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Pan-German League

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ThePan-German League(German:Alldeutscher Verband) was aPan-Germannationalistorganization which was officially founded in 1891, a year after theZanzibar Treatywas signed.[1]

Primarily dedicated to theGerman questionof the time, it held positions on German imperialism,antisemitism,thePolish question,and support for German minorities in other countries.[2]

The purpose of the league was to nurture and protect the ethos of German nationality as a unifying force. By 1922, the League had grown to over 40,000 paying members. Berlin housed the central seat of the league, including its president and its executive, which was capped at a maximum of 300. Full gatherings of the league happened at the Pan-German Congress. Although numerically small, the League enjoyed a disproportionate influence on the German state through connections to the middle class, the political establishment and the media, as well as links to the 300,000 strongAgrarian League.[3]

Background[edit]

The origins of the Pan-German League lie in the growing movement for German colonial expansion, which gained traction over the course of the 1880s. In order to gain public support for the passing of the Steamboat Subsidy Act of 1885, which was a precursor to a state-funded colonial policy, chancellorOtto von Bismarckraised public outrage against British deals with both France and Portugal in dividing up Africa. Membership in pro-colonial societies, such as theKolonialverein(Colonial Society) and theCentral-Verein für Handelsgeographie(Central Society for Commercial Geography) grew rapidly.[4]In the following year, colonistCarl Peters,who had acquired the majority of Germany's colonial holdings up to this point, returned from Africa, and, using the public awareness following the steamboat subsidy debate to initiate a congress on German overseas interests. Taking place from 13-16 September 1886, the congress ended with the establishment of theAllgemeiner Deutscher Verband zur Förderung überseeischer deutsch-nationaler Interessen(General German Society for the Furthering of German National Oversea Interests). The Society was not successful and marked by internal strife and after Peters left again for Africa, it dissolved.[5]

History[edit]

Foundation and early struggles (1890–1894)[edit]

ColonialistCarl Peterswas instrumental in the establishment of the Pan-German League.

On 1 July 1890, theGerman Empiresigned theHeligoland-Zanzibar TreatywithGreat Britain.The treaty was the first major sign of the new foreign policy of EmperorWilhelm II,following the dismissal of chancellor Bismarck earlier in the year. The pro-colonial, national-conservative factions within Germany strongly opposed the treaty, as it gave away colonial possessions in Africa to the British. Peters was particularly negative, declaring that Germany had exchanged "two kingdoms,WituandUganda[...] for a bathtub. "[6]Shortly before the signing of the treaty, on 24 June 1890, a declaration, signed by four Germans living in Switzerland, appeared in several German newspapers, titled "Germany awake!", calling for Germans to oppose the treaty. In another letter three weeks later, the authors called for the foundation of a National League, "the purpose of which should be to give expression to what we wanted and expected of a national government in situations similar to the situation created by the Anglo-German treaty".[7]By 1 August 1890,Alfred Hugenberghad picked up the call and declared himself temporarily in control of the management of such a league, while at the same time calling on Peters to become its leader. Peters, who had just recently returned from Africa, originally refused, not wanting to antagonise the German government, which he hoped would fund his further East African endeavours.[8]

The first official meeting of the organisation that would become the Pan-German League took place inFrankfurt am Mainon 28 September 1890, presided over by university professor John Wislicenus and attended by seven people. As a result of the meeting, Hugenberg and Wislicenus issued another call to action. After the initial political struggles over the Heligoland-Zanzibar Treaty had subsided, Peters eventually agreed to join forces, on the condition that the remnants of the earlier General German Society were included. On 25 January 1891, Peters personally invited a number of members of theReichstag,the German federal parliament, and several other people to meet with Hugenberg and Wislicenus. As a result, theAllgemeiner Deutscher Verein,a nominal resurrection of Peters' original society, was founded on 9 April 1891 in Berlin. The League took a quotation byFrederick William, Elector of Brandenburgas its motto:Gedenke, daß Du ein Deutscher bist( "Remember that you are a German" ).[9]

Peters initially took over the presidency of the League, but soon went back to Africa and resigned from his post, in order not to come into conflicts of interest between the League and theForeign Office.Karl von der Heydt, a banker, took over the position.[10]The early period of the League was difficult. While membership rose quickly, from around 2,000 in June 1891 to around 21,000 in May 1892,[11]management of the League was lacking. The membership fee was set low, aimed to attract members, but the profits proved insufficient to run the operation. The League's journal, theMitteilungen des allgemeinen deutschen Verbandes(News of the General German League) were only produced seven times between 1891 and 1893 and even those were not distributed to all members, since this required an additional fee. Expansion of the League outside of Berlin and Prussia was also scarce, partly due to improper management as well as bans on political associations in states likeSaxonyandBavaria.A rise in openantisemitismin the Berlin branch affected the image of the organisation in the public eye. Additionally, von der Heydt and his general manager, along with other members of the League, attempted to form a new political party towards the end of 1892. Since the League had been formed as a body above party politics, this endavour threatened its existence. The failed attempt to sell a "Calendar of all Germans", leading to a deficit of 6,000marks,further weakened the League's position.[12]By July 1894, membership had dropped to just 4,637.[11]

A crisis meeting in Frankfurt am Main in the summer of 1893 was called by West-German branches of the League, against the declared will of the leadership, with the intention of dissolution. However, John Wislicenus again presided over the meeting and as a result, a formal meeting was arranged for 5 July 1893 in Berlin. Here, von der Heydt resigned along with many other members of the League's executive committee. Von der Heydt paid 4,000 of the 6,000 marks debt, with Peters covering the remaining 2,000 marks. The presidency of the League was taken over byErnst Hasse[de],a university professor fromLeipzig.Hasse, together with new general manager Adolf Lehr, put the League on a more secure financial footing. On 1 January 1894, the first issue of the new journal, theAlldeutsche Blätter,was released. At a meeting of the executive committee on 1 April 1894, a decision was made to change the name of the organisation toAlldeutscher Verein(Pan-German League). This came about as an amalgamation between the League with a society calledAllgemeiner Deutscher Verein(General German Association), aimed at promoting German education, led byAlbert von Levetzow,the president of the Reichstag. The termalldeutsch(pan-German) had been a suggestion by August Diederichs, a friend of Hasse's, who had set up a donation fund for the League under this name. The name change took effect from 1 July 1894.[13]

Heinrich Claß,president of the League from 1908 to 1939

The aim of the Alldeutscher Verband was to protest against government decisions which they believed could weaken Germany. A strong element of its ideology includedsocial Darwinism.The Verband wanted to uphold Germanracial hygieneand were against breeding with so-called inferior races like theJewsandSlavs.Agitation against Poles was a central focus for the Pan-German League.[14]The agitations of the Alldeutscher Verband influenced the German government and generally supported the foreign policy developed byOtto von Bismarck.

One of the prominent members of the league was the sociologistMax Weberwho, at the League's congress in 1894 argued that Germanness (Deutschtum) was the highest form of civilization. Weber left the league in 1899 because he felt it did not take a radical enough stance against Polish migrant workers in Germany.[15]Later Weber went on to become one of the most prominent critics of German expansionism and of theKaiser's war policies.[16]He publicly attacked theBelgian annexation policyandunrestricted submarine warfareand later supported calls for constitutional reform, democratisation anduniversal suffrage.[16]

The position of Pan-German league gradually evolved into biological racism, with belief that Germans are "superior race", and Germans need protection from mi xing with other races, particularly Jews.[2]By 1912 in the publication "If I were the Kaiser," Claß called on Germans to conquer eastern territories inhabited by "inferior"Slavs,depopulate their territories andsettle German colonists there.[2]There were also calls for expulsion of Poles living inPrussia.[17]

The Alldeutscher Verband had an enormous influence on the German government duringWorld War I,when they opposed democratization and were in favour of unlimitedsubmarinewar. Opponents of the Verband were called cowards. Influential figures in theAlldeutscher Verbandfounded theVaterlandsparteiin 1917 following the request of the majority of the German parliament to begin peace negotiations with the allies.

After World War I, theAlldeutscher Verbandsupported GeneralErich Ludendorffin his accusation against democrats and socialists that they had betrayed Germany and made the Germans lose the war. According to Ludendorff and the Verband, the army should not have been held responsible for the German defeat. Ludendorff, however, had declared that the war was lost in October 1918, before the GermanNovember Revolution.That fanciful allegation was known as the "Stab-in-the-back myth"(Dolchstosslegende).

Membership in the league was overwhelmingly composed of middle- and upper-class males. Most members' occupations reflected the League's emphasis on education, property ownership and service to the state.

The League was clearly close ideologically to the Nazis and anticipated many of their basic ideas, such as the demand that the individual Germans should unconditionally submit to the national whole, represented by the state and the authorities, or the idea of expansion to the east in order to gain "Living Space" (Lebensraum). Still, the League's concrete relations with the Nazis were not always smooth. In 1932, there was moment when the Pan-German League accused the Nazis of betraying the national idea and called on their supporters to support the rival German National People's Party (DNVP). The Nazis, who came to power the next year, did not forget that incident.

After the Nazis came to power, the Pan-Germans were for a time tolerated due to their ideological closeness, but on the eve of the Second World war were finally dissolved byReinhard Heydrichon March 13, 1939, on the grounds that their program (namely the unification of all Germans in one Greater Germany) had been fulfilled with the AustrianAnschlussand the annexation of theSudetenlands.

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^Hobsbawm, Eric J.(1987).The age of empire, 1875-1914.Pantheon Books. p. 152.ISBN978-0-394-56319-0.Retrieved22 March2011.
  2. ^abcLevy, Richard S.(2005).Antisemitism: a historical encyclopedia of prejudice and persecution.Vol. 1.ABC-CLIO.pp. 528–529.
  3. ^Baranowski 2010,pp. 44.
  4. ^Wertheimer 1924,pp. 22–23.
  5. ^Wertheimer 1924,pp. 23–25.
  6. ^Wertheimer 1924,p. 30.
  7. ^Wertheimer 1924,pp. 32–33.
  8. ^Wertheimer 1924,pp. 25–35.
  9. ^Wertheimer 1924,pp. 35–37.
  10. ^Wertheimer 1924,p. 38.
  11. ^abHartwig 1968,p. 1.
  12. ^Wertheimer 1924,pp. 38–39.
  13. ^Wertheimer 1924,pp. 39–42.
  14. ^Max Weber and German Politics, 1890-1920, Wolfgang J. Mommsen, Michael Steinberg, page 55, University of Chicago Press (25 July 1990)
  15. ^Schönwälder, Karen[in German](1999). "Invited but Unwanted? Migration from the East in Germany, 1890-1990". In Bartlett, Roger;Schönwälder, Karen[in German](eds.).The German lands and eastern Europe. Eassays on the history of their social, cultural, and political relations.St. Martin's Press.pp. 206–207.ISBN0-333-72086-5.
  16. ^abKim, Sung Ho (24 August 2007)."Max Weber".Stanford Encyclopaedia of Philosophy.Retrieved17 February2010.
  17. ^Baranowski 2010,pp. 43.

Bibliography[edit]

  • Baranowski, Shelley (2010).Nazi Empire: German Colonialism and Imperialism from Bismarck to Hitler.Cambridge University Press.
  • Chickering, Roger (2021).We Men Who Feel Most German: Cultural Study of the Pan-German League, 1886-1914.Routledge.ISBN9780367230531.
  • Hartwig, Edgar (1968), "Alldeutscher Verband (ADV)", in Fricke, Dieter (ed.),Die bürgerlichen Parteien in Deutschland - Handbuch der Geschichte der bürgerlichen Parteien und anderen bürgerlichen Interessenorganisationen vom Vormärz bis zum Jahre 1945,vol. 1, Leipzig: VEB Bibliographisches Institut, pp. 1–26
  • Harrison, Austin,The Pan-Germanic Doctrine.(1904)online free
  • Hering, Rainer (2005).Konstruierte Nation: Der Alldeutsche Verband 1890 bis 1939[Constructed Nation: The Pan-German League 1890 to 1939] (in German). Wallstein.ISBN978-3892449188.
  • Hering, Rainer (2014), "Academics and Radical Nationalism: The Pan-German League in Hamburg and the German Reich", in Jones, Larry Eugene (ed.),The German Right in the Weimar Republic - Studies in the History of German Conservatism, Nationalism, and Antisemitism,New York/Oxford: Berghahn Books, pp. 108–133
  • Hofmeister, Björn (2014), "Realms of Leadership and Residues of Social Mobilization: The Pan-German League, 1918–33", in Jones, Larry Eugene (ed.),The German Right in the Weimar Republic - Studies in the History of German Conservatism, Nationalism, and Antisemitism,New York/Oxford: Berghahn Books, pp. 134–165
  • Jackisch, Barry Andrew. 'Not a Large, but a Strong Right': The Pan-German League, Radical Nationalism, and Rightist Party Politics in Weimar Germany, 1918-1939.Bell and Howell Information and Learning Company: Ann Arbor. 2000.
  • Jackisch, Barry A. (2012).The Pan-German League and Radical Nationalist Politics in Interwar Germany, 1918–39.Farnham: Ashgate Publishing.ISBN978-1-4094-2761-2.
  • Jackisch, Barry A. (2014), "Continuity and Change on the German Right: The Pan-German League and Nazism, 1918–39", in Jones, Larry Eugene (ed.),The German Right in the Weimar Republic - Studies in the History of German Conservatism, Nationalism, and Antisemitism,New York/Oxford: Berghahn Books, pp. 166–193
  • Wertheimer, Mildred S. (1924).The Pan-German League 1890–1914.New York: Columbia University.
  • Encyclopædia Britannica
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