Friedrich von Hohenzollern

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Friedrich von Hohenzollern and his wife Margarete, 1921

Prince Friedrich Viktor von Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen (full self-designation since 1927: Friedrich Viktor Pius Alexander Leopold Karl Theodor Ferdinand Prince of Hohenzollern , born August 30, 1891 in Heiligendamm ; † February 6, 1965 in Krauchenwies ) was head of the former princely from 1927 to 1965 House of Hohenzollern . As such, contrary to the legal provisions of the Weimar Republic and the Free State of Prussia , he raised a claim to the salutation of Highness and the Primogenitur name of Prince of Hohenzollern from 1927 .

Life

Prince Friedrich was the firstborn son of Prince Wilhelm von Hohenzollern (1864–1927) and Princess Maria Theresia . Friedrich had a younger twin brother, Franz Joseph Prince of Hohenzollern (1891–1964). The one year older sister Auguste Viktoria had been married to the dethroned last King of Portugal, Emanuel II , since 1913 .

The Hereditary Prince studied forestry and economics. He took part in the campaigns in the west and east, in Italy and in the Carpathian Mountains during World War I and led the 5th Reserve Mountaineer Battalion. He retired from active military service as a colonel in 1919 . Now he managed the Hohenzollernsche Gut in Umkirch near Freiburg im Breisgau until his father's death in 1927 . He inherited this from King Carol I of Romania. Friedrich von Hohenzollern opposed the Weimar Republic from the start. He was inclined to traditional Catholicism and the imperial ideology of the Catholic conservatives. With the death of his father in 1927, he took the name of Prince of Hohenzollern in accordance with the house laws , which led to a name and title dispute with the Prussian authorities from 1927 to 1931. The District President of the Province of Hohenzollern , Alfonso Scherer , sat in a circular letter of 9 July 1928, the authorities informed that Friedrich Prinz von Hohenzollern after the death of his father, neither the predicate sovereignty nor the name Prince condition of Hohenzollern. Scherer also emphasized in the letter that the family name is Prince von Hohenzollern and the name Prince von Hohenzollern had expired with the death of Prince Wilhelm von Hohenzollern in 1927 and could therefore not be passed on to his son Friedrich. He also particularly emphasized that the designation Prince Friedrich von Hohenzollern was forbidden. He expressly referred to Article 109, Paragraph 3 of the Imperial Constitution and the Prussian Nobility Act of June 23, 1920. The Prussian state and local authorities were generally prohibited from using the words prince and court . Therefore, Prince Friedrich was now officially treated as Mr. Friedrich Prince of Hohenzollern . This resulted in a long-term political dispute between the Princely House and the regional council because Friedrich insisted on being addressed as Highness and the title of Prince . He threatened the city of Sigmaringen with the relocation of its administration to Munich . This induced the city fathers to work towards the replacement of the regional president at the Prussian Ministry of the Interior in Berlin . The Interior Minister Carl Severing ( SPD ) put the District President Scherer into temporary retirement on August 31, 1931. The Princely House had won the political battle for name and address. The new district president Heinrich Brand offered no further resistance to Friedrich's claim to be addressed as Highness and to be called Prince .

Despite the adverse conditions during the Great Depression , Friedrich managed to secure ownership of the house and its businesses, especially the extensive forest holdings in East Germany. He succeeded in re-acquiring parts of the art treasures that his father had already sold, thus saving the Hohenzollern art collection. Friedrich was honorary chairman of the Silesian Maltese Knights' Association and head of the Stahlhelm in Württemberg and Baden . Friedrich's affinity to the maintenance of military tradition led to a rapprochement with National Socialism . His younger twin brother Franz Joseph Prince von Hohenzollern joined the SS . In 1935 the Nazi state awarded Friedrich von Hohenzollern the title of Royal Highness . The entry into the Wehrmacht, which he wanted, was denied to him due to the later so - called Prince's Decree .

At the beginning of September 1944, Friedrich von Hohenzollern and his family had to leave the castle in Sigmaringen because it was needed for the billeting of the Vichy regime . The princely family, related to the Romanian King Michael I , was interned by the Axis powers in Wilflingen Castle in Langenenslingen because of the defection of Romania . With the end of the Second World War , the Princely House of Hohenzollern lost two thirds of its previous property.

The aristocrat, generally known as Prince Friedrich, was very popular in the Hohenzollern lands. He showed commitment and helpfulness far beyond his closer homeland. For example, he supported many religious and cultural institutions. He gave away large amounts of land to the monasteries of Beuron and Habsthal . He was also committed to the refugees and social housing. At Krauchenwies Castle , he set up a Maltese children's home for refugee children and war orphans.

Friedrich von Hohenzollern died on February 6, 1965 in Landhaus Krauchenwies.

Family and offspring

Friedrich von Hohenzollern with his wife and their children, 1932

Friedrich von Hohenzollern was married to Margarete von Sachsen (1900–1962), the daughter of King Friedrich August III. von Sachsen (1865–1932) and Luise von Austria-Tuscany .

The marriage produced four sons and three daughters:

  • Maria Antonia Benedikta Mathilde Anna (born February 19, 1921 in Sigmaringen; † October 11, 2011 ibid)
  1. ⚭ 1942 Heinrich Graf von Waldburg zu Wolfegg and Waldsee (1911–1972)
  • Maria Adelgunde Alice Luise Josephine (born February 19, 1921 in Sigmaringen; † May 23, 2006 in Frauenfeld)
  1. ⚭ 1942–1948 Konstantin Prince of Bavaria (1920–1969)
  2. ⚭ 1950–1962 Werner Hess (1907–2002)
  3. ⚭ 1973 Hans Huber (1909-2007)
  1. ⚭ 1951 Margarita Ileane Viktoria Alexandra Princess zu Leiningen (1932–1996)
  • Franz Josef Hubertus Maria Meinrad Michael (born March 15, 1926 in Umkirch; † March 13, 1996 in Sigmaringen)
  1. ⚭ 1950–1951 Maria Ferdinande Princess of Thurn and Taxis (* 1926)
  2. ⚭ 1955–1961 Diane Marguerite of Bourbon-Parma (* 1932)
  1. ⚭ 1961–1990 Princess Birgitta of Sweden (* 1937)
  1. ⚭ 1968–1973 Angela von Morgen (1942–2019)
  2. ⚭ 1977–1987 Eliane Etter (* 1947)
  3. ⚭ 1999–2007 Maja Synke Meinert (* 1971)

Honors

Friedrich was an honorary citizen of the cities of Sigmaringen and Hechingen and the communities of Umkirch , Krauchenwies , Bayerisch Eisenstein and Hinterhornbach , as well as an honorary senator of the Albert Ludwigs University of Freiburg . Since 1934 he was an honorary member of the Catholic student association KDStV Wildenstein Freiburg im Breisgau.

Friedrich was Grand Cross Knight of the Order of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem ; his wife Margarete was a Grand Cross lady of the Knightly Order.

See also

References and comments

  1. ↑ Vera Romeu: Armistice of 1918. Little reminds of the end of the war . In: Schwäbische Zeitung from November 11, 2008
  2. ↑ Article 109 of the Weimar Constitution (WRV) of August 11, 1919 stipulated that the public-law privileges of birth or status were to be abolished and that titles of nobility could no longer be awarded. At the same time, the previous nobility names were declared part of the civil family name.
  3. ↑ The Prussian law on the abolition of the class privileges of the nobility and the dissolution of house assets of June 23, 1920 (PDF available) stipulated in § 22 that the names of the previous noble families and their relatives had to be the designation that previously referred to the not inherited particularly privileged family members as a family name (i.e. here prince instead of prince ). The previous title became part of the family name, although the gender-specific variants could continue to be used after a later decision by the Imperial Court ( princess instead of prince ). Since then, the nobility names have been part of the family name (see also: Only one syllable . In: Der Spiegel . No. 15 , 1966, pp. 61 ( online ). ). In the case of the descendants of the former Princely House of Hohenzollern , all family members have since then been given the family name Prinz or Princess von Hohenzollern under German law . According to the nobility law of 1920, the former title of prince acquired through Primogenitur should officially only be used by those persons who inherited this privilege before August 14, 1919 (the day the Weimar Constitution came into force ).

literature

  • Casimir Bumiller (ed.): Adel im Wandel. 200 years of mediation in Upper Swabia. Exhibition catalog Sigmaringen 2006. Thorbecke, Ostfildern 2006, ISBN 3-7995-0216-5 , p. 264 f.
  • Hubert Krins: The Princely House of Hohenzollern. Kunstverlag Josef Fink, Lindenberg 2005, ISBN 3-89870-219-7 , pp. 34–37.
  • Günter Schmitt : Sigmaringen. In: Günter Schmitt: Burgenführer Schwäbische Alb. Volume 3: Danube Valley. Hiking and discovering between Sigmaringen and Tuttlingen. Biberacher Verlagsdruckerei, Biberach 1990, ISBN 3-924489-50-5 , pp. 41-62.

Web links

predecessor Office successor
Wilhelm Head of the former Princely House of Hohenzollern
1927–1965 		Friedrich Wilhelm
personal data
SURNAME Hohenzollern, Friedrich von
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Hohenzollern, Friedrich Viktor von
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Prince of Hohenzollern, later head of the house
DATE OF BIRTH August 30, 1891
PLACE OF BIRTH Heiligendamm
DATE OF DEATH February 6, 1965
Place of death Krauchenwies