Before the devastating era of the second world war, before the atrocities of the German state
during such time, and before the man at the center of it all, there was an emperor
and king who never could have predicted what was to befall his precious homeland…
German Emperor Wilhelm The Second, additionally the King of Prussia,
would be the final monarch of his kind to rule the German nation.
His reign began in the summer of 1888 as he took both thrones in what he assumed
was simply another typical succession. But this would not be the case. Instead,
Wilhelm was a peculiar monarch. While he contributed greatly to the building
of the German Navy and undoubtedly helped to strengthen the contemporary German state,
the emperor and king was not always well-liked by people in and outside of his empire.
His questionable foreign policy maneuvers were even bad enough to often be blamed
for stirring up enough tension to eventually contribute to the outbreak of the Great War.
This, whether fair or not, would domino into the ultimate demise of Wilhelm himself. After
Germany’s defeat and internal collapse following the conclusion of World War 1, Emperor of Germany
and King of Prussia, Wilhelm II was forced to abdicate his power in full on November 9, 1918.
This, alone, left the Emperor bitter and resentful as he fled his home and country for exile in the
Netherlands, swearing to never return unless and until Germany would yet again become a monarchy.
Germany was now a republic - the Weimar Republic - and Wilhelm was having none of it. And apparently,
soon, neither would none other than Adolf Hitler. In stark contrast in nearly every other way to
Wilhelm, Hitler was not a supporter of the former monarchy and quite frankly found the deposed
emperor to be a disastrous failure of a leader. Still, the up-and-coming political juggernaut
wasn’t satisfied with the Weimar Republic either. He and his party had first attempted
a disappointing rebellion in 1923 which ultimately fell flat on its face, but by 1932,
the economic instability and overall chaos of the Weimer Republic pushed people to back
the previously unpopular Adolf. In a stunning change of tide, the Nationalist-Socialist party
catapulted to the top, becoming the largest political party in the German Parliament.
Seizing this opportunity, Hitler rose to power in 1933, becoming the Chancellor of
Germany that January... This was the point of no return and the start of the dark era to come…
As Hitler swiftly invoked Article 48 and passed the Enabling Act
in an ingenious yet tyrannical attempt to bolster his own power and authority,
Wilhelm remained abroad in his Netherlands home. But, while no longer living in Germany,
the former monarch was far from disconnected from the German political realm.
Now, at this point, it’s important to keep in mind that Wilhelm himself
was beyond disliked. By many, he was hated. Some viewed him as the incarnation of evil and
countless blamed him for much of the Great War. The British people, for example, so badly wanted
to see the once-powerful monarch executed for all that had happened, in their opinions, due to
him alone, that his own relative - King George The Fifth of the United Kingdom - refused to speak out
in his defense. While some other world leaders did defend the humiliated German, there was no denying
just how hated Wilhelm was. The former emperor, on the other hand, was also bitter and angry about
the recent events of the world, but he was more infuriated by the fact that all fingers seemed
pointed unjustly at him, and this injustice as he saw it had gone so far as to rob him of his titles
and power. He had to watch his monarchy implode and be replaced by a shaky republic that he had
no sympathy for. And then, as he eyed Germany’s political situation continuously and intently,
hoping and praying that soon he would have a moment to pounce and reclaim his throne and state,
he instead had to watch as one man took his homeland on a gloomy, dismal path. Possibly the
first point at which Wilhelm developed a strong opinion about Adolf Hitler was during the failed
1923 revolt. While the efforts were quickly stamped out, Wilhelm was gravely suspicious of
what the motive had been. Potentially unaware that quite the opposite was true, the deposed
monarch thought that it was the Bavarian House of Wittelsbach who was behind it all.
His theory was that they were in fact aiming to rebuild the monarchy
but with the House of Wittelsbach in place of his own, but this was never the case. Nonetheless,
the acts of the future Chancellor were condemned by the former monarch from the very start.
Still, Wilhelm made the mistake of thinking that, in any context,
Hitler meant to restore the monarchy. In reality, the Nationalist-Socialist leader
had no intentions of doing such a thing, but he sure went far to pretend that he did.
In January of 1931, hoping to rally the support of monarchists, the soon-to-be chancellor sent
the World War 1 veteran Hermann Goering to meet with Wilhelm at his home in the Netherlands. The
meeting was short and tense, and it only seemed to deepen Wilhelm’s mistrust in the new German party.
However, Goering did return the following year at which point he stayed for an entire
week with the former monarch and many within the party believed that they may have won him over.
Quite contrary though, Wilhelm hadn’t budged. He regularly warned his family
to stay away from this party and his view of them and their leader remained negative.
It wasn’t just because they were against the monarchy either - as Goering had even,
dishonestly, told Wilhelm that he and his party in fact did want to restore it. Adversely,
it was much of the party’s foundation and policies that Wilhelm disapproved of.
For one thing, as much as he tried to understand the concept of National Socialism,
he just couldn’t swallow it. In his own words,
“this socialism is...irreconcilable with the idea of the national.”
Additionally, although Wilhelm has been accused of at a minimum making antisemitic remarks,
he was far from the raging maniac that Hitler was. Upon seeing the Third Reich’s treatment of Jews,
the exiled ruler was appalled and disgusted. In fact, he was so repulsed that he said,
“For the first time…I am ashamed to be a German…”. Nonetheless, there were moments where Wilhelm
attempted to give praise to the chancellor, although maybe a bit backhandedly at times.
In between the former monarch’s attempts to fully cut any potential ties between himself and the
Nazi regime, he gave honest praise to the good that the Third Reich accomplished within its own
borders, and he even sent a message to Hitler himself after the successful defeat
of the French. But the letter was only partially complementary. Although he gave congratulations,
Wilhelm also made sure to refer to the troops who had fought for the Fuhrer
as his own,” which predictably annoyed Hitler, who labeled the old royal as “an idiot”. This was
likely the last contact between the two men. As Wilhelm buddied up to the guards who by now were
stationed around his Netherlands home due to the German occupation, Hitler was busy with the war
and had maintained not an ounce of compassion for the ousted monarch nor his supporters.
Nevertheless, the chancellor was far from stupid and heavy-handed with manipulation. Hence,
When Wilhelm inevitably passed away on June 4, 1941, German authorities saw this as a wonderful
gift. Not only was their long-time rival and critic gone, but this was the perfect
opportunity for a theatrical propaganda event. The plan was clear: host an extravagant state funeral
service in Berlin for the once-beloved and final emperor of the German Empire. Hitler was to play
the part of the heartbroken successor and an end to the era of the monarchy could finally be seen.
The idea seemed easy enough to enact, until, that is, the final will of Wilhelm II was addressed…
Predicting the conniving schemes of the Fuhrer, Wilhelm strictly forbade
any such funeral for himself and directly stated that he was to be buried right where he died,
on his own estate in the Netherlands. Thus, the opinion of the Emperor of Germany and
King of Prussia, Wilhelm II, concerning the dictator that would follow, was a combination
of disgust, resentment, and overall disapproval. It also can be said that the feeling was very
strongly mutual. Two men at odds over the fate of one state, destined to live and die in opposition.
Only the words of Wilhelm himself can sum up his disdain for the chancellor even more clear: