1. Skip to content
  2. Skip to main menu
  3. Skip to more DW sites
PoliticsGermany

German prince drops property compensation lawsuit

March 9, 2023

The states of Berlin and Brandenburg argued that Prince Georg was ineligible for compensation because of his ancestor's alleged support of Nazism. The prince said he hoped to spark an open debate on his family's history.

Prince Georg Friedrich Prinz von Preußen
Prince Georg of Prussia has announced his family is dropping a bid to secure compensation for properties and artworks seized by Soviet authoritiesImage: Bernd von Jutrczenka/dpa/picture alliance

Prince Georg Friedrich Ferdinand on Thursday said that he had abandoned attempts to secure compensation from the state that date back to 2014. 

The compensation claims were in relation to property confiscated by the Soviet military and authorities at the end of World War II.

Prince George of the Hohenzollern family is a descendent of Kaiser Wilhelm II, who was the last German Emperor.

The German government and the eastern states of Berlin and Brandenburg have been in talks with the Hohenzollern family since 2014 regarding the restitution of 4,000 properties and artworks.

The states of Berlin and Brandenburg pushed for the prince to drop the long-running claim in mid-2019.

The court hearing the case in Potsdam did not immediately confirm the prince's claim on Thursday. 

What are the arguments against compensation?

The case hinged on whether Crown Prince Wilhelm, son of Kaiser Wilhelm II and great-grandfather of Prince George, provided "substantive" support to Adolf Hitler's Nazi regime. Under German law, proof of such support is grounds for refusing compensation.

Wilhelm II went into exile in the Netherlands at the end of World War I in 1918.

"Even if I am not an historian or lawyer myself, it cannot be shown in my view that my great-grandfather offered the regime substantive abetment, even if he perhaps wanted to," Prince George said.

Historians from German universities are divided on whether Crown Prince Wihlelm significantly aided the Nazi regime, though most concur that he wanted to.

"The former crown prince was politically incapable of providing substantive abetment to the Nazis, although he wanted to do so at times," Professor Lothar Machtan said.

Although there is little debate over Wilhelm's desire to help the National Socialists, some like Peter Brandt do allege that he maintained more influence in inter-war Germany than historians like Machtan and Christopher Clark believe, at the very least as a "symbolic figure." Often they cite comments from the prince himself playing up his own role in Hitler's rise in letters and correspondence.

But, as Clark put it in an interview with Der Spiegel, after being hired by the Hohenzollern family to write an expert testimony on the issue: "The crown prince suffered from overconfidence bordering on the delusional. If one were to list Hitler's most important supporters, he would not be among the first 300."

Clark also portrayed Wilhelm as having been used by the Nazis, saying that the prince was "stupid enough to believe" Hitler when he raised the prospect of reestablishing the monarchy when an opposition leader in the 1920s.

What did the prince say about his decision?

"We will give our best possible support to a critical review of our family history," the prince said.

He said that he hoped that the focus of the debate would move away from Crown Prince Wilhelm, looking at the Hohenzollern family history in its diversity.

The prince said that in dropping the claim he hoped to "open the way for an unencumbered historical debate on the role of my family in the 20th Century following the end of the monarchy."

Prince Georg said that while he believed it could not be clearly proven that Crown Prince Wilhelm actively promoted Nazism, it was clear that his great-grandfather had sought close ties with the regime.

"Anyone who panders to right-wing extremism cannot be a tradition-setter for our house," he declared.

sdi/msh (dpa, epd, KNA)

While you're here: Every Tuesday, DW editors round up what is happening in German politics and society. You can sign up here for the weekly email newsletter Berlin Briefing.

 

Skip next section DW's Top Story

DW's Top Story

Skip next section More stories from DW