Junker (Prussia)

Template:Langr was born into a wealthy Template:Langr family.

The Template:Langr (Template:IPAc-en Template:Respell; Template:IPA) were members of the landed nobility in Prussia. They owned great estates that were maintained and worked by peasants with few rights.Template:Zwj<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> These estates often lay in the countryside outside of major cities or towns. They were an important factor in Prussian and, afterTemplate:Nbsp1871, German military, political and diplomatic leadership. One of the most famous Template:Langr was Chancellor [[Otto von Bismarck|Template:Langr]].Template:Zwj<ref>Francis Ludwig Carsten, A History of the Prussian Junkers (1989).</ref> Bismarck held power in Germany from 1871Template:Nbspto 1890 as Chancellor of the German Empire; he was dismissed by [[Kaiser Wilhelm II|Template:Langr]].Template:Zwj<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Many Template:Langr lived in the eastern provinces that were annexed by either Poland or the Soviet Union after [[World War II|World WarTemplate:NbspII]]. Template:Langr fled or were expelled alongside other German-speaking populations by the incoming PolishTemplate:Nbspand Soviet administrations, and their lands were confiscated. In western and southernTemplate:NbspGermany, the land was often owned by small independent farmers or a mixture of small farmers and estate owners, and this system was often contrasted with the dominance of the large estate owners of the east. Before World WarTemplate:NbspII, the dividing line was often drawn at the riverTemplate:NbspTemplate:Langr, which was also roughly the western boundary of Slavic settlement by the Wends in the so-called [[Germania Slavica|Template:Lang]] prior to Template:Lang. The term for the Template:Langr-dominatedTemplate:NbspEast was thus Template:Lang, or Template:Gloss. They played a prominent role in repressing the liberal movement in Germany, and were often described as reactionary.

Origins

Template:Further information Template:Lang is derived from Middle High German Template:Lang, meaning Template:GlossTemplate:Zwj<ref name="DDN1">Duden; Meaning of Junker, in German. [1]</ref> or otherwise Template:Gloss (a derivation from Template:Wikt-langTemplate:Nbspand [[Herr (title)|Template:Lang]]), and originally was the title of members of the higher Template:Lang (immediate) nobility without or before the accolade. It evolved to a general denotation of a young or lesser noble, often poor and politically insignificant, understood as "country squire" (Template:Cf. [[Martin Luther|Template:Langr's]] disguise as "Template:Langr" at theTemplate:NbspTemplate:Langr; he would later mock [[King Henry VIII of England|King HenryTemplate:NbspVIII of England]] as "Template:Langr"Template:Zwj<ref>Henry VIII: September 1540, 26–30', Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 16: 1540–1541 (1898), p. 51. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=76214 Date accessed: 10 June 2012</ref>). As part of the nobility, many Template:Langr families only had prepositions such as Template:Lang or [[Nobiliary particle|Template:Lang]] before their family names without further ranks. The abbreviation of the title is Template:Langr, most often placed before the given name and titles, for example: Template:Langr. The female equivalent Template:LangTemplate:Nbsp(Template:Langr) was used only sporadically. In some cases, the honorific Template:Langr was also used for Template:LangTemplate:Nbsp(barons) and Template:LangTemplate:Nbsp(counts).

A good number of poorer Template:Langr took up careers as soldiers (Fahnenjunker), mercenaries, and officials (Template:Ill, Kammerjunker) at the court of territorial princes. These families were mostly part of the German medieval Template:Lang and had carried on the colonisation and Christianisation of the northeastern European territories during the Template:Lang. Over the centuries, they had become influential commanders and landowners, especially in the lands east of theTemplate:NbspTemplate:Langr in the Kingdom of Prussia.Template:Zwj<ref>William W. Hagen, Ordinary Prussians – Brandenburg Junkers and Villagers, 1500–1840 (Cambridge University Press, 2007)</ref>

As landed aristocrats, the Template:Langr owned most of the arableTemplate:Nbspland in Prussia. Being the bulwark of the ruling [[House of Hohenzollern|HouseTemplate:Nbspof Template:Langr]], the Template:Langr controlled the Prussian Army, leading in political influence and social status, and owning immense estates worked by tenants. These were located especially in the north-easternTemplate:Nbsphalf of Germany (i.e. the Prussian provinces of [[Province of Brandenburg|Template:Langr]], Pomerania, Silesia, West Prussia, East Prussia, and [[Province of Posen|Template:Langr]]). This was in contrast to the predominantly Catholic southern states such as the [[Kingdom of Bavaria|KingdomTemplate:Nbspof Template:Langr]] or the [[Grand Duchy of Baden|Grand DuchyTemplate:Nbspof Template:Langr]], where land was owned by small farms, or the mixed agriculture of the western states like the [[Grand Duchy of Hesse|Grand DuchyTemplate:Nbspof Template:Langr]] or even the Prussian Rhine and WestphalianTemplate:Nbspprovinces.Template:Zwj<ref>Hagen, Ordinary Prussians – Brandenburg Junkers and Villagers, 1500–1840 (2007)</ref>

Template:Langr formed a tightly-knit elite. Their challenge was how to retain their dominance in an emerging modern state with a growing middle and working class.

Modern influences

[[File:Neudeck.jpg|thumb|340x340px|alt=black-and-white photo of manor house|Template:Wikt-lang Template:Langr, East Prussia (today [[Ogrodzieniec, Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship|Template:Langr]], Poland), presented to German President Template:Langr in 1928]] The Template:Langr held a virtual monopoly on all agriculture in the part of the [[German Reich|GermanTemplate:NbspTemplate:Langr]] lying east of the [[River Elbe|RiverTemplate:NbspTemplate:Langr]]. Since the Template:Langr estates were necessarily inherited by the eldest son alone, younger sons, all well-educated and with a sense of noble ancestry, turned to the civil and military services, and dominated all higher civil offices, as well as the officer corps. AroundTemplate:Nbsp1900 they modernised their farming operations to increase productivity. They sold off less-productive land, invested more heavily in new breeds of cattle and pigs, used new fertilisers, increased grain production, and improved productivity per worker. Their political influence achieved the imposition of high tariffs that reduced competition from imported grain andTemplate:Nbspmeat.Template:Zwj<ref>Torp, 2010)</ref>

During World War I, Irish nationalistTemplate:NbspMP Tom Kettle compared the Anglo-Irish landlordTemplate:Nbspclass to the Prussian Template:Langr, saying, "England goes to fight for liberty in Europe and for Template:Langrdom in Ireland."Template:Zwj<ref>Tim Cross (1988), The Lost Voices of World War I, p. 42.</ref>

Their political influence extended from the German Empire of 1871–1918 through the [[Weimar Republic|Template:Langr Republic]] ofTemplate:Nbsp1919–1933. It was said that "if Prussia ruled Germany, the Template:Langr ruled Prussia, and through it the Empire itself".Template:Zwj<ref>Frederic Austin Ogg, The Governments of Europe (1920), p. 681</ref> A policy known as Template:Lang (Template:Gloss) granted Template:Langr 500Template:Nbspmillion Template:Langr in subsidies (equivalent to €Template:Format price in Template:Inflation/year; US$Template:Format priceTemplate:ZwjTemplate:Inflation/fn) to help pay for certain debts and to improve equipment.Template:Zwj<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Template:Langr continued to demand and receive more and more subsidies, which gave them more money in their pockets, thus resulting in political power. Template:Langr exploited a monopoly on grain by storing it to drive up the price. This increased wealth aided them in maintaining control over political offices. Template:Langr were able to force people to continue paying more money for their product, while keeping who they wanted in office.Template:Zwj<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Through the controlling of politics behind a veil, Template:Langr were able to influence politicians to create a law that prohibited collecting of debts from agrarians, thus pocketing even more money and strengthening their power.Template:Zwj<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Template:Conservatism in Germany Supporting monarchism and military traditions, Template:Langr were seen as reactionary, anti-democratic, and protectionist by liberals and socialists, as they had sided with the conservative and monarchist forces during the German revolutions of 1848–1849. Their political interests were served by the German Conservative Party in the [[Reichstag (German Empire)|Template:Langr]] and the extraparliamentary Agriculturists' League (Template:Lang). This political class held tremendous power over industrial classes and government alike, especially through the [[Prussian three-class franchise|Prussian three-classTemplate:Nbspfranchise]]. When German chancellor [[Leo von Caprivi|Template:Langr]] in theTemplate:Nbsp1890s reduced protective duties on imports of grain, these landed magnates demanded and obtained his dismissal; and [[German tariff of 1902|inTemplate:Nbsp1902]], they brought about a restoration of these higher duties on foodstuffs.

"Template:Langr" acquired its current and often pejorative sense during the 19th-century disputes over the domestic policies of the GermanTemplate:NbspEmpire.Template:Zwj<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> The term was used by sociologists such as Template:Langr and was even adopted by members of the landed class themselves. Chancellor [[Otto von Bismarck|Template:Langr]] was a noted Template:Langr, though his family hailed from the Template:Langr region west of theTemplate:NbspTemplate:Langr. After World WarTemplate:NbspI many Prussian agriculturists gathered in the national conservative German National People's PartyTemplate:Nbsp(DNVP). The term was also applied to Template:LangTemplate:NbspPresident [[Paul von Hindenburg|Template:Langr]], lord of [[Ogrodzieniec, Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship|Template:Langr]] in WestTemplate:NbspPrussia, and to the "Template:Langr" around him urging the appointment of Template:Langr as Chancellor of Germany—personified by men like Template:Langr's son [[Oskar von Hindenburg|Template:Langr]] and his WestTemplate:NbspPrussian "neighbour" [[Elard von Oldenburg-Januschau|Template:Langr]], who played central roles in the Template:Lang ofTemplate:Nbsp1932/33.

Many World War II field marshals were also members of the Template:Langr, most notably [[Gerd von Rundstedt|Template:Langr]], [[Fedor von Bock|Template:Langr]], and [[Erich von Manstein|Template:Langr]]. Many Template:Langr used forced labourers from Poland and the Soviet Union.Template:Zwj<ref>Naimark, Norman M. (1995). The Russians in Germany: A History of the Soviet Zone of Occupation, 1945–1949. Cambridge: Belknap Press. p. 145.</ref> However, [[Helmuth James Graf von Moltke|Template:Langr]] formed the [[Kreisau Circle|Template:Langr Circle]] as part of the resistance to Nazi rule, and as World WarTemplate:NbspII turned against Nazi Germany, several senior Template:Langr in the Template:Lang participated in Colonel [[Claus von Stauffenberg|Template:Langr's]] 20 July plot.Template:ZwjTemplate:Clarify Fifty-eight of them either were executed when the plot failed,Template:Zwj<ref>MacDonogh, p. 204</ref> among them [[Erwin von Witzleben|Template:Langr]] and [[Heinrich Graf von Lehndorff-Steinort|Template:Langr]], or committed suicide like [[Henning von Tresckow|Template:Langr]]. During the advance of the Red Army in the closing months of the war, and subsequently, [[Flight and expulsion of Germans from Poland during and after World War II|most Template:Langr had to flee]] from the eastern territories that were turned over to the re-established [[Polish People's Republic|RepublicTemplate:Nbspof Poland]] with the implementation of the [[Oder–Neisse line|Template:LangrTemplate:Nbspline]] according to the [[Potsdam Agreement|Template:Langr Agreement]].

Bodenreform

[[File:Wolfshagen Bodenreform Denkmal.jpg|thumb|alt=photo of plow sculpture|1985 Template:Lang memorial in [[Uckerland|Template:Langr]], Template:Langr]] After World War II, during the communist Template:Ill (land reform) of SeptemberTemplate:Nbsp1945 in the Soviet Occupation Zone, later East Germany, all private property exceeding an area of Template:Convert was expropriated, and then predominantly allocated to 'NewTemplate:NbspFarmers' on condition that they continued farming them. As most of these large estates, especially in Template:Langr and Western Pomerania, had belonged to Template:Langr, the Socialist Unity Party of GermanyTemplate:Nbsp(SED) promoted their plans with East German President [[Wilhelm Pieck|Template:Langr's]] slogan Template:Lang (Template:Gloss).Template:Zwj<ref>Naimark, Norman M. (1995). The Russians in Germany: A History of the Soviet Zone of Occupation, 1945–1949. Cambridge: Belknap Press. p. 143.</ref> The former owners were accused of war crimes and involvement in the NaziTemplate:Nbspregime by the Soviet Military Administration and the SED, with many of them being arrested, brutally beaten and interned in NKVD special camps (Template:Lang), while their property was plundered and the manor houses demolished. Some were executed. Many women were raped.Template:Zwj<ref>Naimark, Norman M. (1995). The Russians in Germany: A History of the Soviet Zone of Occupation, 1945–1949. Cambridge: Belknap Press. p. 86.</ref> FromTemplate:Nbsp1952 these individual farms were pressured by a variety of means to join together as collectives and incorporated into Template:Lang (Template:Gloss, LPG) or nationalised as Template:Lang (Template:Gloss, VEG).Template:ZwjTemplate:Citation needed

After German reunification, some Template:Langr tried to regain their former estates through civil lawsuits, but the German courts have upheld the land reforms and rebuffed claims to full compensation, confirming the legal validity of the terms within the Treaty on the Final Settlement with Respect to Germany (Two Plus Four Agreement) (and incorporated into the Basic Law of the Federal Republic), by which expropriations of land under Soviet occupation were irreversible. The last decisive case was the unsuccessful lawsuit of [[Ernst August von Hannover (born 1954)|Prince Template:Langr ofTemplate:NbspHanover]] in SeptemberTemplate:Nbsp2006, when the Federal Administrative Court decided that the prince had no right to compensation for the disseized estates of the House of Hanover around [[Blankenburg Castle (Harz)|Template:Langr Castle]] in Template:Langr. Other families, however, have quietly purchased or leased back their ancestral homes from the current ownersTemplate:Zwj<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> (often the German federal government in its role as trustee). A petition for official rehabilitation of the ousted landowners was rejected by the German Template:Langr inTemplate:Nbsp2008.Template:ZwjTemplate:Citation needed

See also

• Template:Anl
• Template:Anl
• Template:Anl
• Template:Anl
• Template:Lang, the Dutch cognate and rough equivalent
• [[Junker Party|Template:Langr Party]], 19th-century Swedish political movement

References

Notes Template:Reflist

Bibliography

• Anderson, Margaret Lavinia. "Voter, Junker, Landrat, Priest: The Old Authorities and the New Franchise in Imperial Germany," American Historical Review (1993) 98#5 pp. 1448–1474 in JSTOR
• Carsten, Francis Ludwig. A history of the Prussian Junkers (1989).
• Hagen, William W. Ordinary Prussians – Brandenburg Junkers and Villagers, 1500–1840 (Cambridge University Press, 2007)
• MacDonogh, Giles, After the Reich, Basic Books, (2007) Template:ISBN.
• Ogg, Frederick Austin, The Governments of Europe, MacMillan Company, 1920.
• Ogg, Frederic Austin. Economic Development of Modern Europe, Chap. IX (bibliography, pp. 210–211).
• Stienberg, Jonathan. Bismarck a Life, Oxford University Press, 2011
• Torp, Cornelius. "The "Coalition of 'Rye and Iron'" under the Pressure of Globalization: A Reinterpretation of Germany's Political Economy before 1914," Central European History (2010) 43#3 pp 401–427
• Weber, Max. "National Character and the Junkers," in From Max Weber: Essays in Sociology (Routledge classics in sociology) (1991)[2]

External links

• Template:Cite Americana