of Ernst Freiherr von Rieseneck (also: Baron von Rieseneck) at Castle Fröhliche Wiederkunft in Trockenborn-Wolfersdorf near Kahla , after he had given up his interim apartment in Berlin (villa in Grunewald). As early as April 1919 he attended lectures in physics, oceanography and philosophy at Berlin University . His wife separated from him in the meantime and they divorced in 1920. With the support of Kurd Kisshauer , he set up an observatory at his “Fröhliche Wiederkunft” castle , which was equipped with the most modern equipment of the time and became a much-visited research facility. In the early 1930s he studied at the Astrophysical Institute of the University of Jena. In 1934 the Thuringian Ministry of Justice allowed him to use the name Ernst Herzog von Sachsen-Altenburg again, which he had been forbidden in 1923. In 1934 he married his longtime partner, the singer Marie Triebel (born October 16, 1893 in Waltershausen , † February 28, 1957 in Trockenborn-Wolfersdorf). Until her death she carried the title "Freifrau von Rieseneck". On May 1, 1937, Ernst became a member of the NSDAP (No. 4.868.032), and in 1938 he received honorary citizenship of the city of Altenburg. On April 10, 1943, Ernst II donated Altenburg Castle to the city.

Soviet occupation zone and GDR

Although the Fröhliche Wiederkunft Castle was expropriated in the course of the land reform in the Soviet occupation zone in 1946 , Ernst was granted a lifelong right of residence by the competent Soviet headquarters in October. He turned down an offer from his eldest son - the Hereditary Prince Georg Moritz - to move to Hamborn Castle near Paderborn, located in the British occupation zone . Thus Ernst II was the only former German federal prince who became a citizen of the GDR . Ernst's ex-wife also stayed in the GDR until her death in 1971. Of the members of the former ruling houses, apart from the divorced couple, only the widowed Princess Anna Luise von Schwarzburg lived in the socialist state. Ernst II., After the death of the former Duke Carl Eduard von Sachsen-Coburg and Gotha, the last still living of the federal princes who abdicated in 1918 , died in March 1955 and was buried in his private tomb, Krähenhütte in Trockenborn-Wolfersdorf.

Marriage and offspring

Duke Ernst II of Saxony-Altenburg with his family around 1906

In 1898 he married Princess Adelheid zu Schaumburg-Lippe (1875–1971). From this marriage there were four children:

• Charlotte Agnes (1899-1989)

⚭ 1919 Sigismund of Prussia (1896–1978)

• Georg Moritz (1900–1991), Hereditary Prince of Saxony-Altenburg
• Elisabeth (1903-1991)
• Friedrich Ernst (1905–1985)

Georg Moritz and Friedrich Ernst were heavily involved in the then still pioneering anthroposophical movement , such as B. Waldorf schools and social institutions.

In 1934 he married the singer Marie Triebel for the second time.

literature

• Heinrich Ferdinand Schoeppl: The dukes of Saxony-Altenburg. Bozen 1917, reprint Altenburg 1992.
• Ulrich Hess: History of Thuringia 1866 to 1914. Weimar 1991, ISBN 3-7400-0077-5 .
• Hans Hoffmeister, Volker Wahl (ed.). The Wettins in Thuringia. Arnstadt and Weimar 1999, ISBN 3-932081-23-4 .
• Uwe Gillmeister: From the throne to the dog. Borna 2003, ISBN 3-937287-01-9 .
• Konrad Scheuermann, Jördis Frank (Ed.): Newly discovered / essays. Catalog for the 2nd Thuringian State Exhibition, Vol. 3. Mainz 2004, ISBN 3-8053-3321-8 .
• Hanns Möller: History of the knights of the order pour le mérite in the world war. Volume II: MZ. Bernard & Graefe publishing house, Berlin 1935, pp. 233-234.

Web links

Commons : Ernst II von Sachsen-Altenburg  - Album with pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Uwe Gillmeister: From the throne to the dog. Borna 2003, p. 5.
2. ↑ ^{a b} Kösener corps lists 1910, 124/638; 120/1229
3. ↑ sometimes also: Mari a Triebel
4. ^ Ernst Klee : The culture lexicon for the Third Reich. Who was what before and after 1945. S. Fischer, Frankfurt am Main 2007, ISBN 978-3-10-039326-5 , p. 505.

predecessor	Office	successor
Ernst I.	Duke of Saxony-Altenburg 1908–1918	---