Prince Wilhelm of Prussia (1906–1940)
Wilhelm Friedrich Franz Joseph Christian Olaf Prince of Prussia ( 4 * July 1906 in the Marble Palace in Potsdam, † 26 May 1940 Nivelles ) was the eldest son of Prince Friedrich Wilhelm Victor August Ernst of Prussia ( 1882-1951 ), Crown Prince of the German Empire and of Prussia, and of his wife Cecilie Auguste Marie Duchess of Mecklenburg -Schwerin ( 1886-1954 ).
Life
On his tenth birthday, William was traditionally set as a lieutenant in the 1st Guards Regiment of Foot and received from his grandfather the Black Eagle awarded. The Hohenzollern princes were always born members of the Order. From 1918, after the abdication of his grandfather Wilhelm II.als German Emperor and King of Prussia and the abdication of his father William lived in Potsdam and visited with his brother, Louis Ferdinand the urban secondary school.
In 1925 William studied law at the Albertus University of Königsberg, the Ludwig- Maximilians- University of Munich and the Rheinische Friedrich- Wilhelms-Universität Bonn. He became a member of Corps Borussia Bonn (1926) and Corp. loop carrier Saxo - Borussia (1928 ). He fought several duels and was Sekundant.
In 1926 Wilhelm sparked by participating in an exercise of the Infantry Regiment No. 9 of the Reichswehr, which continued the tradition of "his" 1st Guards Regiment, unintentionally a political scandal. The Chief of the Army Command, Colonel General Hans von Seeckt, had to resign because he had allowed William, during the exercise to wear uniform.
On June 3, 1933, he married Dorothea von Salviati ( born September 10, 1907 in Bonn, † May 7, 1972 in Bad Godesberg), a marriage that was classified as no match for the Hohenzollern house laws. Wilhelm thus waived his birthright and therefore to a possible succession. From 1935 on he lived with his wife and their two daughters, Felicitas and Christa, at Castle Small Obisch at Glogau in Silesia.
For the monarchical - conservative part of the opposition against the Nazi regime Wilhelm was considered a beacon of hope. After the outbreak of the Second World War, Wilhelm took as lieutenant of the reserve with the 1st Infantry Division of the Armed Forces at the Battle of France in part. In the fighting at Valenciennes on May 23, 1940 seriously wounded, he died three days later in a field hospital in Belgium Nivelles. An Army squad leader said: " If the 20-year would be older, would our country look different. "
The funeral service was held in the Church of Peace in the Park of Sanssouci Potsdam on 29 May 1940. From there, 50,000 people formed a kilometer- long, silent guard of honor to Ancient Temple, the place of burial. The largest unorganized mass rally of his reign led Hitler to the promulgation of the so-called Prince decree, the first use of the front and from 1943 forbade the members of former German ruling houses of the service in the Wehrmacht.
Children
- Felicitas Cecilie Alexandrine Helene Dorothea Princess of Prussia ( born June 7, 1934 in Bonn; † 1 August 2009 Wohltorf )
- Christa Friederike Alexandrine Viktoria Princess of Prussia ( born October 31, 1936 in Small Obisch )
The False Prince
For Germany and Europe- wide attention and great laughter made 1926/1927, the case of impostor Harry Domela. The states and unemployed Baltic German was in November 1926 in Thuringia some two weeks, when William, Prince of Prussia, the eldest son of the Crown Prince, and fooled with his intelligent and cultured type dignitaries and nobles, among others in Erfurt, Weimar and Gotha. However, in December of dizziness flew open Domela fled and was arrested in January 1927. Under far -reaching media coverage he was tried and he sentenced to seven months in prison. During the detention period, he wrote his memoirs, The False Prince. Life and adventures of Harry Domela that were a huge success with over 120,000 copies sold.
The literary prominence of the Empire, including Thomas Mann, Kurt Tucholsky and Carl von Ossietzky, celebrated him, he has performed in theaters and revues. Magazines and newspapers published numerous articles on Domela and his " Köpenickiade " which held up the large parts still monarchist, authoritarian impaired bourgeoisie the mirror. The Malik -Verlag advertised on the dust jacket of the memoir with a portrait of the real William of Prussia, to him this was enjoined in January 1928 after a suit of prince.