Saverne Affair
Encyclopedia
The Saverne Affair was a crisis of domestic policy which occurred in the German Empire
at the end of 1913. It was caused by political unrest in Saverne
(German: Zabern) in Alsace
, where two battalions of Prussia
n Infantry Regiment 99 were garrisoned, after a second lieutenant insulted the Alsatian population. The military reacted to the protests with arbitrary acts which were not covered by the law. These infringements led to a debate in the German
Reichstag
about the militaristic structures of German society, as well as the position of the leadership of the Empire in relationship to Kaiser
Wilhelm II. The affair not only put a severe strain on the relationship between the imperial state of Alsace-Lorraine
and the remainder of the German Empire, but also led to a considerable loss of prestige of the Kaiser.
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The nineteen-year-old Second Lieutenant Günter Freiherr von Forstner spoke disparagingly about the inhabitants of Saverne on October 28 during a troop induction. He said to his soldiers, "If you are attacked, then make use of your weapon; if you stab such a Wackes in the process, then you'll get ten marks from me." (Note: Wackes is a derogatory term for a native Alsatian.)
In addition, he warned his men with seemingly aggressive language against French foreign agents, who wanted to recruit them for the Foreign Legion
.
to transfer the second lieutenant. From the viewpoint of the military, however, this was not consistent with the honor and the prestige of the German Imperial Army. Lieutenant von Forstner was sentenced to merely six days of house arrest. The official statement of the authorities in Strasbourg
on November 11 played down the incident, and interpreted "Wackes" as a general description for quarrelsome people. Eleven days later, ten members of the Fifth Company of Infantry Regiment 99 were arrested and accused of reporting secrets about the Saverne affair to the press.
Unimpressed by these actions, protests continued among the Alsatian public. As a further provocation, Lieutenant Forstner showed himself to the public again after his house arrest, accompanied by an escort of four armed soldiers, by order of the garrison command. Lieutenant Forstner was repeatedly derided and abused, above all by youthful demonstrators, during his appearances outside the barracks, without the local police authorities being able to prevent it. Colonel Adolf von Reuter asked the leader of the local civil administration, Director Mahler, to restore order with the aid of the police, or else he would have to take measures himself. As an Alsatian, Mahler sympathized with the population and denied the request, since the protesters were behaving peacefully and had committed no violations of the law.
s were displayed in the streets.
Emperor Wilhelm II was hunting on the estate of Max Egon Fürst zu Fürstenberg in Donaueschingen
at the time. Although this trip had been organized long before the events in Saverne, Wilhelm's lack of interest left a bad impression. According to rumors, the Empress Auguste Viktoria
had even ordered a train to take her to her husband so she could persuade him to return to Berlin
. According to the historian Wolfgang Mommsen
, Wilhelm II underestimated the political dimension of the incident in Alsace at this point in time. The reports which the Statthalter (governor) of Alsace-Lorraine, Karl von Wedel, sent to Donaueschingen, in which he described the incidents as excessive as well as unlawful, were answered so as to play for time. Wilhelm II wanted to wait for the report from the military headquarters in Straßburg (Strasbourg
) first.
On November 30, the Prussian War Minister, Erich von Falkenhayn
, General Berthold Deimling and some other high-ranking officers arrived in Donaueschingen and six days of discussions began. The public became even angrier because of that, since the Kaiser apparently only wanted to hear the viewpoint of the military. Chancellor Theobald von Bethmann Hollweg, who had been passed over and who came more and more under pressure, joined the conference shortly before it ended. The result was disillusionment from the view of the critical classes of the population; the Kaiser approved of the behavior of the military officers and saw no reason to believe that they had exceeded their authority. Deimling sent a brigade general to Saverne, who restored civilian authority on December 1.
Forstner was sentenced to merely 43 days of arrest by a military court in the first trial, and in the appellate trial, the verdict was reversed completely. Although he had been accompanied by five armed soldiers and the shoemaker was unarmed, as well as paralyzed on one side, the judge interpreted his actions as self-defense, since the shoemaker had been guilty of insulting the crown. Within military circles, Forstner received encouragement, since he had defended the honor of the army with his act of violence.
The events in Saverne also caused heated debate in the Reichstag
. The Center Party
, the Social Democratic Party
and Progressive People's Party
directed parliamentary inquiries to the Chancellor. Three representatives, Karl Hauss from the Center Party, Roser from the Progressive People's Party and Jacques Peirotes
from the SPD, opened the discussion on December 3 by explaining their critical views of the Saverne affair as representatives of their respective parties. Bethmann Hollweg played down the behavior of the military in his concluding speech. According to observers of the proceedings, he seemed visibly nervous and shaken. After him, Falkenhayn spoke before the Reichstag for the first time. He defended the officers, who had only done their duty, and sharply attacked the press, who had played up the affair with propagandistic methods to bring their influence to bear on the military.
At this time, it became clear how different the views of the Reichstag and the Chancellor were. The debate was continued on the next day. Bethmann Hollweg commented again on the events. His second speech did make a better impression, but it could no longer turn the mood of the Reichstag around. On December 4, the parliament made use of the vote of no-confidence (§ 33a of the standing orders of the Reichstag, which had had at its disposal since 1912) for the first time in the history of the Empire. With 293 votes, four abstentions and 54 opposing votes, which came exclusively from the ranks of the conservatives, it disapproved the behavior of the government as being "not the view of the Reichstag".
However, the vote had no effect at all, which is why the Saverne affair serves as an example of the balance of power in the German Empire of the early 20th century. When the SPD demanded that Hollweg draw the consequences of the disapproval and resign, he refused and indicated that he was only dependent upon the confidence of the Kaiser. That was how it was foreseen in article 15 of the Constitution
. According to that, the Kaiser alone could replace the Chancellor, but he did not want to follow the decision of the Reichstag, since he wanted to resist the "parliamentarizing" of the Empire with all his might. In addition, Bethmann Hollweg denied that the question of the parliament had a binding effect on the government. The Reichstag and the political parties
were considered to be of merely secondary importance in the Empire.
An attempt to reject the budget of the Chancellor by the SPD on December 9 and to thus push him out of office did not find sufficient approval. Only the Polish Party (Polenpartei) supported the suggestion of the social democrats.
. In Straßburg, the mayor
s of several cities of Alsace-Lorraine appealed to the Kaiser on December 2 to take measures to guarantee the protection of their residents against military despotism.
The wave of indignation spread across the entire empire. Horror prevailed about the way the military was handling things, especially in the SPD. On December 3, the SPD party chairman called all organizations of the party to assemblies of protest. Four days later, rallies took place in 17 German cities - Berlin
, Breslau, Chemnitz
, Duisburg
, Düsseldorf
, Elberfeld
, Cologne
, Leipzig
, Mülheim an der Ruhr, Munich
, Solingen
and Strasbourg
, among others - at which social democrats demonstrated against the despotic rule of the military and demanded the resignations of Bethmann Hollweg and Falkenhayn. A people's movement ignited following the events in Saverne, against militarism
and for the defense of the rights of the national minorities in the German Reich.
However, the government of the Kaiser did not relent. To avoid further problems for the time being, the Kaiser ordered a temporary move of the Saverne units from Donaueschingen on December 5. In the next two days, the soldiers moved to the troop training grounds in Oberhofen (near Haguenau
) and Bitche
.
Further rebellions were suppressed. On December 11, the military court in Strasbourg sentenced two recruits from Saverne to three and six weeks of military arrest respectively because they had publicly confirmed Forstner's insulting statements. At the request of the general command of the XV army corps there, the Strasbourg police confiscated a recording made by the gramophone
company Cromer and Schrack on December 17. The recording revealed the events of the Saverne affair through dialogues with a background of drum rolls. In addition, the military instituted legal proceedings because of insulting German officers. Correspondingly, the protests waned.
While many liberal citizens who had interestedly followed the trial were now bitterly disappointed, great jubilation about the decision spread among the military personnel present. They congratulated the defendants, while still in the court room. Wilhelm II also was visibly pleased and even conferred a medal on von Reuter by return mail. The military left the stage as a strong and self-confident victor, and even had its inviolability in the Empire confirmed.
chairman Ernst Bassermann and the Center politician Martin Spahn, which demanded clarification from the imperial government regarding the civilian law authority of military instances, were approved by the Reichstag ten days later.
The result, the "Regulation about use of weapons by the military and its participation in suppression of domestic unrest", was issued by the Kaiser on March 19. It forbade the Prussian army from intervening without authorization in areas of civilian responsibility. Instead, the civilian authorities must demand a troop deployment ahead of time. The law remained in existence up until January 17, 1936, when the National Socialists abolished it with the "Ordinance about the use of weapons by the Wehrmacht
".
, kindled a new debate in the Reichstag when he disputed the validity of the cabinet order from 1820. On January 23, Bethmann Hollweg confirmed the validity of the order, however, and legitimized the military actions in Saverne by doing so.
representatives of various parties founded the League for the Defense of Alsace-Lorraine in Strasbourg on February 26. In addition, the parliament issued a decree on June 16, according to which all persons conscripted in the future could only perform their service outside of the German state (that is, Alsace-Lorraine)
Through the Saverne affair, there were also changes in personnel, as a result of which the two most important positions in Alsace-Lorraine were newly filled. On January 31, the State Secretary in the Ministry for Alsace-Lorraine, Hugo Zorn von Bulach, was replaced by the Potsdam
Upper Presidial Councillor, Siegfried von Roedern
. The Reichsstatthalter, Karl von Wedel, took his hat on April 18, whereupon the Kaiser put the Prussian Minister of the Interior, Johann von Dallwitz
in this office, to the disappointment of the Alsatians. Dallwitz was a decided advocate of the authoritarian state and also refused the constitution which had been granted to Alsace-Lorraine in 1911.
However, the First World War prevented further serious conflicts between the German Empire and Alsace-Lorraine.
assimilated the Saverne affair in his novel, Der Untertan
, which has been translated into English under the titles "Man of Straw," "The Patrioteer," and "The Loyal Subject".
The author Ulrich Rauscher mocked the "well-behaved citizen":
A very rough translation:
Kurt Tucholsky
made fun of the "courage" of Second Lieutenant Forstner in a poem for Vorwärts
:
A very rough translation:
Following the conduct of the military, the term zabernism found its way into the English language
of the time as a description for the abuse of military authority or for tyrannical, aggressive conduct in general.
German Empire
The German Empire refers to Germany during the "Second Reich" period from the unification of Germany and proclamation of Wilhelm I as German Emperor on 18 January 1871, to 1918, when it became a federal republic after defeat in World War I and the abdication of the Emperor, Wilhelm II.The German...
at the end of 1913. It was caused by political unrest in Saverne
Saverne
Saverne is a commune in the Bas-Rhin department in Alsace in north-eastern France. It is situated on the Rhine-Marne canal at the foot of a pass over the Vosges Mountains, and 45 km N.W...
(German: Zabern) in Alsace
Alsace
Alsace is the fifth-smallest of the 27 regions of France in land area , and the smallest in metropolitan France. It is also the seventh-most densely populated region in France and third most densely populated region in metropolitan France, with ca. 220 inhabitants per km²...
, where two battalions of Prussia
Prussia
Prussia was a German kingdom and historic state originating out of the Duchy of Prussia and the Margraviate of Brandenburg. For centuries, the House of Hohenzollern ruled Prussia, successfully expanding its size by way of an unusually well-organized and effective army. Prussia shaped the history...
n Infantry Regiment 99 were garrisoned, after a second lieutenant insulted the Alsatian population. The military reacted to the protests with arbitrary acts which were not covered by the law. These infringements led to a debate in the German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
Reichstag
Reichstag (German Empire)
The Reichstag was the parliament of the North German Confederation , and of the German Reich ....
about the militaristic structures of German society, as well as the position of the leadership of the Empire in relationship to Kaiser
Kaiser
Kaiser is the German title meaning "Emperor", with Kaiserin being the female equivalent, "Empress". Like the Russian Czar it is directly derived from the Latin Emperors' title of Caesar, which in turn is derived from the personal name of a branch of the gens Julia, to which Gaius Julius Caesar,...
Wilhelm II. The affair not only put a severe strain on the relationship between the imperial state of Alsace-Lorraine
Alsace-Lorraine
The Imperial Territory of Alsace-Lorraine was a territory created by the German Empire in 1871 after it annexed most of Alsace and the Moselle region of Lorraine following its victory in the Franco-Prussian War. The Alsatian part lay in the Rhine Valley on the west bank of the Rhine River and east...
and the remainder of the German Empire, but also led to a considerable loss of prestige of the Kaiser.
Second Lieutenant Forstner Insults the Alsatians
In addition, he warned his men with seemingly aggressive language against French foreign agents, who wanted to recruit them for the Foreign Legion
French Foreign Legion
The French Foreign Legion is a unique military service wing of the French Army established in 1831. The foreign legion was exclusively created for foreign nationals willing to serve in the French Armed Forces...
.
Public Indignation and Unyielding Military
On November 6, the two local newspapers, the Elsässer Anzeiger and the Zaberner Anzeiger, informed the public about these events. The population protested firmly against this treatment by the Prussian military in the next few days. The Statthalter (governor) of Alsace-Lorraine, Karl von Wedel, urged the commander of the regiment, Adolf von Reuter, as well as the commanding general, Berthold von DeimlingBerthold von Deimling
Berthold Karl Adolf von Deimling was a general officer of the German Army during World War I....
to transfer the second lieutenant. From the viewpoint of the military, however, this was not consistent with the honor and the prestige of the German Imperial Army. Lieutenant von Forstner was sentenced to merely six days of house arrest. The official statement of the authorities in Strasbourg
Strasbourg
Strasbourg is the capital and principal city of the Alsace region in eastern France and is the official seat of the European Parliament. Located close to the border with Germany, it is the capital of the Bas-Rhin département. The city and the region of Alsace are historically German-speaking,...
on November 11 played down the incident, and interpreted "Wackes" as a general description for quarrelsome people. Eleven days later, ten members of the Fifth Company of Infantry Regiment 99 were arrested and accused of reporting secrets about the Saverne affair to the press.
Unimpressed by these actions, protests continued among the Alsatian public. As a further provocation, Lieutenant Forstner showed himself to the public again after his house arrest, accompanied by an escort of four armed soldiers, by order of the garrison command. Lieutenant Forstner was repeatedly derided and abused, above all by youthful demonstrators, during his appearances outside the barracks, without the local police authorities being able to prevent it. Colonel Adolf von Reuter asked the leader of the local civil administration, Director Mahler, to restore order with the aid of the police, or else he would have to take measures himself. As an Alsatian, Mahler sympathized with the population and denied the request, since the protesters were behaving peacefully and had committed no violations of the law.
The Situation Escalates
On November 28, a huge crowd of people again assembled before the barracks, which led this time to an inappropriate counter-reaction of the troops. Von Reuter instructed Second Lieutenant Schadt, who had command of the sentries at that time, to disperse the crowd. Schadt called the sentries to arms and demanded the crowd three times to disperse. The soldiers drove the crowd across the courtyard of the barracks into a side street, under threat of force of arms, and arrested a great number of people without any legal basis. Among the prisoners were the president, two judges and a prosecuting attorney of the Saverne court, who had accidentally gotten into the crowd when leaving the court building. Twenty-six of the arrested people were locked up in a coal cellar overnight. The editorial rooms of one of the local newspapers which had publicized Forstner were also illegally searched by soldiers after hints from an informant. A state of siege hung over the city, and machine gunMachine gun
A machine gun is a fully automatic mounted or portable firearm, usually designed to fire rounds in quick succession from an ammunition belt or large-capacity magazine, typically at a rate of several hundred rounds per minute....
s were displayed in the streets.
The First Reactions of the Kaiser
Donaueschingen
Donaueschingen is a German town in the Black Forest in the southwest of the federal state of Baden-Württemberg in the Schwarzwald-Baar Kreis. It stands near the confluence of the two sources of the river Danube ....
at the time. Although this trip had been organized long before the events in Saverne, Wilhelm's lack of interest left a bad impression. According to rumors, the Empress Auguste Viktoria
Augusta Viktoria of Schleswig-Holstein
Augusta Victoria of Schleswig-Holstein was the last German Empress and Queen of Prussia. Her full German name was Auguste Victoria Friederike Luise Feodora Jenny von Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg.She was the eldest daughter of Frederick VIII, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein and Princess...
had even ordered a train to take her to her husband so she could persuade him to return to Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
. According to the historian Wolfgang Mommsen
Wolfgang Mommsen
Wolfgang Justin Mommsen was a German historian. He was the twin brother of Hans Mommsen.-Biography:He was born in Marburg, the son of the historian Wilhelm Mommsen. He was educated at the University of Marburg, University of Cologne and University of Leeds between 1951–1959...
, Wilhelm II underestimated the political dimension of the incident in Alsace at this point in time. The reports which the Statthalter (governor) of Alsace-Lorraine, Karl von Wedel, sent to Donaueschingen, in which he described the incidents as excessive as well as unlawful, were answered so as to play for time. Wilhelm II wanted to wait for the report from the military headquarters in Straßburg (Strasbourg
Strasbourg
Strasbourg is the capital and principal city of the Alsace region in eastern France and is the official seat of the European Parliament. Located close to the border with Germany, it is the capital of the Bas-Rhin département. The city and the region of Alsace are historically German-speaking,...
) first.
On November 30, the Prussian War Minister, Erich von Falkenhayn
Erich von Falkenhayn
Erich von Falkenhayn was a German soldier and Chief of the General Staff during World War I. He became a military writer after World War I.-Early life:...
, General Berthold Deimling and some other high-ranking officers arrived in Donaueschingen and six days of discussions began. The public became even angrier because of that, since the Kaiser apparently only wanted to hear the viewpoint of the military. Chancellor Theobald von Bethmann Hollweg, who had been passed over and who came more and more under pressure, joined the conference shortly before it ended. The result was disillusionment from the view of the critical classes of the population; the Kaiser approved of the behavior of the military officers and saw no reason to believe that they had exceeded their authority. Deimling sent a brigade general to Saverne, who restored civilian authority on December 1.
Forstner's Second False Step
On December 2, military practice was held in Saverne. The scene was watched from the street by a journeyman shoemaker, who broke out laughing at the sight of the young, finely dressed Forstner, and some inhabitants that were standing around joined in. As a result, the second lieutenant lost control, struck down the shoemaker with his saber and gave him severe head injuries. That new act of aggression further intensified the affair.Forstner was sentenced to merely 43 days of arrest by a military court in the first trial, and in the appellate trial, the verdict was reversed completely. Although he had been accompanied by five armed soldiers and the shoemaker was unarmed, as well as paralyzed on one side, the judge interpreted his actions as self-defense, since the shoemaker had been guilty of insulting the crown. Within military circles, Forstner received encouragement, since he had defended the honor of the army with his act of violence.
Vote of No-Confidence against Bethmann Hollweg
Reichstag (German Empire)
The Reichstag was the parliament of the North German Confederation , and of the German Reich ....
. The Center Party
Centre Party (Germany)
The German Centre Party was a Catholic political party in Germany during the Kaiserreich and the Weimar Republic. Formed in 1870, it battled the Kulturkampf which the Prussian government launched to reduce the power of the Catholic Church...
, the Social Democratic Party
Social Democratic Party of Germany
The Social Democratic Party of Germany is a social-democratic political party in Germany...
and Progressive People's Party
Progressive People's Party (Germany)
The Progressive People's Party was a liberal party of late Imperial Germany. It was formed in 6 March, 1910 as a merger of Freeminded People's Party, Freeminded Union, and German People's Party in order to unify the various liberal groups represented in parliament...
directed parliamentary inquiries to the Chancellor. Three representatives, Karl Hauss from the Center Party, Roser from the Progressive People's Party and Jacques Peirotes
Jacques Peirotes
Jacques Peirotes was a French politician, mayor of Strasbourg from 1919 to 1929.- Biography :The young Jacques Peirotes, son of a carpenter working at the locomotives factory of Graffenstaden, learned the job of typographer while entering into politics.Since 1900, he was editor of the Freie Presse...
from the SPD, opened the discussion on December 3 by explaining their critical views of the Saverne affair as representatives of their respective parties. Bethmann Hollweg played down the behavior of the military in his concluding speech. According to observers of the proceedings, he seemed visibly nervous and shaken. After him, Falkenhayn spoke before the Reichstag for the first time. He defended the officers, who had only done their duty, and sharply attacked the press, who had played up the affair with propagandistic methods to bring their influence to bear on the military.
At this time, it became clear how different the views of the Reichstag and the Chancellor were. The debate was continued on the next day. Bethmann Hollweg commented again on the events. His second speech did make a better impression, but it could no longer turn the mood of the Reichstag around. On December 4, the parliament made use of the vote of no-confidence (§ 33a of the standing orders of the Reichstag, which had had at its disposal since 1912) for the first time in the history of the Empire. With 293 votes, four abstentions and 54 opposing votes, which came exclusively from the ranks of the conservatives, it disapproved the behavior of the government as being "not the view of the Reichstag".
However, the vote had no effect at all, which is why the Saverne affair serves as an example of the balance of power in the German Empire of the early 20th century. When the SPD demanded that Hollweg draw the consequences of the disapproval and resign, he refused and indicated that he was only dependent upon the confidence of the Kaiser. That was how it was foreseen in article 15 of the Constitution
Constitution of the German Empire
The Constitution of the German Empire was the basic law of the German Empire of 1871-1919, enacted 16 April 1871. German historians often refer to it as Bismarck's imperial constitution....
. According to that, the Kaiser alone could replace the Chancellor, but he did not want to follow the decision of the Reichstag, since he wanted to resist the "parliamentarizing" of the Empire with all his might. In addition, Bethmann Hollweg denied that the question of the parliament had a binding effect on the government. The Reichstag and the political parties
Political party
A political party is a political organization that typically seeks to influence government policy, usually by nominating their own candidates and trying to seat them in political office. Parties participate in electoral campaigns, educational outreach or protest actions...
were considered to be of merely secondary importance in the Empire.
An attempt to reject the budget of the Chancellor by the SPD on December 9 and to thus push him out of office did not find sufficient approval. Only the Polish Party (Polenpartei) supported the suggestion of the social democrats.
Protests in the Entire German Reich
Already on November 28, the district councillor of Saverne wrote a telegram to Kaiser Wilhelm II, Bethmann Hollweg and Falkenhayn and protested against the arbitrary arrests of his citizens. Two days later, an assembly of the SPD with 3000 participants took place in Mülhausen, which demonstrated against the infringements of the soldiers. In a resolution, the participants described the state as a military dictatorship and demanded opposition against the prevailing conditions, if necessary even by means of strikesStrike action
Strike action, also called labour strike, on strike, greve , or simply strike, is a work stoppage caused by the mass refusal of employees to work. A strike usually takes place in response to employee grievances. Strikes became important during the industrial revolution, when mass labour became...
. In Straßburg, the mayor
Mayor
In many countries, a Mayor is the highest ranking officer in the municipal government of a town or a large urban city....
s of several cities of Alsace-Lorraine appealed to the Kaiser on December 2 to take measures to guarantee the protection of their residents against military despotism.
The wave of indignation spread across the entire empire. Horror prevailed about the way the military was handling things, especially in the SPD. On December 3, the SPD party chairman called all organizations of the party to assemblies of protest. Four days later, rallies took place in 17 German cities - Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
, Breslau, Chemnitz
Chemnitz
Chemnitz is the third-largest city of the Free State of Saxony, Germany. Chemnitz is an independent city which is not part of any county and seat of the government region Direktionsbezirk Chemnitz. Located in the northern foothills of the Ore Mountains, it is a part of the Saxon triangle...
, Duisburg
Duisburg
- History :A legend recorded by Johannes Aventinus holds that Duisburg, was built by the eponymous Tuisto, mythical progenitor of Germans, ca. 2395 BC...
, Düsseldorf
Düsseldorf
Düsseldorf is the capital city of the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and centre of the Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan region.Düsseldorf is an important international business and financial centre and renowned for its fashion and trade fairs. Located centrally within the European Megalopolis, the...
, Elberfeld
Elberfeld
Elberfeld is a municipal subdivision of the German city of Wuppertal; it was an independent town until 1929.-History:The first official mentioning of the geographic area on the banks of today's Wupper River as "elverfelde" was in a document of 1161...
, Cologne
Cologne
Cologne is Germany's fourth-largest city , and is the largest city both in the Germany Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and within the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Area, one of the major European metropolitan areas with more than ten million inhabitants.Cologne is located on both sides of the...
, Leipzig
Leipzig
Leipzig Leipzig has always been a trade city, situated during the time of the Holy Roman Empire at the intersection of the Via Regia and Via Imperii, two important trade routes. At one time, Leipzig was one of the major European centres of learning and culture in fields such as music and publishing...
, Mülheim an der Ruhr, Munich
Munich
Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...
, Solingen
Solingen
Solingen is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located on the northern edge of the region called Bergisches Land, south of the Ruhr area, and with a 2009 population of 161,366 is the second largest city in the Bergisches Land...
and Strasbourg
Strasbourg
Strasbourg is the capital and principal city of the Alsace region in eastern France and is the official seat of the European Parliament. Located close to the border with Germany, it is the capital of the Bas-Rhin département. The city and the region of Alsace are historically German-speaking,...
, among others - at which social democrats demonstrated against the despotic rule of the military and demanded the resignations of Bethmann Hollweg and Falkenhayn. A people's movement ignited following the events in Saverne, against militarism
Militarism
Militarism is defined as: the belief or desire of a government or people that a country should maintain a strong military capability and be prepared to use it aggressively to defend or promote national interests....
and for the defense of the rights of the national minorities in the German Reich.
However, the government of the Kaiser did not relent. To avoid further problems for the time being, the Kaiser ordered a temporary move of the Saverne units from Donaueschingen on December 5. In the next two days, the soldiers moved to the troop training grounds in Oberhofen (near Haguenau
Haguenau
-Economy:The town has a well balanced economy. Centuries of troubled history in the buffer lands between France and Germany have bequeathed to Haguenau a rich historical and cultural heritage which supports a lively tourist trade. There is also a thriving light manufacturing sector centred on the...
) and Bitche
Bitche
Bitche is a commune in the Moselle department in Lorraine in north-eastern France.It is known for its large citadel. The surrounding territory is known as le Pays de Bitche in French and Bitscherland in German.-Geography:...
.
Further rebellions were suppressed. On December 11, the military court in Strasbourg sentenced two recruits from Saverne to three and six weeks of military arrest respectively because they had publicly confirmed Forstner's insulting statements. At the request of the general command of the XV army corps there, the Strasbourg police confiscated a recording made by the gramophone
Phonograph
The phonograph record player, or gramophone is a device introduced in 1877 that has had continued common use for reproducing sound recordings, although when first developed, the phonograph was used to both record and reproduce sounds...
company Cromer and Schrack on December 17. The recording revealed the events of the Saverne affair through dialogues with a background of drum rolls. In addition, the military instituted legal proceedings because of insulting German officers. Correspondingly, the protests waned.
The Trial against von Reuter and Schadt
The trial before the military court in Straßburg from January 5 through January 10 acquitted both of the men chiefly responsible, Colonel von Reuter and Second Lieutenant Schadt, from charges of unlawfully appropriating authority from the civilian police. The court admittedly apologized for the infringements of the soldiers, but lay the blame on the civil authorities whose task it should have been to maintain order. It referred to an order of the Prussian cabinet from 1820. According to the order, the highest ranking military official of a city must seize legal authority if the civil authority neglects to maintain order. Because the defendants had acted on the strength of these regulations, they could not be convicted.While many liberal citizens who had interestedly followed the trial were now bitterly disappointed, great jubilation about the decision spread among the military personnel present. They congratulated the defendants, while still in the court room. Wilhelm II also was visibly pleased and even conferred a medal on von Reuter by return mail. The military left the stage as a strong and self-confident victor, and even had its inviolability in the Empire confirmed.
Legal Regulation of Military Deployment within Germany
On January 14, the Reichstag decided to form a committee to legally regulate the rights of the military with regard to the civilian authority. Two motions of the National Liberal PartyNational Liberal Party (Germany)
The National Liberal Party was a German political party which flourished between 1867 and 1918. It was formed by Prussian liberals who put aside their differences with Bismarck over domestic policy due to their support for his highly successful foreign policy, which resulted in the unification of...
chairman Ernst Bassermann and the Center politician Martin Spahn, which demanded clarification from the imperial government regarding the civilian law authority of military instances, were approved by the Reichstag ten days later.
The result, the "Regulation about use of weapons by the military and its participation in suppression of domestic unrest", was issued by the Kaiser on March 19. It forbade the Prussian army from intervening without authorization in areas of civilian responsibility. Instead, the civilian authorities must demand a troop deployment ahead of time. The law remained in existence up until January 17, 1936, when the National Socialists abolished it with the "Ordinance about the use of weapons by the Wehrmacht
Wehrmacht
The Wehrmacht – from , to defend and , the might/power) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the Heer , the Kriegsmarine and the Luftwaffe .-Origin and use of the term:...
".
Revival of the Reichstag Debate
The criminal justice theoretician, Franz von LisztFranz von Liszt
Franz Ritter von Liszt was a German jurist, criminologist and international law reformer. As a legal scholar, he was a proponent of the modern sociological and historical school of law...
, kindled a new debate in the Reichstag when he disputed the validity of the cabinet order from 1820. On January 23, Bethmann Hollweg confirmed the validity of the order, however, and legitimized the military actions in Saverne by doing so.
Consequences for Alsace-Lorraine
The relationship between Alsace-Lorraine and the rest of the German Empire was noticeably affected for the worse. The Alsatians and Lorrainers felt themselves more helplessly at the mercy of the arbitrariness of the German military than ever. The second chamber of the Alsace-Lorraine parliament commented on the incidents on January 14 in a resolution. While they defended the conduct of the civilian authorities, they condemned the action of the military, as well as the acquittal of Commander von Reuter. LandtagLandtag
A Landtag is a representative assembly or parliament in German-speaking countries with some legislative authority.- Name :...
representatives of various parties founded the League for the Defense of Alsace-Lorraine in Strasbourg on February 26. In addition, the parliament issued a decree on June 16, according to which all persons conscripted in the future could only perform their service outside of the German state (that is, Alsace-Lorraine)
Through the Saverne affair, there were also changes in personnel, as a result of which the two most important positions in Alsace-Lorraine were newly filled. On January 31, the State Secretary in the Ministry for Alsace-Lorraine, Hugo Zorn von Bulach, was replaced by the Potsdam
Potsdam
Potsdam is the capital city of the German federal state of Brandenburg and part of the Berlin/Brandenburg Metropolitan Region. It is situated on the River Havel, southwest of Berlin city centre....
Upper Presidial Councillor, Siegfried von Roedern
Siegfried von Roedern
Siegfried Friedrich Wilhelm Erdmann Graf von Roedern was a German politician...
. The Reichsstatthalter, Karl von Wedel, took his hat on April 18, whereupon the Kaiser put the Prussian Minister of the Interior, Johann von Dallwitz
Johann von Dallwitz
Johann Nicolas Michael Louis von Dallwitz, born in Breslau, in Lower Silesia, died in Bosse) was a politician, who served in Anhalt and Prussia.-Biography:...
in this office, to the disappointment of the Alsatians. Dallwitz was a decided advocate of the authoritarian state and also refused the constitution which had been granted to Alsace-Lorraine in 1911.
However, the First World War prevented further serious conflicts between the German Empire and Alsace-Lorraine.
Assimilation into Literature and Language
The author Heinrich MannHeinrich Mann
Luiz Heinrich Mann was a German novelist who wrote works with strong social themes. His attacks on the authoritarian and increasingly militaristic nature of pre-World War II German society led to his exile in 1933.-Life and work:Born in Lübeck as the oldest child of Thomas Johann Heinrich Mann...
assimilated the Saverne affair in his novel, Der Untertan
Der Untertan
Der Untertan is the most famous novel by German author Heinrich Mann. It has been translated into English under the titles "Man of Straw," "The Patrioteer," and "The Loyal Subject" . The title poses a problem for the non-German reader since there is no effective translation of the word 'Untertan'...
, which has been translated into English under the titles "Man of Straw," "The Patrioteer," and "The Loyal Subject".
The author Ulrich Rauscher mocked the "well-behaved citizen":
A very rough translation:
- Even though heaps of your kind,
- away from bayonets and sabre strokes –
- March, march! Hupp, hupp! – run the gauntlet:
- You are all fond of the lieutenant!
- Only under the blows of a club
- do you really feel at home in the fatherland.
- Damned, those who expose themselves like that,
- after they have unmanned themselves!
- Further, you will mercifully be hit
- by the sabre on the brain!
- You are the eunuchs of the German Empire!
- Hurrah, you iron bride!
- Only under the blows of a club
Kurt Tucholsky
Kurt Tucholsky
Kurt Tucholsky was a German-Jewish journalist, satirist and writer. He also wrote under the pseudonyms Kaspar Hauser, Peter Panter, Theobald Tiger and Ignaz Wrobel. Born in Berlin-Moabit, he moved to Paris in 1924 and then to Sweden in 1930.Tucholsky was one of the most important journalists of...
made fun of the "courage" of Second Lieutenant Forstner in a poem for Vorwärts
Vorwärts
Vorwärts was the central organ of the Social Democratic Party of Germany published daily in Berlin from 1891 to 1933 by decision of the party's Halle Congress, as the successor of Berliner Volksblatt, founded in 1884....
:
- Der Held von Zabern
-
A very rough translation:
- The Hero of Saverne
- A "man" with a long knife,
- and 20 years old -
- A hero and a chocolate-eater,
- and still not a single hair in his mustache.
- He stalks in Saverne's long alleys
- and crows in soprano -
- How long will the child be left alone without supervision? -
- The matter has become of utmost urgency! -
- That is the kind that we need so many of! -
- He leads the corps!
- And deeply moved, his people are seen to dive
- for enemies, deep in every privy.
- Since in the end, prey is made that way -
- nothing ventured, nothing gained!
- Today, it is a lame cobbler,
- and tomorrow, it's an orphan child.
- In short: he has courage, the swiftness of a cow, or better:
- a whole man! -
- Since if someone puts up a fight, he immediately stabs him with the knife,
- because the other cannot protect himself.
Following the conduct of the military, the term zabernism found its way into the English language
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
of the time as a description for the abuse of military authority or for tyrannical, aggressive conduct in general.
Contemporary Quotations
- "Always firm on it!" (Wilhelm von Hohenzollern, the son of the Kaiser, in a telegram at the end of the year)
- "Do we live in a South American republic, where any colonel can dictate the law to the court authorities, and do life and freedom of the citizen depend upon the decisions of an officer's canteen society for us?" (Theodor Wolff, publicist and author)
- "As no one has reportedly - to speak with Bismarck - imitated the Prussian lieutenant, in fact, still no one has been able to entirely imitate the Prussian-German militarism, that has not only become a state within a state, but virtually a state over the state (...)" (Karl LiebknechtKarl Liebknechtwas a German socialist and a co-founder with Rosa Luxemburg of the Spartacist League and the Communist Party of Germany. He is best known for his opposition to World War I in the Reichstag and his role in the Spartacist uprising of 1919...
, already seven years before the Saverne affair) - "And is not murder and mutilation in war the actual profession and the true nature of those 'military offices', whose wounded authority showed their teeth in Saverne?" (Rosa LuxemburgRosa LuxemburgRosa Luxemburg was a Marxist theorist, philosopher, economist and activist of Polish Jewish descent who became a naturalized German citizen...
)
External links
Literature
Most references are in German.- Erwin Schenk: Der Fall Zabern, W. Kohlhammer, Stuttgart 1927.
- Hans-Günter Zmarzlik: Bethmann Hollweg als Reichskanzler 1909–1914. Studien zu Möglichkeiten und Grenzen seiner innenpolitischen Machtstellung (Beiträge zur Geschichte des Parlamentarismus und der politischen Parteien, Vol. 11), Droste-Verlag, Düsseldorf 1957, esp. pp. 114–130.
- Hans-Ulrich WehlerHans-Ulrich WehlerHans-Ulrich Wehler is a German historian known for his role in promoting social history through the "Bielefeld School", and for his critical studies of 19th century Germany.-Career:...
: Der Fall Zabern. Rückblick auf eine Verfassungskrise des wilhelminischen Kaiserreichs, in: Die Welt als Geschichte 23, 1963, pp. 27–46; again as: Symbol des halbabsolutistischen Herrschaftssystems - Der Fall Zabern von 1913/14, in: Hans-Ulrich Wehler: Krisenherde des Kaiserreichs 1871–1918. Studien zur deutschen Sozial- und Verfassungsgeschichte, Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 1970, pp. 65–83; once again as: Der Fall Zabern von 1913/14 als Verfassungskrise des Wilhelminischen Kaiserreichs, in: Hans-Ulrich Wehler: Krisenherde des Kaiserreichs 1871–1918, Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 1979 (2nd edition), pp. 70–88 und 449–458. - David SchoenbaumDavid SchoenbaumDavid Schoenbaum is an American social scientist and historian.He was teaching as a professor of History at the University of Iowa until 2008. Schoenbaum received his BA at the University of Wisconsin–Madison...
: Zabern 1913. Consensus Politics in Imperial Germany, George Allen & Unwin, London 1982 (197 pages); ISBN 0-04-943025-4. - Rainer Nitsche (publ.): Durchfall in Zabern. Eine Militärdemontage, Transit Buchverlag, Berlin 1982; ISBN 3-88747-010-9.
- Richard W. Mackey: The Zabern Affair, 1913–1914, University Press of America, Lanham 1991; ISBN 0-8191-8408-X.
- Wolfgang J. Mommsen: War der Kaiser an allem schuld?, Propyläen Verlag, Ullstein Heyne List, Berlin 2005, p. 203–209; ISBN 3-548-36765-8.