Monarchism in the German-speaking area
In Germany , the monarchy ended in 1918 after the First World War was lost . This happened through the announcement of the abdication of Emperor Wilhelm II , his flight into exile in the Netherlands, the simultaneous abdication of the Federal Princes and the proclamation of the German Republic . But even after that there were and are supporters of the monarchy (monarchists) who organized themselves in associations and informal circles. Among the supporters of the monarchical idea there are not only critics of democracy but also nostalgicsand also representatives of the groups of people who lost important privileges in 1918. The two largest German and only organizations active at the federal level are today the Association Tradition and Life and the Friends of the Monarchy , as well as regional groups in Bavaria and Saxony and supporters of former ruling families such as the Wittelsbachers or Wettins . Today, most associations and circles do not represent the reintroduction of the previous monarchical systems of government, but a parliamentary monarchy oriented towards the European neighboring kingdoms.
The monarchies still in existence in German-speaking countries are the Principality of Liechtenstein and the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg . The German-speaking community of the Kingdom of Belgium also lives in a monarchy .
history
The last German Kaiser Wilhelm II abdicated on November 30, 1918, after the republic had been proclaimed on November 9, and reluctantly remained in exile in the Netherlands . The reason for the forced abdication was to accommodate the Allies (who saw Wilhelm as the exponent of authoritarian Germany) and to take an anti-symbol from the November Revolution, but also to take the Kaiser out of the line of fire so that he would not be blamed for the lost war . The federal princes also abdicated or went into exile.
As a result, Germany became a republic for the first time. The supporters of the old form of government founded monarchist associations and were very reserved or hostile to the republic, they were often traditionalist and nationalist oriented. The DVP and DNVP in particular were openly monarchist , but they too did not pursue any concrete policy to restore the monarchy. One problem for monarchists was that Wilhelm II and the Crown Prince had abdicated, but later abandoned them. On the eve of the revolution, Wilhelm II had also made his sons promise not to become monarch against his will. With the former Emperor, the former Crown Prince and Prince Wilhelm, born in 1906, there were three pretenders to the throne.
In 1970 the memoirs of Heinrich Brüning , the former Chancellor who died shortly before, caused irritation . He claimed that he wanted to restore the monarchy in the summer of 1932, but on the English parliamentary model. However, research has not been able to prove this from the time. Baron Hiller von Gaertringen doubts that at the time of the Weimar Republic monarchism was actually as strong as it is often assumed: some alleged monarchists were more in favor of an authoritarian leader and not for a restoration of the monarchy. “ In the crisis of the republic since 1930 [...] the idea of a monarchical restoration reappears again and again, but not as an independent plan of a monarchist movement, [...] but as a means in the hands of political forces that the monarchy in their interests wanted to set their own goals ”. The National Opposition (including the DNVP) wanted to use anti-republican tendencies to eliminate the Weimar system, while the democratic parties wanted to use the "constitutional sentiments assumed by monarchists" to defend against National Socialism.
The Nazism was against the monarchy, but tried as with the Day of Potsdam , in the tradition of the Empire to ask. In 1934 all monarchist organizations were banned by the National Socialists. Among those involved in the uprising on July 20, 1944 around the Stauffenberg brothers were monarchists and supporters of the German Imperial and Prussian royal family who intended to return to the monarchy if they were successful. In this case Louis Ferdinand (senior) of Prussia was to become Reichsverweser or German Emperor . A corresponding declaration was already prepared. Louis Ferdinand, grandson of Wilhelm II (in exile in Doorn , Netherlands), who had been in contact with certain resistance circles since the 1930s , was interrogated by the Gestapo . The general representative of the royal family Kurt Freiherr von Plettenberg killed himself after his arrest by the Gestapo in order not to have to betray anyone.
A representative survey by the opinion research institute Emnid on behalf of the news magazine Focus showed in 2011 that nine percent of Germans would like “a king or queen, similar to the one in Great Britain”. In the group of 14 to 29 year olds, the value is 14 percent. 81 percent deny that nobles have a role model function. Furthermore, 63 percent of those questioned stated “that today a nobility title gives its bearer a professional advantage”.
Historical monarchist organizations
Covenant of the upright
The Bund der Aufrechte was a nationalist- monarchist association founded on November 9, 1918 in Berlin by the writer Ernst Pfeiffer . Pfeiffer's political background was the movement around the anti-Semitic court preacher Adolf Stoecker . As early as 1922, the federal government was banned as an organization hostile to the republic due to the law for the protection of the republic .
By the autumn of 1919, the membership of the Federation grew to over 1000. Around 140 representatives from Prussia took part in the first general assembly . As speakers emerged in the course of time in the Bund der Upright among others: the Reichstag deputies Kuno Graf von Westarp , Reinhard Mumm , Friedrich Everling (all DNVP ), workers secretary Rüffer , Axel Freiherr Freytag von Loringhoven and Ilse Neumann , Gustav Roehte , the generals von Stein and von Friedeburg and from among the evangelical clergy, senior consistorial councilors Conrad and Dibelius as well as the court preachers Doehring , Vogel and Richter-Reichhelm . In 1922 the Union of the Upright gathered 3,000 visitors for a large Prussian celebration in Friedrichshain in Berlin. During this time the federation had more than 60 local groups with about 25,000 members. A workers' youth group with 800 members was successfully founded in Bremen . There was a prospect of becoming a popular movement on a larger scale.
The republicans followed the development not idly, and the press, concerned about the republic and democracy, began to attack the monarchists who were loyal to the Hohenzollern : the assassination of the Reich Foreign Minister Walther Rathenau by members of the right-wing extremist organization Consul on June 24, 1922 was sufficient reason to ban nationalist monarchists and anti-republican associations like the Union of the Upright. Due to the "Law for the Protection of the Republic" passed on June 26 , the Prussian Minister of the Interior Severing dissolved the federal government with all state associations, district and local groups. Saxony and Thuringia joined in, only in Baden and Bavaria, where the state governments had not issued a ban, the federal government remained in place and continued to work.
The federal government's attempts to distance itself from the Rathenau murder were unsuccessful. Therefore, the Berlin local councils and the main board of the federal government unanimously adopted the resolution on June 30th:
“It is incompatible with the Christian sentiment, on whose activity our covenant is primarily based, that it should have members who approve of political crimes or even just excuse them. As self-evident as this is, the federal government considers it appropriate, given the current intellectual constitution, to declare this publicly. "
Two complaints against the ban were rejected. The Confederation of the Upright had to cease its activities. No. 26 of the magazine Der Aufrechte , which had appeared before the Rathenau assassination, was also confiscated by the Berlin police chief as a result of the new regulation for the protection of the republic . At the same time, the publication of the magazine was also banned for a period of four weeks. With the final ban on all monarchist organizations by the National Socialists in 1934, the Union of the Upright was dissolved. However, the magazine Der Aufrechte continued to appear until 1938. The White Papers published by Karl Ludwig Freiherr von und zu Guttenberg with their Christian-monarchist orientation could also appear until 1943.
After 1945 the "upright" Heinrich Freiherr von Massenbach († 1962) gathered some still living members around him and finally founded a new association with these and newly arrived people. As a result, the successor organization in the Federal Republic today is the working group for the promotion of the monarchical idea of tradition and life . The Union of the Upright included: Oskar Prince of Prussia , the former Prussian War Minister Karl von Eine , Eitel Friedrich von Prussia and Otto Schmidt-Hannover (DNVP).
Youth loyal to the emperor
The Kaisertreue Jugend (KJ) was an organization of the Weimar Republic that was mainly active in Berlin. She had frequent encounters there and also made regular visits to the former Kaiser Wilhelm II in Doorn in exile in the Netherlands . The new members were introduced to it there. In 1934 the association was banned by the National Socialists in the course of the dissolution of all monarchist organizations.
Organization of gardening
The gardening organization (OG) was active throughout the republic from 1924 to 1928. It mainly focused on the person of Kaiser Wilhelm II.
Front Fighter Association Stahlhelm
The Frontkampfbund Stahlhelm , an association of combatants from the First World War, turned against democracy in general and in some cases also represented monarchist positions. He was one of the founding members of the anti - republic right-wing extremist Harzburg Front , which also included the SA . The steel helmet was forcibly incorporated into the SA by the National Socialists in 1934 (known under the then official name of Gleichschaltung ) and banned by the Allies in 1945 .
Although the Stahlhelm was not a primarily monarchist organization and, for example, denied membership to former Jewish soldiers at the front, Wilhelm II seems to have considered it to be a (monarchist?) Resistance group: " The Stahlhelmer, the old soldiers at the front should get together and take care of the Nazis " ( November pogroms 1938 ). There are also clear and unambiguous indications for the unambiguous monarchist orientation during the Weimar period: he soon included not only war participants, and the names and symbols that some of the subgroups used clearly showed a monarchist component.
After 1945
In the 1950s there was open discussion about the monarchy; the surveys were favorable for it. A third of West German citizens wanted the monarchy to return. In 1951, the Prussian-Jewish Hans-Joachim Schoeps , honorary member of Tradition und Leben , called for the restoration of Prussia and the return of the House of Hohenzollern in his book Die Ehre Preußens ; his Volksbund for the monarchy , which had been prepared with personalities from the German Bundestag , was never constituted: Der Spiegel betrayed the plan.
However , according to the prevailing opinion of constitutional lawyers, a restoration of the German monarchy under the Basic Law is ruled out by the eternity clause in Article 79.3 of the Basic Law, according to which certain constitutional principles, including the principle of the republic , should be forever withdrawn from constitutional amendment . (The term eternity clause itself is not in the Basic Law, but is part of the legal colloquial language.) A completely new constitution would therefore be required, since the constitution- changing power of the Basic Law does not have the power to make changes, a view that the Federal Constitutional Court also takes. On the other hand, some people argue that it is practically impossible to prevent significant constitutional changes in the long term by means of perpetual clauses. In addition to changing the text of the constitution, a new interpretation of the same could in fact result in a change in the legal interests protected by the perpetual clause.
In the run-up to the Federal President's election in 1969, reader surveys by the illustrated magazine Quick and the Bild newspaper saw Louis Ferdinand von Prussia as the most suitable candidates for the office of Federal President by an overwhelming majority. Approval for the monarchy had declined since the mid-1960s. The reasons for this are seen, on the one hand, in the economic success of the West German statehood at the time, which was increasingly no longer perceived as a temporary solution, but also in the social changes after 1968. With the departing generation, which was shaped before 1918, traditional attachment to the dynasties also passed and continuity largely lost. As a result of the ever advancing secularization of society, election by birth by God's grace hardly plays a role anymore.
League of Upright Monarchists
The Union of Upright Monarchists (BAM) campaigned for the preservation of monarchist ideas and was the successor to the Union of the Upright . The association was non-partisan, committed itself in its principles to the free-democratic basic order and affirmed the federal structure of Germany (federal states). The office of the Federal President, however, should be exchanged for that of the German Emperor, if they wanted. Kaiser should be the current head of the House of Hohenzollern-Brandenburg-Prussia. The emperor should not have exclusively representative tasks. On July 13, 2014, the association dissolved without replacement.
Today's monarchist organizations
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There are several monarchist organizations in Germany. The two largest currently still existing and only active at federal level are currently Tradition und Leben eV with around 170 members and the relatively young civic association of friends of the monarchy . In addition, there are regional groupings, especially in Bavaria and Saxony (followers of the Wittelsbach and Wettins ) as well as followers of former princes and their descendants. The two aforementioned associations, which are large by their standards, aim to introduce a parliamentary monarchy. Tradition and life so chooses, by way of association reach out to the non-partisanship , ruled with a monarch in the desired monarchy to emphasize, while the monarchy friends in the 1990s from tradition and life developed and the way as a party taken have . As a largely common, unifying symbol of the German monarchists (then as well as today), the black-white-red flag is the national flag of the German Empire at the time .
Tradition and life
Tradition und Leben eV - the "Working Group for the Promotion of the Monarchical Thought" - (TuL for short) continues the tradition of the Confederation of the Upright , founded in 1918 . The club magazine Der Aufrechte achieved a circulation of 100,000 copies in the 1920s and the federal government had 25,000 members; in the 1930s it last had 100,000 members. In 1949, circulars were sent to the former members of the Federation who were still alive, so that today's association Tradition und Leben, founded in 1956 (entry in the register of associations in Cologne in 1959), could come into being and today has a little more than 100 members. At the end of the 1990s the association was forced to close a publicly accessible forum because of the massive postings by NPD activists. In 1975 the neo-Nazi Michael Kühnen was the Hamburg representative of tradition and life .
The association is non-partisan, is committed to the free and democratic basic order and affirms the federal structure of Germany ( federal states ). The office of Federal President, however, is to be exchanged for that of the German Emperor . The current head of the House of Hohenzollern-Brandenburg-Prussia is supposed to be the emperor , so today it would be Georg Friedrich Prince of Prussia , who, however, is neither close to tradition and life nor to any other monarchist association. The emperor should not have exclusively representative tasks. “A crowned 'clerk' does not correspond to our idea” (quote from the website). The tasks of the emperor should be based on those of the kings in the Netherlands and Spain . As arguments for the monarchy, Tradition und Leben cites, among other things, the disadvantage of smaller marginalized groups in the republic, for which the monarch is supposed to stand up, as well as the advantages that a monarch who has prepared for his office from childhood brings with it. In addition, the monarch, as the protector of the population in crisis situations, is supposed to prevent extremists ( Communists or National Socialists ) from taking over parliament and government , taking as an example the thwarting of Antonio Tejero's attempted coup on February 23, 1981 (in Spain also known as " 23-F " known) by Juan Carlos I is called. Other common arguments for monarchy see article Monarchy . The bimonthly newspaper Erbe und Einsatz distributes tradition and life .
Monarchist groups in Germany, Bavaria and Austria
Germany
Followers of the Guelphs
The German party , which emerged mainly from the Welfish movement , had a clear monarchist component in its principles from 1952. The head of state should be independent of political powers and parties: “ The German party affirms this office, which has grown out of the historical depths of the empire. “However, the monarchist element in this party remained rather a marginal phenomenon. After all, the future Federal Minister Hans-Joachim von Merkatz openly supported the monarchy as a member of the German party in October 1951 in the Bundestag . The parliamentary group leader of the German party in the Bundestag, Ernst-Christoph Brühler , spoke on January 18, 1957 at Tradition und Leben in Bonn . The Welfenbund , founded on May 10, 1952, had around 300 members in 1992.
Bavaria
Followers of the Wittelsbacher
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Since the US military government was resolutely opposed to the monarchy, it banned the re-established Bavarian Home and King Party in 1946 . This was re-established in 1949 - after the end of the military government. The former Crown Prince Rupprecht of Bavaria (1869-1955) took the view if it already in the German Empire had been at the country level republican constitutions (as in the Hanseatic cities of Hamburg and Bremen ), then could nevertheless Bavaria as a State within the Federal Republic of Germany a give a monarchical constitution, in which the political competences of the Prime Minister would be exercised by this elected politician, but the representative tasks of the national father would be exercised by a hereditary monarch.
After Rupprecht's death on August 2, 1955, however, it became clear that Bavaria was largely reconciled with the republic. The Wittelsbachers were and are felt to be part of the tradition. In 1967, the Heimat- und Königsbund was renamed “ Bayernbund ”. The long-time chairman Rudolf Huber and Albrecht von Bayern saw Bavaria's statehood in danger during the time of the Bonn grand coalition Kiesinger - Brandt . Albrecht von Bayern said that all “special requests” - which undoubtedly meant the monarchy - should be put on hold. He then largely withdrew into private life.
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In addition to today's Bayernbund, there was also the Bavarian Home and King Party . Regarding the relationship of the Bavarian Party, which still exists today, to the monarchy, it can be said that Anton Besold (a former member of the Bavarian Home and King Party ) and Eugen Fürst zu Oettingen-Wallerstein, as members of the Bavarian Party's Bundestag, committed to the monarchy at the end of 1951. In 1988 the Jungbayernbund , the youth group of the Bavarian Party, demanded the introduction of a parliamentary monarchy in Bavaria. However, the party then distanced itself from this demand. According to its managing director, the Bavarian party is fighting for a sovereign Bavaria. Once this far-off goal has been achieved, a referendum on the form of government should be brought about. However, the party leadership repeatedly sends signals to monarchist groups, although the Bavarian party officially distanced itself.
In the Christian-Social Union ( CSU ) there were monarchist expressions especially between 1945 and 1949. Fritz Schäffer , who later became Federal Minister of Finance , opposed the committed Republican Josef Müller . The CSU and other parties managed to get Bavaria to reject the Basic Law . In the campaign, CSU politicians such as Alois Hundhammer and Joseph Baumgartner fought against Bonn with monarchist arguments. Even today there are close ties between monarchist associations and the CSU. So far, the Salvator chain of the Regensburg royalists has been awarded almost exclusively to CSU politicians, including Prime Minister Horst Seehofer in 2010 .
Austria
Followers of the House of Habsburg
In 1967 the Austrian monarchist movement became “ Aktion Österreich Europa ”, which soon afterwards, when Otto von Habsburg became president of the international Paneuropean Union , became its Austrian branch. Between 1946 and 1958, the (West) German supporters of the House of Habsburg-Lothringen gathered around the respected conservative magazine Neues Abendland . Emil Franzel , who came from Bohemia , was its editor-in-chief . At the suggestion of Georg von Waldburg-Zeil and Trauchburg , the Occidental Academy was established in 1952 , where people with conservative and monarchist attitudes met. However, the conference work was stopped again in 1958.
The Paneuropean Union is also active in the Federal Republic of Germany. However, it is not a monarchist association. Organized followers of the House of Habsburg no longer exist in Germany. In Austria there are of course monarchists in the most varied of associations. Since 2004, the Black-Yellow Alliance has been an organization that promotes the return of the House of Habsburg to the top of the state.
See also
literature
- Joachim Selzam: Monarchist Currents in the Federal Republic of Germany 1949–1989. Dissertation. University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, 1994, DNB 944247296 .
- Hans-Otto Meissner: When the crowns fell. Giessen 1956, DNB 453293638 .
- Rudolf Huber: Monarchy - Savior of the Future. Feldafing around 1959, DNB 452118840 .
- Norbert Ficek: Orphan Germany - or: Why we need our Kaiser again. Berlin 2004.
Individual evidence
- ^ Friedrich Freiherr Hiller von Gaertringen: Monarchism in the German Republic. In: Michael Stürmer (Ed.): The Weimar Republic. Besieged Civitas. 2nd ext. Edition. Athenaeum, Königstein / Ts. 1985 (1980), ISBN 3-7610-7254-6 , pp. 254-271, here pp. 267/268.
- ↑ Almost every tenth German wants a king. on: Saxon newspaper online. April 22, 2011.
- ↑ Claus Heinrich Bill: The "Organization Horticulture" 1924–1928. An example of monarchical engagement by the nobility. In: Nobilitas - magazine for German nobility research. Vol. I, Owschlag 1998, pp. 167-170.
- ↑ See: The Honor of Prussia. In: Der Spiegel. 10/1954 (March 3, 1954), diagram on p. 6 (only in PDF text, not in OCR text).
- ↑ The honor of Prussia . In: Der Spiegel . No. 10 , 1954, pp. 6-10 ( online ).
- ↑ Otto Köhler : Indispensable imperial crown . In: Der Spiegel . No. 47 , 1968, p. 94 ( online ).
- ↑ https://coronanachrichten.wordpress.com/2014/07/19/in-eigener-sache-die-zukunft-von-corona/
- ^ Website of the Friends of the Monarchy , Friends of the Monarchy on Facebook
- ↑ Cheers for the king's embassy. In: Süddeutsche Zeitung. 17th June 2012.
- ↑ Secretary General Hubert Dorn welcomes the royalists on the occasion of the Ash Wednesday rally 2012, video on Youtube , minute 2:07
- ↑ "Frequently Asked Questions" , landesverband.bayernpartei.de
- ↑ Loyalty to the King honor Gloria von Thurn und Taxis. ( Memento of the original from October 14, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on: Antenne Bayern. March 24, 2012.
- ↑ Loyalty to the king honor "royal" Seehofer. on: Merkur Online. August 1, 2010.
- ↑ Internet presence of the Black and Yellow Alliance
