Wilhelm Solf

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Wilhelm Solf (1911)
Signature of Wilhelm Solf

Wilhelm Heinrich Solf (born October 5, 1862 in Berlin ; † February 6, 1936 there ) was a German politician and diplomat .

After studying Indology in Berlin and a stay in London, he was accepted into the diplomatic service in 1888 and worked at the German Consulate General in Calcutta ( British India ). He then took the state law exams in Göttingen . In 1898 he went as a district judge to Dar es Salaam in German East Africa and in 1899 as President of the Municipal Council in Apia on Samoa ; In 1900 he became governor of the new German colony, German Samoa . Following his ideas of humane colonialism, he succeeded in ending the Lauati uprising ( Mau a Pule ) in 1904 without the use of arms.

In December 1911, Solf took over the post of State Secretary at the head of the Reich Colonial Office . During the First World War he was a staunch supporter of the policy of Reich Chancellor Theobald von Bethmann Hollweg . He campaigned for an early mutual agreement with which he wanted to combine a colonial settlement. In 1918, under Max von Baden's chancellorship , Solf was promoted to State Secretary of the Foreign Office . Even after the November Revolution he held this post until he resigned in December 1918.

1920 to 1928 Solf was the German ambassador in Tokyo ; he knew how to decisively promote cultural and political rapprochement .

Origin and family

Wilhelm Solf came from a middle-class family. His ancestors probably emigrated to Worbis ( Eichsfeld ) from Sweden at the time of King Gustav Adolf . Solf's grandfather, a trained carpenter, fought against France in the wars of liberation and achieved some prosperity as a collector of the road toll to Lebus ( Brandenburg province ).

The social advancement of the family began with Wilhelm Solf's father Hermann. He had worked in a commercial activity in Stettin for training . In 1856 he married Augusta Peters, Jacob Wackernagel's cousin . As the start-up crisis subsided , Hermann Solf was able to skillfully increase his fortune. In the 1880s he was able to acquire several brown coal mines in Altenburg and offer all of his six sons an academic education. At the same time, he managed to gain a foothold in Berlin, which is reflected in his long-standing mandate as a city councilor for the German Liberal Party . He was also a member of various Masonic lodges . Although he was a Catholic himself, he brought up his children in the Protestant faith of his wife.

Life

Youth and Studies

New high school from 1851 in Anklam, today houses the ev. School Peeneburg

Wilhelm Solf was born on October 5, 1862, the fourth of a total of seven children in Berlin. At that time his family was free of existential worries and took part in the flourishing social life of the Berlin bourgeoisie. According to his mother's request, Wilhelm Solf attended a school outside the busy city. First he went to the grammar school in Anklam ( today " Otto Lilienthal-Gymnasium " , province of Pomerania ), from which he was expelled not because of insufficient performance, but because of his loose mouth . From 1879 he therefore attended the Grand Ducal Gymnasium in Mannheim , where he passed the school leaving examination in 1881 with good average performance.

Stories about the Far East and in particular about the Indian subcontinent fascinated Wilhelm. He therefore decided to study Indology and enrolled at the universities of Berlin , Kiel , Halle and Göttingen . During his studies in Göttingen he became a member of the Verdensia Landsmannschaft . In Kiel he became a member of the Slesvico-Holsatia country team . In 1885 he passed his exams in Indian philology, Sanskrit and philosophy in Halle with the grade “ magna cum laude ”. In his dissertation he dealt with old Indian love poetry, which he translated and provided with source-critical comments. As Solf later said, his teacher Richard Pischel created the spiritual tincture of his worldview and was thus of decisive importance for the further course of his life.

After graduating, the young doctor of philosophy worked at the University Library in Kiel . In Schleswig-Holstein he was drafted into the navy , but a little later dismissed as unfit for military service because of his stoutness and foot ailment.

Piccadilly Circus - cosmopolitan atmosphere in the cosmopolitan city of London

Solf used the free time to learn other Asian languages ​​( Urdu and Persian ) at the seminar for oriental languages in Berlin. In 1888 his German translation of Franz Kielhorn's English-language Sanskrit grammar appeared , which is still one of the standard works of Indology today. In the same year he followed his college friend, the orientalist Friedrich Rosen , to London , what was then the world capital of India research. In letters to his parents, Wilhelm Solf described the British lifestyle : It is true that English life is expensive and Sundays so boring that every dog ​​can be happy that it has fleas . But the elegance and greater inner freedom, free from the many formal nonsense in our homeland , had done it to him.

At this time the diplomat Rudolf Lindau , who was known to the Solf family , approached the Foreign Office to propose Wilhelm Solf for a career as an interpreter . His extraordinary language skills led to Solf's admission to the Foreign Service, which he even preferred to the secure position at Oxford . On December 10, 1888, Wilhelm Solf was accepted into the service of the empire and entrusted with the administration of the secretariat at the Imperial Consulate General in Calcutta (then the capital of British India ).

India

Calcutta - the bustling capital of British India

At the beginning of January 1889 Wilhelm Solf traveled to India with a diplomatic passport . The 27-year-old wrote from Calcutta that he had now "put himself in the bondage of the greats of this world", "of course with the freedoms of a gentleman". As early as May 31, his superior, Consul General Gerlich, was able to report to Bismarck that Solf had shone with “discretion, tact, good language skills and conscientiousness” and was therefore also suitable for higher tasks.

A male friendship developed between Solf and Gerlich. The consul general gave Solf riding lessons. The cheerful, open manner of the young consulate secretary made him popular in the educated environment of diplomacy. ("All things can be done better at the white than at the green table." "A good diplomat must also have a good stomach.")

Soon he became a member of the Asiatic Society and , to the suspicion of the British , frequented Indians, benefiting from his command of Hindustani .

In 1890, Edmund von Heyking, a new consul general arrived. The self-confident and clumsy Baltic baron had a considerably worse relationship with Wilhelm Solf than his predecessor had. Solf wrote home that Heyking was one of "the noble bugs that nestle in the crevices of the thrones." Heyking refused Solf, who was striving for higher tasks, the additional examination that would have been necessary for taking on consular activities. Despite his personal aversion to his superior, he saw that he was right about the matter: a legal education was necessary to achieve higher positions. Therefore, Solf quit the service on January 14, 1891 and enrolled again.

He decided on the Friedrich Schiller University in Jena . There he came into contact with the German colonial movement for the first time through the court of Duke Carl Alexander von Sachsen-Weimar-Eisenach . Under the reign of Carl Alexander, Weimar had advanced to become the capital of overseas enthusiasm, and leading Africa researchers frequented the court. After Solf had successfully passed the legal traineeship at the Berlin Court of Appeal in 1892 , he did his preparatory service at the Weimar District Court. In September 1896, after passing the state examination, he was appointed Grand Ducal Saxon Court Assessor. In the same year he reported to the Foreign Office to resume service, whereupon, according to his own request, he came to the colonial department.

East Africa

Wilhelm Solf ( middle, dark suit ) at an event in Dar es Salaam, 1898

As early as August 1897, Oswald von Richthofen , the head of the colonial department, assigned him the important task of drafting a reform for the taxation of the local population in German East Africa . Solf showed such an urge to deal with the culture of the country in question that he embarked on a HAPAG steamer for German East Africa the following spring . The Indologist and fully qualified lawyer had received instructions to take over the post of judge in the capital of the colony, Dar es Salaam.

In mid-April he set foot on African soil for the first time in Tanga and was warmly welcomed by the Deputy Governor Rudolf von Bennigsen . At first he had a good relationship with Governor Eduard von Liebert and was thus able to exert a decisive influence on the vacillating general. Liebert, an early supporter of the Pan-German Union , was little versed in foreign policy matters and gave Judge Solf all of the administrative tasks relating to the British and Belgian neighboring colonies. The governor is a passionate enemy of the English, and I must use all my skill to keep him from doing any resulting nonsense.

After visiting the island of Zanzibar in 1898, he wrote wistfully that Zanzibar could also be in India. But like in India, when his main focus was on the locals, in Dar es Salaam he dealt with African culture. He wrote to his parents that the Africans would give him a lot of joy and that every German should thank them for not having the idea of ​​colonizing us .

In the late autumn of 1898 he received the call from the Foreign Office to go to Samoa as German consul, which at that time was the focus of the great powers. Solf was impressed by the offer and left for the South Pacific while Governor Liebert was in Germany. Liebert then referred to Solf as a deserter and the formerly good relationship with him turned into its opposite, not least because of the growing political distance.

Neutral Samoa

prehistory

Tamasese

Ever since the United States declared the eastern part of Samoa its possession by hoisting the flag in Pago Pago in 1878 , the South Seas group of islands had become the bone of contention among the great powers. While American influence predominated in the east, Great Britain and the emerging German Empire competed in the west. The Hanseatic trading house Godeffroy had gained considerable influence through several factories. The zeal of the Christian missions also caused growing dissensions. The three major powers involved also tried to exert influence through the struggle for the new head of the Samoans and each supported its own candidate.

In 1881 there were again conflicts in connection with the election of the king. The British supported Malietoa Laupepa, while the Germans supported Tamasese. When there was a clash between Germans and Samoans during an Emperor's birthday party in 1887, Laupepa was caught and sent into exile in what would later become German Cameroon . The British and American representatives, offended by this diplomatic defeat, proclaimed Mataafa Josefo on the side island of Savai'i to be the rival king. In 1889 the conflict was finally settled by the Samoa Act . This treaty provided for Samoa to be declared a neutral territory, a consular court established and the district of the capital Apia to be made a municipal district . The task of presiding over the municipal council was reserved for German officials from the start.

After the death of King Tamasese in 1897, who had been proclaimed head by the Samoa Act, the conflict flared up again: the population proclaimed Tamasese II as king, which led to protests by Mataafa and Malietoa supporters. In August 1898, Malietoa died of natural causes and Mataafa returned to Apia on a German cruiser. The son of Malietoa, Tanu Malietoa, fought against the "German party" Mataafas in the following months. In this fight, the supporters of Malietoa were defeated, which is why the American consul Chambers of Samoa withdrew and left the field to the German municipal president Raffel. However, after negotiations on the Samoa question between British Prime Minister Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury and the State Secretary of the Foreign Office Bernhard von Bülow in London, German foreign policy considered it wiser to recall Raffel from Apia.

Municipal President in Apia

Wilhelm Solf applied for this post from Dar es Salaam. In November 1898 he was accepted and initially traveled to London to get to know the opinion of the key figures in the Samoa crisis and to take up his post with the least possible prejudice. It was not without caution that Solf chose the route via the USA, to which he was traveling on an official mission for the Federal Foreign Office. In March 1899 he arrived in New York to meet President William McKinley and the German Ambassador Theodor von Holleben . The immense interest shown by the American public in the Samoa crisis was also evident at the reception of the municipal president, who was surrounded by journalists and gave interviews to the press. At the end of April, Wilhelm Solf left San Francisco for Samoa, where he was officially named municipal president in November 1899.

A little later, the situation in Samoa worsened again due to an unauthorized action by the frigate captain Emsmann. Emsmann accused Solf of "sluggishness" and asked him to "fulfill his duties towards the emperor in Samoa". The municipal president excitedly pointed out to the commanders that only he himself was authorized to “conduct politics in the name of His Majesty”. The Navy should not act as the “Lord of the South Seas” just because it is “His Majesty's favorite weapon”. Solf filed a complaint for insulting officials and sent an official report to Reich Chancellor Hohenlohe , which for the time was a remarkable advocate for the rights of civil violence against the influence of the military.

Flag hoisting on Samoa on March 1, 1900 (photomontage with the imperial letter of protection in the background)

When the letter reached Berlin, the situation had changed decisively. In London, the great powers were able to agree on the Samoa question: Upolu and Savai'i were assigned to Germany as a colony, America was allowed to keep the eastern part of the archipelago as overseas territory, while Great Britain withdrew from Samoa under the strain of the Boer War in South Africa. Despite the patriotic high spirits among the Samoan Germans, Solf retained his sober, realistic view. He wrote to Oswald von Richthofen that one had to replace “the song about the false Albion, which was sung to death, with a more conciliatory composition”.

In his reply, Richthofen suggested the new post of governor, which Solf received at the "highest wish of His Majesty", despite resistance from the Navy. On March 1, 1900, the German flag was hoisted and Samoa was taken over in a festive setting. In a letter to Friedrich Rosen, the new governor Wilhelm Solf wrote, for whom a new phase of life began when the flag was raised:

“The whole of the European population, polluted with one another by national jealousies, also the missions that play a role here, which despite their Christian vocation are all enemies with one another, as well as 6000 Samoans who came from all sides to see the flag, this whole colorful society should be brought under one roof. Now it's time to make laws and forge fixed regulations. "

Governor of Samoa

Beginnings: stability through self-management

Governor's House in Apia , Samoa
Police officers in uniform in Samoa

The governor's most urgent task was to pacify the inhabitants. The quarreling Samoans had now come under unified foreign rule for the first time. Wilhelm Solf's maxim on this question was clear: "Right from the start I took the point of view that I learned in India and taught in Africa to interfere as little as possible with pure indigenous relationships."

Nevertheless, clear conditions had to be created first. After the two pretenders to the throne, Tanu and Mataafa, had renounced their royal dignity, the Samoan aristocratic parliaments, Tumua and Pule, also agreed to accept the emperor as Tupu Sili , d. H. about "high lord" to recognize. The Samoans believed that the governor had neither military power nor money at his disposal. Solf traveled through the interior of the Samoa Islands of Upolu , Savaii, Apolima and Manono and spoke with the village heads himself. He soon acquired a sufficient knowledge of the Samoan language and brought important clan chiefs such as Lauati (Savaii) and Mataafa behind him. The persuasion turned out to be tedious wood chopping : "My weapon is patience and the art of negotiating with the chiefs for hours, always saying pleasant things without entering into any obligation."

Mataafa Josefo (right, with Otto Tetens )

Solf saw the Samoan self-government as the most important means of consolidating German rule: like the British in India, he wanted to proceed in Samoa according to the principle of indirect rule . Less humanism, but above all the fact that he had little military available, forced this approach to secure rule. In addition, Wilhelm II received the title of Tupu Sili the Samoan royal dignity, while Mataafa was given the name Ali'i Sili . At the same time, the governorate divided the Samoan Islands into eleven districts, each with a “district chief”. In addition, each district had a local judge ( Schulzen ). The district chiefs council, the Faipule, assisted the Ali'i Sili. Representatives of the anti-Mataafa Malietoa party were also represented in this parliament .

At a solemn meeting on August 14, 1900, a so-called Fono, the district chiefs were officially appointed German officials. In addition, the expansion of the school system began. By 1914, 320 schools with 10,000 students (out of a total of 33,000 inhabitants) had been built, teaching bilingual German and Samoan from the outset, with a focus on the latter. On the Emperor's birthday in 1901, the government raised a poll tax for the first time , which the Samoans paid punctually and without resistance. The proceeds were spent entirely on the school system and the salaries of the district chiefs. In addition, Solf spoke out against the establishment of a " protection force ".

For the interests of the Europeans, Solf set up a government council, which consisted of high German officials and important representatives of the economy. However, like the lazy body for the Ali'i Sili, this body only had an advisory function. Before the beginning of German rule, the relationship between the white inhabitants of Samoa had repeatedly proven to be a problem, and Solf was anxious to find a long-term solution. Therefore, in 1901 he undertook a two-month study trip to New Zealand to inquire about the methods of British colonial administration from the governor Sir Arthur Hamilton-Gordon there .

Lobbyism as a colonial and economic policy obstacle

Governor Solf in a horse-drawn carriage (near Apia, 1910)

As in New Zealand, the influence of the plantation operations grew in Samoa: The German Trading and Plantation Company , market leader in German Samoa, urged the Foreign Office to ban Samoans from giving up their land to non-Samoans. The hope was to sell their own unused land as expensively as possible. Solf objected to this, brought down the request and thus attracted the entrepreneurs' hostility.

As governor, Wilhelm Solf was more popular with the Samoans and English residents than with his own compatriots. Most of the Germans in Samoa oriented themselves towards the Pan-German Association , which promoted Samoa as a settlement colony in the empire. The spokesman of this group, Richard Deeken , a former lieutenant, published the book Manuia Samoa - Heil Samoa in 1901 , which caused a real enthusiasm for Samoa in Germany. Although Solf wrote to the Foreign Office that Deeken had only been to Samoa for a few weeks and that his descriptions should be called superficial, some immigrants settled down as planters. In 1903, Deeken founded the German Samoa Society as an opposition to the government, which Wilhelm Solf dubbed as clumsy and noisy Deutschhuberei . Deeken's kinship with the Reichstag member Karl Trimborn ( Center Party ) formed the actual basis for Matthias Erzberger's political offensive against colonial policy.

At the end of 1901 Solf went on his first home leave to Germany for health reasons, where he was awarded the Order of the Crown by Kaiser Wilhelm II . In March 1902 he stood before the plenary session of the Reichstag as Commissioner of the Federal Council . In his speech he explained the main features of his administration in Samoa, in particular the self-government of the local people, which met with approval from all groups. In the meantime, however, more immigrants had arrived in Samoa, which is why Solf applied to the Foreign Office to recall Deekens as a dangerous troublemaker , but this was unsuccessful. In the summer of 1904, the Apia High Court sentenced Richard Deeken to two months in prison for insulting the governor and mistreating Chinese workers.

Wilhelm Solf as governor of Samoa

The issue of the Chinese workforce ( coolies ) also turned out to be a problem. The Chinese workers replaced the Samoans as coolies, who were not used for forced labor out of political consideration. Their working conditions were extreme, the three-year coolie contracts did not give the plantation workers the right to dismiss, and physical abuse was the order of the day. Since 1905, the Chinese government criticized the extreme working conditions of the coolies, and public debates put the colonial administration under pressure. The colonial administration tried to justify the violent forced labor by stating that corporal punishment was permissible in Germany according to the Prussian servants' order - which, however, did not mitigate the protest from China. The colonial administration was therefore forced to give in to the protests, at least in part. On the return trip from his home visit, Solf took half a year to get to know the living conditions of workers in the Dutch East Indies , China , the American Philippines and German New Guinea . Back in Samoa, he abolished corporal punishment entirely and had quarters built for the Chinese workers. From Manila he wrote to Friedrich Rosen:

“We Germans are all bureaucrats; A dose of this quality is quite annoying and necessary with the civil servants, but the worst is that with us the whole people and all political parties, from the extreme right to the reddest left, are ailing from this Teutonic or better Borussian hereditary evil. "

On January 1, 1907, the colonial department of the Foreign Office was reorganized into the Reich Colonial Office , but Samoa had not received any grants from Berlin since 1904 and was entirely self-financed, which no other colony except Togoland succeeded in doing. On the occasion of the debates on the restructuring of the colonial administration, Solf stayed again in Berlin. On the return journey he chose the route across the Caribbean , namely Cuba , for the first time . He wrote to his sister from Havana : We have to break with our old methods, otherwise we will be lost in international competition.

Back in Samoa he was welcomed by the locals and settlers. In his absence, there had been both bureaucratic ambiguities and ill-treatment of Chinese workers, so he gave the government officials a fair lecture.

Marriage to Johanna Dotti

Hanna Solf

During his third home leave, Wilhelm Solf, who was already approaching the age of 50, met Johanna Dotti . His brother Hermann Solf had built the manor house and various other new buildings on their estate in Neuenhagen near Berlin as an architect for Johanna Dotti's parents and introduced him to the family. In 1901 Wilhelm Solf had said to his deputy Heinrich Schnee : I hope I won't be infected by this rampant addiction to marriage.

Johanna Dotti, known as Hanna, was the third daughter of the Brandenburg landowner and mayor Georg Leopold Dotti. Wilhelm Solf was able to compensate for the age difference of 25 years, which the Dottis initially perceived as a serious counter-argument, with his engaging personality. On September 7, 1908, the couple stepped in front of the altar. The governor's young wife did not match the image of an average woman who devoted her life to home and hearth. Her lively temperament, her empathy and her understanding of art allowed her to participate fully in her husband's work from the start. Solf later introduced them to the Asian researcher Sven Hedin : Yes, they should see them. She shoots lions! On August 31, 1909, Lagi , the first daughter of Wilhelm and Hanna Solf, was born in Vailima, Samoa. The child was given a Samoan name (So'oa'emalelagi = the one who came from heaven ) - an expression of the great cosmopolitanism of the couple. Years later, during the Nazi era, Hanna and Lagi continued Wilhelm Solf's intellectual legacy.

Lauati uprising

Lauati - leader of the early Mau-a-Pule movement

When Governor Solf and his wife returned to Samoan soil on November 19, 1908, they were not welcomed as happily as a year earlier. In his long absence, his representative and subsequent successor Erich Schultz-Ewerth reported that a mood fueled by Lauati had developed. Solf had already feared that such a situation could arise after the death of Ali'i Sili Mataafa, but he was not prepared for an uprising. In addition, he had refused to set up a "protection force" from the start. Lauati had the goal of dissolving the Faipule, the assembly of village heads loyal to the Germans, and instead reestablishing the pre-colonial rulers Tumua and Pule. The group that supported him in this was called Mau a Pule .

With the thoughts of the bloody suppression of the uprisings in the colonies in Africa ( uprising of the Herero and Nama ; Maji-Maji uprising ), Wilhelm Solf tried to prevent this for the previous "model colony" Samoa. He himself traveled to Savaii, the side island where the insurrectionary movement spread. In a speech duel in the Samoan language on the village square of Safotu, the Governor Lauati managed to stop his efforts for the time being and testify to the lazy on January 16, 1909. In the remaining weeks, Solf traveled through the hinterland of the main island of Upolu and brought the village heads almost together behind him.

Seat of the Faipule (Mulinuu near Apia)

When Lauati found out about this, he and 1000 of his followers crossed over to Upolu in 25 hull boats , thus breaking his promise not to appear until the agreed date. Wilhelm Solf sent the rebel leader a letter in which he assured him accommodation and impunity as long as he stood by the agreements made. Lauati accepted the offer and appeared at the lazy congregation. After several hours of discussion, the parties were ready to shake hands. Wilhelm Solf said in one of his contributions:

“We want to start all over again. The beginning should be love. "

Under the impression of the governor's rhetorical persuasion, the leaders present decided to send Lauati back to Savaii, but to pardon him. The insurgents agreed, but did not cross over to Savaii, but to the small island of Manono.

Meanwhile, rumors spread that Lauati was preparing a nightly raid on the governor's palace, which Solf was now manning guards. The governor had the rebels tracked down on the volcanic island and brought to Apia. At the renewed Faipule, the village leaders decided to ban Lauati from Samoa. Since Solf did not comply with this request because he still felt obliged to his own promise, the situation worsened. Lauati continued his activities to stir up the population on Savaii. Therefore, on February 5, 1909, Governor Solf applied for the dispatch of three warships in a telegram to Wilhelmsstrasse in Berlin.

SMS Arcona

The Samoans, who called for the Faipule resolution to be implemented, demanded that the governorate hand over weapons for the arrest of Lauati. Solf refused and put the locals off with the Samoan saying san aso - the day is coming .

On March 21, the warships ( SMS Leipzig , SMS Arcona and SMS Titania ) finally arrived in the port of Apia. Solf announced that Lauati should volunteer by March 29. Mataafa had leaflets in support of the German approach distributed on all islands. Lauati replied that he would not surrender but would instead go into the hinterland. However, Solf cut the food supply for the island of Savaii by having the warships patrolled between the islands. On April 1, 1909, Lauati surrendered. This ended the uprising peacefully and without bloodshed. Lauati, his brother and fifteen other leading insurgents were banished to Saipan , which was part of Germany at the time , and the lazy man's decision was put into practice. After this graduation, Kaiser Wilhelm II was impressed by the governor's diplomatic approach and wrote: Solf did an excellent job.

Wilhelm Solf described the peaceful ending of the Lauati uprising as the work of my life that I am most proud of.

Term expires in Samoa

On March 1, 1910, the people of Samoa celebrated ten years of membership in the German Empire. Although the governor was established and popular with the native and white population of Samoa, he continued to have the desire to take over the government in German East Africa. In the autumn of 1910, Solf was in Bad Kissingen for a cure .

10th anniversary of the flag-raising in Samoa on March 1, 1910

In the meantime, Friedrich von Lindequist had become the colonial state secretary as the successor to the economically liberal and friendly Solf Bernhard Dernburg . Since Lindequist did not share the Anglophilia of the South Seas governor and was already a representative of Pan-German settlement policy - called by Solf Radieschenpolitik - the relationship between Apia and Berlin became difficult in the last few years of Solf's time as governor. Therefore, there was no call to East Africa.

During his trip to Germany he also visited Berlin and spoke to the budget commission of the Reichstag. There he was supported by free conservatives and liberals, but attacked by the SPD and the far right. There were also protests against the governor's policy from the center faction, which objected to Solf's position in relation to the mission schools. Nevertheless, Solf's good arguments turned the debate in favor of his governorate. Chancellor Theobald von Bethmann Hollweg , who fully supported Solf's political views , also learned of this parliamentary success .

When von Lindequist resigned in protest against the settlement that Germany received after the end of the Second Morocco Crisis (namely New Cameroon ), the successor was the Governor of Samoa. From the most remote colony in the empire, Solf moved to head the entire German colonial administration. He was succeeded as governor by Erich Schultz-Ewerth .

Colonial Secretary of State

Africa Travel: Colonial Policy as a Peacekeeping Perspective

The Reich Colonial Office at Wilhelmstrasse 62

Solf happily accepted the new post, which he probably owed to his accidental presence in Berlin. As a first official act he issued a memorandum on the controversial Morocco-Congo Treaty in the Reich Colonial Office (published on November 8, 1911). In it he stated that renouncing Morocco was unsatisfactory from a colonial-political point of view, but was more than necessary in the context of major politics. For Solf, the treaty represented a new era of understanding and cooperation with France, including in colonial areas .

Solf complained to his predecessor that he had defeated the colonies all over the top , although the situation was different everywhere. Therefore Wilhelm Solf made the decision to visit the African colonies in the first year of his term of office. A special reason for this was the amendment to the Protection Troops Act discussed in the Reichstag at the time. Many parliamentarians called for disciplinary power over the troops that lay with the governors to be transferred to the military commanders. The governor of German South West Africa , Theodor Seitz , was particularly upset about this proposal. On February 19, 1912, Seitz wrote to the new colonial state secretary that he had never experienced what it meant to work with a force over which one lacked absolute power. In response, Solf announced his visit to South West Africa.

In the Reichstag on May 2, 1912, he triggered a debate on mixed marriages , in which he represented the then customary racist ideas of the "lower races" of the colonized peoples. In the end, no legislative act was passed, but the debate was made public. Solf had previously issued a heavily criticized mixed marriage ban for Samoa on January 17, 1912.

In May 1912 he left Berlin. He stopped in Antwerp to talk to Belgian diamond dealers about the deposits in German South West Africa. On June 19, he finally set foot on African soil in Swakopmund . From there he traveled in the Dernburg car through all the districts of the colony. In his diary he noted in Keetmanshoop :

“Almost everyone stands to attention at some point, including civilians. Wherever one has the opportunity to stand at attention in this country, he does it. As little as I notice this with soldiers, I find these commissary manners with plainclothes officers just as unsympathetic. So I don't think it's right that the governor likes to wear uniform so often. [...] In this country even the graves give the impression that they are standing at attention. "

In Rehoboth he complained about the situation of the black population:

“All over the southwest I feel the same feeling of sadness over the fate of the natives. If, as whites claim, they are worse than the rest of the Bantu tribes in Africa and the natives in other parts of the world, I will not let myself be robbed of the conviction that the whites are to blame, and we must make amends. "

In the last weeks of July 1912, Solf left German South West Africa for the South African Union . As a conclusion of his visit to the only settlement colony in the empire, he set up five central points: First, the promotion of agricultural development through training of officials and reclamation of arid areas, then water development in general, which Governor Seitz wanted to leave exclusively to private farmers, and thirdly, the The question of the small settlements, which Solf judged negatively, as in Samoa, because he saw in them the potential for conflict, and finally the problems of the Africans: The sanitary and medical conditions of the locals must definitely be improved and the rebuilding of those damaged in the Herero uprising Villages are funded.

On July 23, 1912, Solf arrived at the Cape of Good Hope . After visiting the Rhodes Memorial , which is under construction, against the backdrop of Table Mountain , where he expressed his appreciation for the Rhodes Foundation's educational support , he traveled to Kimberley , where he toured the De Beers diamond mines . Solf was pleased to note that there was no trace of anti-Semitism against the Jewish managers of the mines . In Johannesburg , he and the German consul Richard Kuenzer, who later became involved in the resistance against National Socialism, attended non-denominational, trilingual religious instruction during which, as Solf noted, Erzberger had cramps .

The next destination of his trip was Mozambique before he set foot on German colonial soil again in Lindi on August 10, 1912 . After a short trip to Zanzibar , he arrived in Dar es Salaam, the capital of German East Africa, on August 12th. There he was warmly received by his former colleague Heinrich Schnee , who is now Governor of East Africa. Then he started traveling inland. He took the Mittelland Railway to Tabora , where he wrote in his diary:

“Little remains of the concept of the lazy negro, as described by the planters and how the large lay public at home paints the blacks, if you have seen the agriculture of the natives around Tabora and if you consider that the governorate with the Installation of the railways in East Africa with the products of the natives as an important factor for freight calculations. Anyone who sees the Negro as merely a corpus vile for his own gainful intentions would rather stay at home! "

Arrival of Solf in British East Africa

Via Dar es Salaam he traveled on the coast to Tanga . From there, Solf took the Usambara train through the mountains in the hinterland. There he visited the Biological-Agricultural Institute Amani and the place Wilhelmsthal (today Lushoto ). After a final reception in Tanga, he left the German overseas territory for British East Africa . After his arrival in Mombasa at the beginning of September 1912 he noted: Different peoples, different customs. In this respect I like the customs of the English better, who live and let live and treat strangers fairly and fairly, even if they do not even approve in their innermost hearts. In Nairobi , the capital of the British Crown Colony , the Governor, Sir Percy Girouard, gave him a warm welcome. Both agreed that colonial policy in Africa offered an opportunity for the great European powers to work together and thus to maintain peace. State Secretary Solf took the Uganda Railway to Kampala , where he was greeted by Kabaka (King) Daudi Chwa II , whom he astonished with his knowledge of Swahili. Entebbe , the capital of the British Protectorate over Uganda, was the last stop on the great trip to Africa before landing in Naples on October 1st after a stormy journey home . Wilhelm Solf had been absent from Berlin for over three months.

As a balance sheet, he wrote a colonial policy program in which he expressed himself about the changes that he believed were necessary. The powers of the governors would have to be expanded considerably in order to adapt the administration of office to the circumstances on site. He also considered the African colonies, like Samoa before, unsuitable for settlement projects. On the question of the treatment of the African population, he formulated two clear guidelines: The German protection comrades should not be driven to work by force or coercion. Solf rejected the multiracial marriage: on the one hand he feared a wave of emigrants willing to marry, on the other hand the thought of a possible suppression of the not even established German cultural influence worried him.

As early as September 1913, the State Secretary set out on his second trip to Africa, this time to the West African colonies of Germany , Cameroon and Togo . After the reception in the capital Buea by the governor Karl Ebermaier , Solf traveled to Yaoundé with a carrier column . He expressed his horror at the excessive use of the local population as a load carrier and advocated the visionary idea of ​​a German colonial road network. Otherwise, the construction of the railway lines is urgent: Once the traffic on the railways has been provided, the thousands upon thousands of workers who are now dullly used for carrying loads will be free for productive activity. The indigenous cultures will flourish mightily.

Following his stay in Cameroon, he traveled to Lagos , the capital of the British colony of Nigeria . There he met with Governor Frederick Lugard , a leading representative of the indirect rule also practiced by Solf . At the end of the trip, Solf came to visit Lomé , the capital of Togo.

On the return trip to Germany he stopped in London, where on October 20, 1913, an agreement was made between Solf and his British colleague Lewis Vernon Harcourt, 1st Viscount Harcourt, on the later division of the Portuguese and Belgian colonies. As early as July 1913, the partners had agreed on Germany's claim to Angola, except for the border area with Northern Rhodesia, as well as Sao Tomé and Principe , while the United Kingdom claimed Mozambique up to Lugenda . The final nations considered Belgium and Portugal in their methods for fossil and global political dwarfs , which is why Solf said it was in the air that England and Germany would one day lay their hands on these colonies . The joint action of the great powers, in which Solf also wanted to include France, was intended to defuse the political contradictions in Europe through colonial policy.

Another proposal by Solf to circumcise the Belgian Congo , with Katanga and the extreme northeast to England, the region north of the Congo to France, and a broad connection between Angola and German East Africa to the Reich, ultimately failed because of British resistance. To enforce claims against indebted Portugal seemed much easier than against economically prosperous Belgium.

Wilhelm Solf won over all parliamentary groups with the exception of the right for his less violent colonial policy, which was based on diplomacy and skillful power politics instead of military strength. On Solf's return, the social democrat Gustav Noske published an approving memorandum entitled Colonial Policy and Social Democracy . According to Noske, Solf finally brought an understanding spirit into colonial policy . Solf later described it as his main merit of making the SPD colonial-friendly. He bound them to the empire in a way that corresponded to the maxims of Chancellor Bethmann Hollweg, which Solf fully supported.

First World War

Wilhelm Solf (painting, attributed to Wilhelm Trübner )

Before the outbreak of the First World War, Wilhelm Solf was completely convinced of the stability of the global political situation. When the conflict finally broke out in the Balkans, he sent a telegram from Berlin to the German colonies, for which he was later exposed to serious allegations:

"Protected areas where there is no danger of war, reassures Farmer."

He was convinced of the validity of the Congo Act of 1885, which forbidden under international law to bring a military conflict between major European powers into the colonial areas. In this sense, Solf had always advocated the smallest possible number of German soldiers in the overseas territories. From the beginning of the war, he also assessed the potential for peace politics, which in his opinion lay in an agreement in colonial areas, as promising: The peace palm will grow in Africa. [...] Germany fulfilled its duty by advocating peace and the non-militarization of Africa .

Apart from Solf and the Reich Chancellor, only Gottlieb von Jagow sought an understanding after the start of the war. At that time, Solf told the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs that Germany could only acquire colonies in the future if Great Britain agreed. The emerging journalistic greed for countries threatens to become pathological and dangerous . Like hardly any other politician, Solf was caught in the tension between his home country Germany and the current enemy Great Britain, whose way of life he was so fond of. On the other hand, he saw the current situation as a unique opportunity to pool moderate socio-political forces. Like Bethmann Hollweg, who wanted to achieve a union of all divided parts of the people with the castle peace policy , he believed in the unifying force that emanated from such a world event. This was reflected in his founding of the German Society in 1914 , a political club.

In August and September 1914, Solf drafted a plan for a colony called " German Central Africa ". Chancellor Bethmann Hollweg included it in his September program (the war aims). For this new large colony, Germany should demand colonial territory from France, Belgium and Portugal. This project of creating a coherent Central African colonial empire remained, in some areas still greatly expanded, from then on fundamentally part of the official German war aims .

In the further course of the war, the war goal of Central Africa was increasingly used by liberal-minded politicians like Solf as a substitute and diversionary target for the nation, away from wild demands for annexation in Europe. Solf's attempt, in association with Vice Chancellor Clemens von Delbrück , to renounce annexations in (Western) Europe through “liberal imperialism” in Africa and thus to make a peace of reconciliation possible, ultimately failed because of the internal structures of the German Reich.

Chancellor Theobald von Bethmann Hollweg

On a trip with Count Paul Metternich to occupied Belgium in November 1914, Solf wrote to his wife that the Chancellor's word about injustice to Belgium, which we have to redress , for which he was publicly criticized as a defeatist , was exactly the right thing met. Solf was impressed by Bethmann Hollweg's sincere demeanor. But the Chancellor also considered himself lucky to have Solf in his cabinet. That is why Bethmann Hollweg entrusted the State Secretary, who had become unemployed due to the loss of the colonies, with numerous orders to bring about a negotiated peace. Solf wrote to his friend Metternich in 1915:

“The longer the war lasts, the more, I fear, our ethical concepts, our artistic views and scientific convictions, loyalty and faith, all the many thousands of imponderables that affect people's intercourse and their relationships with objects on a higher level Raise level, almost smashed with club blows. "

Solf also viewed with concern the increasingly extreme demands for annexation of the Pan-Germans who wanted to paint half the world in black, white and red . The Colonial Secretary of State therefore went on lecture tours through Germany. Together with Hans Delbrück , Solf supported the Central Europe work of Friedrich Naumann , who called for a Central European economic merger, but warned against annexations on the continent. Military circles viewed Solf with increasing suspicion: he would fraternize with the Social Democrats and create a defeatist mood for Bethmann . In addition, Solf received threatening letters that right-wing activists sent to his private apartment. However, these attacks were not so much about Solf's actual position, but rather about his unconditional support for the unjustly frowned upon Bethmann system and the ethically sound foreign policy of the Reich Chancellor. In this he surpassed all other politicians in the government.

In 1916 Colonel House , envoy of American President Woodrow Wilson , was in Berlin. Solf spoke to him with particular openness: he declared that the Chancellor wanted to prevent the break with America at all costs, but precisely on the issue of the submarine war this was exposed to the fierce criticism of Tirpitz and Falkenhayn . Solf asked the American side to strengthen the Chancellor, to which House replied that they would not interfere in German politics.

In connection with the determination of the war goals in the wake of the peace resolution of the Reichstag of July 19, 1917, Solf demanded in the war goals program of his department, in addition to the return of all German colonies, the consolidation of African colonial possessions through the acquisition of French, Belgian, Portuguese and possibly also English colonies into one German-Central African Empire . In addition, he called for the expansion of this Central African empire to the west, into the economically developed areas of the recruiting of the colored French .

When the vacillating Chancellor finally gave in to the pressure of the military in the Privy Council in Pless (Silesia) and agreed to unrestricted submarine warfare, Solf even threw this on the sickbed. His political friend, Foreign Secretary Gottlieb von Jagow, submitted his resignation in protest. Solf wrote disappointed:

"Reason has before the power kowtow made. [...] You can't hold the olive branch with one hand and shoot the pistol with the other. "

Wilhelm Solf

In spring 1918, Solf agreed to the demands of the German Colonial Association . According to these demands, German should become: the “river basins of Senegal and Niger and south of these up to the sea” (ie with Nigeria ), in addition to the old demands in Central Africa. A German rule from Cape Verde to the Orange River in the west, Northern Rhodesia , Northern Mozambique, Uganda , Kenya , Madagascar , the Comoros and Djibouti in the east. Solf himself no longer believed in the realization of these plans. However, he still saw the idea of ​​a German Central Africa as a prospect for the long-awaited negotiated peace.

In domestic politics, under the chancellorship of Bethmann Hollweg, the question of the abolition of the three-class franchise in Prussia prevailed . Here Solf - in contrast to the Chancellor, who went through a change of heart over time - from the beginning demanded universal and equal suffrage under a parliamentary monarchy . Bethmann Hollweg and Solf saw this as an opportunity to preserve the traditions of the Prussian-German monarchy and at the same time to create a basic democratic order that is free according to today's understanding . In the Easter message of 1917, Wilhelm II himself promised a reform to that effect, which Bethmann Hollweg and Solf saw as a great political victory.

In July 1917 another Privy Council took place on the question of the right to vote. There, Chancellor Bethmann Hollweg energetically demanded an imperial promise for the liberal organization of internal relationships for the first time . The Colonial Secretary of State agreed with these statements and quoted the Latin proverb Bis dat qui cito dat (German: who gives quickly gives twice ). Turning to the monarch, Solf declared:

"Your Majesty will most graciously forgive me when I express my conviction that we will achieve a great political victory in the whole world, when it says: While the Reichstag indulges in desolate squabbles over the quisquilies and paragraphs of the imperial constitution, the Kaiser has With a bold decision, the liberal basis for the new Germany was created. "

Kaiser Wilhelm II was convinced of the necessity of such a step and a few days later issued the so-called July message , in which he promised democratization. Under pressure from the reactionary forces, especially the Supreme Army Command , Bethmann Hollweg had to resign only one day later, on July 13, 1917. For the politicians in the Bethmann Hollweg cabinet who were willing to communicate, this represented a further severe setback. Since they also felt they were not represented by any parliamentary group in the Reichstag, the change in the Chancellery not only led to Solf becoming politically homeless.

After the fall of Bethmann Hollweg, it seemed to the American ambassador James W. Gerard to seize the chance for a negotiated peace. Therefore he brought Wilhelm Solf into discussion as a special envoy to bring about peace in Washington . However, this plan was not implemented.

Regardless of the opposition of the military and of the Chancellor Georg Michaelis appointed by them , Solf presented the following declaration in an intergovernmental conference in September 1917 for publication by the government: We are for the restoration of Belgium . We want a free and independent Belgium, independent of Germany, but also independent of England. The Cabinet rejected the Colonial Secretary of State's motion. In his eyes, the Belgium question was of crucial importance from a peace policy perspective. Chancellor Michaelis ultimately bowed to the right-wing forces and did not commit himself on this issue either. In October 1917 he resigned after only three months in office.

In the Intergroup Committee after a thorough debate on the chancellor successor followed: Deputies Albert Südekum , Wolfgang Heine (both SPD) and Friedrich von Payer ( FVP ) brought Solf as candidates this week. This proposal found the most resolute protest among the National Liberals : Gustav Stresemann in particular , who followed the annexionist tones of the Pan-Germans, considered the State Secretary to be completely unsuitable . Finally, the representatives of the parliamentary groups agreed that a future Chancellor should come from their ranks, which Georg von Hertling fulfilled. Wilhelm Solf, on the other hand, could no longer rid himself of his image as a left-wing democrat and a minister loyal to the emperor .

In the cabinets of Chancellor Max von Baden and Friedrich Ebert , he was State Secretary for Foreign Affairs and thus head of the Foreign Office , which corresponded to the position of Foreign Minister .

Interwar period

The Versailles Treaty paved the way for the resumption of diplomatic relations, including between Japan and Germany. Wilhelm Solf was appointed Chargé d' affaires in Tokyo by Reich President Ebert and, after his arrival in August of that year, appointed Ambassador from December 1920.

Despite the first interruption as a result of the First World War, the traditionally close German-Japanese relationship had not suffered. Captured German soldiers were treated well in the Bandō POW camp on Shikoku , and most Germans living in Japan were allowed to keep their homes during the war. Immediately after the war, Japan returned large parts of the blocked assets to the Germans. Confiscated facilities of the German community abroad in Japan, the clubs and schools were released; partly compensation was paid.

Solf had to explain the changed conditions in Germany to the Germans in Japan. At the same time, he had to empathize with Japan to arouse trust in the new German government and also seek cooperation with other diplomatic missions. For example, after a short time he was able to establish relationships with the British ambassador, whom he knew from his time as governor in Samoa. In 1923 he became doyen of the diplomatic corps in Tokyo. In the end, Solf assessed his tenure as follows: “When I arrived, there was also ... war psychosis. For a good two years, I was the most avoided Boche. … Now I am the doyen of the diplomatic corps, president of the international club, chairman of the Asiatic Society of Japan , Commodore of the… yacht club, etc. My position in the Japanese government is that I am often consulted in negotiations on Russian and Far Eastern issues Has."

Solf did a lot for the revival of the Japanese-German Society (1926) and the establishment of the Japanese-German Cultural Institute (1927), both in Tokyo. Cultural relations were the main area of ​​work in Solf's diplomacy. As a doctor of Indology, he gained access to Japanese cultural and intellectual history. His interlocutors were so impressed by his personal demeanor and knowledge that they quickly trusted him. The German scientific and cultural achievements enjoyed a great reputation in Japan despite the war. With the support of the Japanese Foreign Minister Gotō Shimpei (1857–1929), a physician who studied in Vienna and Munich, it was possible to obtain Japanese support for German science, which was suffering from the consequences of the lost World War and inflation. Japanese entrepreneurs, including Hajime Hoshi , recipient of the Leibniz Medal , donated large amounts of money to support German researchers.

The highlights of Solf's tenure were the trips to Japan by the German Nobel Prize laureate Albert Einstein in 1922, which, according to Solf, resembled a “triumphal procession”, and the chemist Fritz Haber in 1924. Haber's visit was related to plans to set up cultural institutes in Berlin and Tokyo, which should strengthen cultural exchange and further promote mutual understanding. Resistance was overcome with Solm's help both on the Japanese side, which wanted to show consideration for other Western countries, and on the German side. In May 1925 the "Institute for Mutual Knowledge of Intellectual Life and Public Institutions in Germany and Japan" was founded in Berlin. Thanks to the efforts of Solf and Gotō, the German cultural institute was opened in Tokyo in June 1927.

Because he had reached the age limit, Solf was to be recalled in early 1928. Japan asked the German government to keep him at his post as ambassador until the end of the year, so that he could convey the diplomats' congratulations to the emperor as doyen of the diplomatic corps at the Shōwa-Tennō's coronation celebrations .

In December 1928 Solf returned to Germany. In 1929 he became president of the Japan Institute in Berlin . During his tenure, the institute mainly fostered research on Buddhism , but Solf also promoted research into the history of Japan and presented modern Japanese literature. In 1930 the theological faculty of the University of Göttingen awarded him a doctorate. During this time he also managed to organize an extensive "exhibition of works by living Japanese painters", which took place at the beginning of 1931 in the Prussian Academy of the Arts in Berlin. A Samoa stamp was also dedicated to him.

Grave in the Invalidenfriedhof , Berlin

Solf was extremely negative about National Socialism from the start and made no secret of his rejection. On January 30, 1933 he was at an event of the SeSiSo Club, of which he was chairman. That evening, Solf spoke of the “ Finis Germaniae ”. He tried to help Jewish scholars, artists and technicians to enter Japan, which he succeeded in some cases through his good connections.

After his death in 1936, critics and opponents of the Nazi regime met in the Berlin apartment of his wife Johanna, the majority of whom came from the diplomatic corps of the Foreign Office and thus from Wilhelm Solf's immediate environment. The so-called “ Solf Circle ” maintained contact with the military opposition, but was not involved in any specific plans for a coup.

Honor

The German Trading and Plantation Society (DHPG), which is active in the South Pacific, named the mail ship, built in 1913, State Secretary Solf . In 1913 Fritz Burger created the “Portrait of State Secretary Dr. Solf ”, which was shown at several exhibitions in Berlin in 1914.

Fonts

  • Franz Kielhorn : Grammar of the Sanskrit language , translated from English by Wilhelm Solf, Berlin 1888.
  • German colonial policy. Contribution to the anthology Germany and the World War , ed. by Otto Hintze , Friedrich Meinecke , Hermann Oncken , H. Schumacher, Berlin 1916.
  • The lessons of the world war for our colonial policy , Stuttgart / Berlin 1916.
  • Colonial policy. My political legacy , Berlin 1919.
  • The New International Conscience. Address to the League of Nations Association of Japan February 20, 1928 (Reprint Tokyo 1928).
  • Germany's political face , in: Europäische Revue , September issue 1930.
Paul Graupe : Japan Collection Exz. Solf † Berlin . Auction catalog 1936

literature

Individual evidence

Unless otherwise stated, all quotations from: Eberhard von Vietsch: Wilhelm Solf. Ambassadors between the ages . Rainer Wunderlich Verlag. Tubingen 1961.

  1. ^ Hans-Dieter Nahme: A German in the twentieth century. Rostock 2007, p. 27.
  2. ^ Berthold Ohm and Alfred Philipp (eds.): Directory of addresses of the old men of the German Landsmannschaft. Part 1. Hamburg 1932, p. 460.
  3. ^ Elisabeth von Heyking: Diaries from four parts of the world, 1886-1904. Leipzig 1926, pp. 60 and 83.
  4. ^ Wanda von Puttkamer : The court of Weimar under Grand Duke Carl Alexander and Grand Duchess Sophie . Berlin 1931, p. 147.
  5. ^ Alfred Kruck: History of the Pan-German Association 1890-1939 . Wiesbaden 1954, p. 3.
  6. ↑ Otto Riedel: The struggle for German Samoa. Memories of a Hamburg merchant . Berlin 1938, pp. 161-162.
  7. ↑ Otto Riedel: The struggle for German Samoa. Memories of a Hamburg merchant . Berlin 1938, p. 161.
  8. ↑ Jürgen Schmidt: Work and non-work in the "Paradise of the South Seas". Samoa around 1890 to 1914. In: Work - Movement - History , Issue II / 2016, p. 25.
  9. ↑ The situation in Samoa. In: Colonial Journal , September 2, 1910, no pagination.
  10. ↑ Jürgen Schmidt: Work and non-work in the "Paradise of the South Seas". Samoa around 1890 to 1914 , in: Work - Movement - History , Issue II / 2016, p. 23.
  11. ^ Sven Hedin: Fifty Years of Germany . 4th edition, 1940, p. 214.
  12. ↑ Schultheß: European History Calendar 1911 , p. 189 f.
  13. ↑ Thomas Schwarz: The mixed debate in the Reichstag in 1912 ( Memento from May 19, 2006 in the Internet Archive ) and Alexandra Przyrembel : “Rassenschande”. Purity myth and legitimation for extermination under National Socialism. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2003, ISBN 3-525-35188-7 , p. 43 ff.
  14. ↑ Birthe Kundrus: Modern Imperialists. The empire in the mirror of its colonies. Böhlau, Cologne / Vienna 2003, ISBN 3-412-18702-X , especially p. 219 ff.
  15. ↑ Fritz Fischer: War of Illusions. German politics from 1911 to 1914 . Düsseldorf 1969, pp. 448-450.
  16. ↑ Fritz Fischer: War of Illusions. German politics from 1911 to 1914 . Düsseldorf 1969, pp. 456-458.
  17. ^ O. Hintrager: South West Africa in German times . 1955, p. 190.
  18. ↑ Schulthess: European History Calendar 1914 I , p. 398.
  19. ↑ Erwin Hölzle : The self-disempowerment of Europe. The experiment of peace before and during the First World War . Göttingen / Frankfurt am Main / Zurich 1975, ISBN 3-7881-1681-1 . Volume 1, p. 430.
  20. ↑ Wolfdieter Bihl (Hrsg.): German sources for the history of the First World War . Darmstadt 1991, ISBN 3-534-08570-1 , pp. 58-59 (Doc. No. 16) and Fritz Fischer : Griff nach der Weltmacht. The war policy of imperial Germany 1914/18. Droste, Düsseldorf 1964, p. 115f. and pp. 788-793.
  21. ↑ Andreas Hillgruber : The failed great power. A sketch of the German Empire 1871–1945 . Düsseldorf 1980, ISBN 3-7700-0564-3 . P. 51.
  22. ^ Karl von Eine : An army leader experienced the world war . 1938, p. 218ff.
  23. ^ Max von Baden : Memories and Documents . 1927, p. 96 f.
  24. ↑ Wolfgang Steglich : Alliance securing or peace of understanding. Investigations into the peace offer of the Central Powers of December 12, 1916 . Göttingen / Berlin / Frankfurt am Main 1958, p. 158 and Fritz Fischer: Reach for world power. The war policy of imperial Germany 1914/18. Düsseldorf 1964, p. 415 f.
  25. ↑ Wolfdieter Bihl (Hrsg.): German sources for the history of the First World War . Darmstadt 1991, ISBN 3-534-08570-1 , pp. 283f. (Doc. No. 142) and André Scherer, Jacques Grunewald: L'Allemagne et lesproblemèmes de la paix pendant la première guerre mondiale. Documents extraits des archives de l'Office allemand des Affaires étrangères. 4 volumes (German original documents), Paris 1962/1978, ISBN 2-85944-010-0 , volume 2, p. 214 f. (No. 129).
  26. ↑ JW Gerard: Face to Face with Kaiserism . New York 1918, p. 72.
  27. ↑ Cf. I The Intergroup Committee 1917/1918 , in: Sources for the history of parliamentarism and political parties. First row I. edit. by Erich Matthias and Rudolf Morsey (1959), pp. 240-246, 278, 318, 351.
  28. ↑ Description with a link to the illustration .

Web links

Commons : Wilhelm Solf  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
Wikiquote: Wilhelm Solf  - Quotes
predecessor Office successor
Friedrich von Lindequist State Secretary in the Reich
Colonial Office 1911–1918 		–––
personal data
SURNAME Solf, Wilhelm
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Solf, Wilhelm Heinrich
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German politician and governor of Samoa
DATE OF BIRTH October 5, 1862
PLACE OF BIRTH Berlin
DATE OF DEATH February 9, 1936
Place of death Berlin