Wolfgang of Hesse

Wolfgang Moritz Prince of Hesse (born November 6, 1896 in Rumpenheim Castle near Offenbach ; † July 12, 1989 in Frankfurt am Main ) was a prince from the Hessen-Kassel line of the House of Hesse until 1918 , the fourth son of Friedrich Karl von Hessen- Kassel-Rumpenheim and Margarethe of Prussia .

Life

When the father Friedrich Karl was elected King of Finland on October 9, 1918 after the Germans participated in the Finnish Civil War - a throne which he was unable to ascend after the abdication of Kaiser Wilhelm II and all other federal princes in the course of the November Revolution - became Prince Wolfgang chosen by the father to be crown prince of Finland. His older twin brother Philipp (1896–1980), to whom the title would actually have been granted, was supposed to stay in the Hessian homeland to continue the family's business there.

From 1924 Wolfgang Moritz was married to Princess Marie Alexandra von Baden (1902–1944), the only daughter of the former Chancellor Maximilian von Baden . They didn't have any children. His wife was killed in an air raid on Frankfurt am Main on January 29, 1944 during the Second World War . The second marriage that Wolfgang Moritz entered into in 1948 with Ottilie Möller (1903–1991) also remained childless.

The trained banker worked at the private bank MM Warburg & CO in Hamburg and at the Wiesbaden Chamber of Commerce and Industry . From 1933 he was the district administrator of the Obertaunus district , a position that Hermann Göring gave him, although he had not yet joined the NSDAP at that time . Wolfgang von Hessen was a member of the SA and joined the NSDAP on April 1, 1933, under membership number 1,794,944. In his military career he reached the rank of major . After being called up for military service in World War II , the former Crown Prince of Finland a . a. Stationed with the German troops in Finnish Lapland for three years and received the Freedom Cross III in 1943 from the Finnish Marshal Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim for his services . Class presented.

After the war he was interned by the Allies . Wolfgang Prince of Hesse later lived in an outbuilding of Friedrichshof Palace in Kronberg im Taunus . For many years he was head of the Kurhessische Hausstiftung .

ancestors

Wilhelm of Hesse (1787–1867)

Friedrich Wilhelm of Hesse (1820-1884)

Louise Charlotte of Denmark (1789–1864)

Friedrich Karl of Hesse (1868–1940)

Carl of Prussia (1801-1883)

Anna of Prussia (1836–1918)

Marie of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach (1808–1877)

Wolfgang of Hesse

Kaiser Wilhelm I (1797–1888)

Emperor Friedrich III. (1831-1888)

Augusta of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach (1811–1890)

Margarethe of Prussia (1872–1954)

Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (1819–1861)

Victoria of Great Britain (1840-1901)

Victoria Queen of Great Britain (1819–1901)

Individual evidence

1. ^ Hesse, Wolfgang von. Hessian biography (as of September 29, 2012). In: Landesgeschichtliches Informationssystem Hessen (LAGIS). Hessian State Office for Historical Cultural Studies (HLGL), accessed on January 8, 2015 . 
2. ↑ See Ernst Klee : Das Kulturlexikon zum Third Reich. Who was what before and after 1945 (= The time of National Socialism. Vol. 17153). Completely revised edition. Fischer-Taschenbuch-Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 2009, ISBN 978-3-596-17153-8 , p. 219.

literature

• Eckhart G. Franz : The House of Hesse. A European family. Kohlhammer, Stuttgart 2005, ISBN 3-17-018919-0 .
• Anders Huldén: Finland's German King's Adventure 1918 , Reinbek 1997. Published by: German-Finnish Society eV and published by: Traute Warnke Verlag, ISBN 3-9801591-9-1 .
• Jonathan Petropoulos: Royals and the Reich. The Princes of Hessen in Nazi Germany . Oxford University Press 2006, ISBN 0-19-920377-6 .

Web links

• Hessen, Wolfgang Moritz Prinz von in the Hessian biography