Germany: Kaiser and three generations of his family ’colluded’ with Nazis

New book reveals extent to which Kaiser Wilhelm II and his relatives were implicated in the rise of Nazism.

Kaiser Wilhelm II. Picture: Supplied

The head of Germany’s former royal family has welcomed a book that reveals the extent to which Kaiser Wilhelm II and his relatives were implicated in the rise of Nazism.

The Kaiser’s descendants, the Hohenzollern dynasty, are negotiating with the German state over compensation for their old estates and vast collections of artworks and treasures, which were confiscated by the Soviet occupiers at the end of the Second World War.

At the heart of the case is the relationship between the Kaiser’s son, Crown Prince Wilhelm of Prussia, and the Nazi party.

The first systematic study of the Hohenzollerns’ links to the emerging dictatorship suggests that every member of the family was to some extent opposed to the fledgling Weimar Republic, and that many of them colluded in its downfall.

Stephan Malinowksi, 55, senior lecturer in history at the University of Edinburgh, compiled evidence that three generations of Hohenzollerns had actively collaborated with the Nazis in their efforts to return to the throne.

The book shows how the old Kaiser himself put aside his distaste for Hitler and began negotiating with Hermann Goering in 1931, 18 months before the beginning of the Third Reich.

Other family members lobbied their extensive network of contacts in Britain and America to serve Nazi Germany’s interests.

The crown prince defended the Nazi persecution of the Jews in a 1933 letter to Lord Lothian, a British Liberal Party politician and advocate of appeasement, saying that Germany had been “flooded” with Jews who made a “merciless battle against Jewry” necessary.

However, Malinowski argues that only a few of the Hohenzollerns were committed Nazis. The kaiser and the crown prince instead hoped to exploit Hitler and persuade him to restore the monarchy, the book concludes.

The relationship was seldom straightforward. The kaiser denounced Hitler several times as a “Bolshevist”.

Georg Friedrich, Prince of Prussia, 45, the current head of the house of Hohenzollern and great-great-grandson of the Kaiser, told The Times Malinowski’s research had helped to put the debate on a more factual footing. “Our knowledge [of the events] is advancing and will hopefully lead to a fairly balanced and comprehensive view of my house’s relationship to the Weimar republic and the era of Nazism,” he said.

In August a separate Hohenzollern-funded study by Lothar Machtan, 72, a history professor at Bremen University, also concluded that the crown prince had made himself the “royal figurehead of the Third Reich” despite his initial hesitation.

However, the family argues that the crown prince was put under irresistible pressure by the Nazi regime to make a public display of obedience.

Malinowski’s book, The Hohenzollerns and the Nazis, is expected to appear in English translation next year.

The Times