In June 1941, after spending decades of his life in isolation Kaiser Wilhelm II, a man
who is considered the main warmonger who brought the First World War to Europe died in The
Netherlands.
He was a man who had animosity for many countries across Europe, and he also would live to see
the Second World War break out across the continent, however the Nazis who were now
in control of Germany would consider what to do with the body of the former emperor.
But Kaiser Wilhelm II was the last emperor of Germany, and he was a man who built Germany
up to become a great power which resulted in the First World War, but he was a man who
was the eldest grandchild of Queen Victoria the British Queen.
He would call the shots following the death of Victoria, and dictated for a death mask
to be cast of his grandmother’s face against her will.
But as mentioned following the First World War he would flee Germany and he lived out
the rest of his life in exile.
But what is the story of his death?
Kaiser Wilhelm was born on the 27th January 1859 and he was the eldest child of Crown
Prince Frederick of Prussia and Vicky, the daughter of Queen Victoria.
His birth was difficult, and he was left with a withered arm which he tried to hide and
cover up.
But in 1881 following a period of military serivce, Wilhelm married Augusta Victoria
the Princess of Schleswig-Holstein, and together the couple had seven children.
But in 1888, Wilhelm’s father succeeded to the throne as Frederick III and he died
shortly after meaning that Wilhelm now became the Kaiser of Germany, or the Emperor at the
age of 29.
He had admired Otto von Bismarck, and within 2 years he forced his resignation, and he
believed that the most important thing for Germany was to build up the armed forces.
He looked towards countries such as Britain and was intensely jealous of their navy and
empire, and Wilhelm then expanded the navy and also pursued a policy of aggression with
Germans wanting to colonise different countries.
He supported the emeries of the British, but following the assassination of Archduke Franz
Ferdinand in 1914, Wilhelm encouraged the Austrians to take action against Serbia and
he gave them financial backing in the event of a war.
But Wilhelm was naive as he did not realise what events would spawn from this, and it
eventually resulted in the outbreak of the First World War, which would claim the lives
of millions across Europe.
In Britain, the people who fought had no idea why they were fighting at times, and Wilhelm’s
actions brought misery and issues all over Europe.
He was in a sense excluded from the military’s hierarchy, and he also at times ruined chances
of peace by encouraging the war.
He was nothing short of a warmonger, and in 1918 the Americans entered the conflict, and
at the time Germany were suffering heavily.
They had a lack of men and materials as the years of trench warfare had worn them down,
and the German military collapsed.
This then brought the abdication of Kaiser Wilhelm II, as uprisings in Berlin also took
place and he knew he would have to give up the imperial crown.
He wanted to remain the King of Prussia, however he then agreed to completely abdicate and
on the 10th November 1918, he crossed the border by train and went into exile in neutral
Netherlands.
His cousin King George V of Britain considered him ‘the greatest criminal in history,’
and the British prime minister wanted Wilhelm executed for his actions.
Whilst he was in exile, Wilhelm wrote his memoirs, and for the remaining 20 years of
his life he would entertain guests and keep up to date with what was happening in Europe.
However he was seen as the richest man in Germany before his abdication and he stayed
very rich.
But in the early 1930s, Wilhelm hoped that the Nazis would bring about the restoration
of the monarchy and make his grandson the new kaiser.
Hitler though had other ideas and he blamed Wilhelm for Germany’s darkest days, and
Wilhelm would invite Nazis to his home, but he would later state of Nazi rule that, ‘We
have ceased to live under the rule of law and everyone must be prepared for the possibility
that the Nazis will push their way in and put them up against the wall!’
He began to become shocked at what was happening in Germany with Jews being persecuted, and
he would admit that he was ashamed to her a German.
He wrote of Hitler that, ‘There's a man alone, without family, without children, without
God ... He builds legions, but he doesn't build a nation.
A nation is created by families, a religion, traditions: it is made up out of the hearts
of mothers, the wisdom of fathers, the joy and the exuberance of children ... For a
few months I was inclined to believe in National Socialism.
I thought of it as a necessary fever.
And I was gratified to see that there were, associated with it for a time, some of the
wisest and most outstanding Germans.
But these, one by one, he has got rid of or even killed ... He has left nothing but a
bunch of shirted gangsters!
This man could bring home victories to our people each year, without bringing them either
glory or danger.
But of our Germany, which was a nation of poets and musicians, of artists and soldiers,
he has made a nation of hysterics and hermits, engulfed in a mob and led by a thousand liars
or fanatics.’
He did appreciate the military successes of Germany during the start of the Second World
War, and he wrote to Hitler saying ‘My Fuhrer, I congratulate you and hope that under your
marvellous leadership the German monarchy will he restored completely.’
But the Nazis would literally come to his doorstep as the Nazis conquest of The Netherlands
took place in 1940, and Wilhelm who was now rather old retired from public life, and he
rejected an offer of Asylum from Churchill in Britain to live out the rest of his days
at Huis Doorn.
During his final years he became bitter against the British and also the jews, and by June
1941 he was a rather gravely ill man.
In the last week of his life he suffered from what has been classed as an issue with his
intestines or his bowels and a the age of 82 he took to his bed which would become his
deathbed.
Despite being severely ill, a few days before his demise he did rally significantly.
His family had been summoned to be by his bedside, but they then left as it looked like
he would get better.
But during the night of the 4th June 1941, Wilhelm suffered from a pulmonary embolism
in the night and from this moment he was unconscious.
It was said that he never regained consciousness but his heart still seated, however at 11:30am
he was then pronounced dead.
The only members of his family that were with him when he died was his wife, Hermine his
only daughter and hid grandson.
But there was a huge issue regarding the burial of Kaiser Wilhelm II.
Hitler at the time wanted to bring the body of the Kaiser back to Berlin so that he could
have a state funeral all whilst the war was going on.
But then Hitler realised that this could have been seen as he being the heir to the throne,
and he thought this would be useful for propaganda, and would make Hitler a figure of royalty.
But Kaiser Wilhelm had stated that his body was not to go back to Germany unless the monarchy
was restored, and this was respected.
The Nazis in The Netherlands agreed for a small funeral to take place with a few hundred
present.
The mourners included a number of German field marshals and flying aces from the First World
War as well as military advisors.
But Wilhelm who was at times rather critical of Hitler had said that he did not want Nazi
regalia or the Swastika being displayed at his funeral.
Hitler completely ignored this, and the funeral was almost a huge nazi rally with swastika’s
everywhere, and these wishes were not respected one bit.
He was then buried inside a small mausoleum in the grounds of the house he had spent decades
in exile, and today this is considered a place of pilgrimage.
Despite his death being quick and over within a number of hours, in his final hours on earth
Kaiser Wilhelm II did suffer.
But what is horrific about this is the fact he was a man who was able to live out the
rest of his life very comfortably inside a house in The Netherlands whilst he was responsible
for a conflict that ripped millions of men away from their homes and families.
There are villages today in Britain who have the names of the First World War dead etched
into the side of their churches, and some villages lost all of the men there to a conflict
they had no part in.
Kaiser Wilhelm’s final years of comfortability were a mockery of the suffering and sacrifice
of so many during World War 1, and he was a man who arguably could have been executed
for his role in the conflict.
At the end of the Second World War, the main aggressors of that war were brought to trial
and many were executed inside an execution chamber, but Kaiser Wilhelm was able to slip
away from this world in the comfort of his bed chamber inside of a Dutch palace.
He was a man who is considered a reckless leader who plunged the world into some of
its darkest days.
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