|
a.
|
Note: Because of his stepfather's, Friedrich Wilhelm von Becker's, position and connections (see above, No. 86), the family's home in D�sseldorf was a social center for notabilities of the period. During his childhood Wilhelm Widenmann thus counted among his playmates three Ho-hen-zollern princes who remained his friends throughout life: Prince and later Duke Wilhelm von Hohenzollern; Prince Fer-dinand von Hohenzollern (from 1914-27 King Ferdinand I of Romania); and Prince Carlos von Hohenzollern. Another of his playmates was Eyre Crowe, subse-quently Assistant Under-secretary of State for Foreign Af-fairs with the British government and chief aide to Foreign Secretary Sir Ed-ward Grey. Wilhelm was later to meet Crowe while employed at the German embassy in London (see be-low). Crowe, who by that time had be-come fiercely anti-German, was quite embarrassed when reminded by Wilhelm of the childhood experiences the two had shared in D�sseldorf. Several D�sseldorf artists also frequented their home. Wilhelm spent his school vacations in Letmathe with the Overwegs, his grand-parents, swimming, riding, hunting, and fishing. He also ac-quired highly placed connections through this branch of the family. Wilhelm was tutored privately from Easter 1877 until 1879. He attended the Royal Gymnasium Preparatory School 1879-80 and then secondary school from 1880 to 1886. Around Easter of that year Wilhelm's father was transferred to Cologne and Wilhelm to the Friedrich-Wilhelm-Gymnasium in Lemgo. Here he studied under the famous historian Oskar J�ger, who instilled in him an in-terest in history and politics. Wilhelm received his certificate (Arbitur) in 1890. His most pleasant memories always revolved around his youth in D�sseldorf, however. He could never forget a visit made by Emperor Wil-helm I in 1876, during which the city gave various exhibitions of tradi-tional dances. His mother, dancing with her two sons, played the part of a Black Forest countrywoman, which pleased the Emperor so much that he called Wilhelm's mother over to him to praise her in par-ticular. It was also in D�sseldorf that Wilhelm made the ac-quaintance of Al-fred Krupp and his son, both of whom frequented their home. And it was here that he first saw Prince Wil-helm, later Emperor Wil-helm II. He wrote in his autobiography (p. 16; see below and Bibliography): The nationalistic spirit that pre-vailed in my parents' home, my rec-ollection of my grandfather's patri-otic activi-ties, the privilege of living in an im-portant age and seeing the admira-tion bestowed on my parents through their association with im-por-tant men and friends-all this exercised a strong and lasting influ-ence on my development.�. Wilhelm became a naval cadet 12 Apr 1890 in the Imperial Navy at Kiel, despite well-meant advice to the con-trary. He underwent initial training aboard a sailing ship, the frigate SMS Niobe, calling at Norwegian, Scottish, and English ports. Following his gradua-tion in 1893 as ensign, he was attached to various torpedo boats and cruisers. His first foreign assignment (1895-1897) was aboard the SMS Seeadler in the African zone, where he was stationed at Dar es Salaam under Hermann von Wissman, governor of German East Af-rica, which from 1885 to 1920 con-sisted of the area now occupied by Rwanda, Burundi, and part of Tan-ganyika. He witnessed Dr. L. S. Jame-son's ill-fated raid in the Transvaal on 31 Dec 1895; the bombardment of Zanz-ibar by the British Cape Squadron in 1896; Sultan Sa�d Kalid's passage (aboard the Seeadler) to Dar es Salaam af-ter his escape from the British; and the coastal defense of Swakopmund during the first Herero uprising in pre-sent Namibia. Wilhelm spent many years in Cape Town, and rounded the Cape of Good Hope six times. He was commanding officer on several torpedo boats, spent two years at the Naval Academy in Kiel, and then embarked on his second foreign assignment aboard the SMS F�rst Bismarck, the flagship of a cruiser squadron operating out of the East Asian Station during the Russo-Japanese War (1904-06). He call-ed at all the important Japanese and Chinese ports, and visited Nanking, Pe-king, the Sunda Islands, the Philippines, and Siam (Thailand). By this time he had acquired a profound insight into England's naval and colonial policies. Further, he had succeeded in acquainting himself with the current strengths of both the German and British navies. He was ordered Back to Europe by telegram (dated 16 Dec 1906) to serve as naval at-tach� at the Imperial Embassy in London. Wilhelm spent al-most three months in Berlin studying technical specifications and the legal as-pects of Anglo-German naval treaties, and then on 15 Mar 1907 he settled into his new job, where he was to remain until early 1912. Here he worked under Ambassadors Count Paul Metternich and Baron Her-mann Marschall von Bierber-stein, and as Fleet Admiral Alfred von Tir-pitz's pro-t�g� and spokesman. Then a lieutenant, he was fre-quently ordered to report directly to the Em-peror, bypass-ing the usual diplomatic channels. Like von Tirpitz, Wilhelm was completely opposed to the policy toward England advocated by Chancellor Theobold von Bethmann-Hollweg. Wilhelm was deeply engaged in the negotiations with England over relative naval strength, which preceded the outbreak of World War I, a ratio that had been disturbed when England began to build its "dreadnaughts." As a consequence he had access to the important embassies in London, among others the American, and he made many friends and acquaintances, including Sir Winston Churchill. He was able to put the knowledge obtained during his time in London to good use during the war. Despite hostilities he managed to main-tain close relations with Admiral Sir John Jellicoe (later Earl Jellicoe), Commander-in-Chief of the British Grand Fleet during the Battle of Jutland, whom he met again in the 1920s when he went to London to deliver lectures on the commu-nist threat. In a letter to the Emperor dated 26 Nov 1918 Wilhelm gives expres-sion to the extreme sadness he feels over the loss of the war, exclaiming that for him the welfare of the Fatherland and the splendor attaching to the Hohen-zol-lern House are identical. The fact that both have suffered defeat, he concludes, therefore deepens the pain he feels. (Op. cit., p. 280.) Wilhelm wrote an extensive autobiography of his tenure at the embassy in London, titled, Marine-Attach� an der kaiserlich-deutschen Botschaft in London 1907-1912, (see Bibliography), a copy of which is possessed by Peter Widenmann (no. 185). Of the illustrations in the book Wilhelm appears in only one, and then as a scarcely distinguishable figure in the background (following p. 64). He frequently sailed as owner's representative, from 1908 to 1911, at Cowes by the Isle of Wight in Southern England on board Krupp von Bohlen's vessel the Germania. (See also below, no. 185.) This made it possible for him to so-cialize with members and guests of the Royal Yacht Squadron, an opportunity that would not otherwise have been open to him in his capacity of naval at-tach�. From autumn 1912 to autumn 1915 he was commanding officer of the light cruisers SMS Kolberg and SMS Regensburg and during World War I participated in undertakings aimed at the British coast, laying mines close to the coast near Scarsborough. While in command of the SMS Kolberg he also took part in the naval battle at the Dogger Bank in January 1915, an en-gagement that his vessel's medium range guns initiated by firing shots at a British light cruiser of the Southampton class. In the fall of the same year he was ordered by von Tirpitz to report to Berlin for work at the news agency of the governmental naval offices (Reichs-Marine-Amt) as the Admiral's closest collaborator. He remained here until 1916, when von Tirpitz was discharged. Wilhelm was relieved of his duties in Jan-uary 1917 at the rank of naval captain, pursuant to special orders [AKO] issued on the basis of an exemption made in the interest of the state to assume the direc-tion of Hugemberg's privately owned news agency, The German Overseas Service (Deutscher �berdienst GmbH, or DUD), in Berlin, becoming president in 1920. The purpose of this company was, according to its own stat-utes, "to organize and maintain news agency relations between Ger. and other countries, in particular overseas areas." It was in fact used to disseminate propaganda about German industry and commerce. In March 1926 he became a fi-nance executive of the German National People's Party (Deutschnationale Volkspartei), another initiative on the part of Hugenberg. In 1932 Admiral Erich Raeder invited Wilhelm to participate in a committee to prepare a "History of the Imperial Navy From 1871 to 1914," but disagreement with another committee member, Vice-Admiral Eberhard von Mantey, brought a temporary halt to the proceedings. Work was resumed after Mantey's death in 1943, when Raeder asked Wilhelm to assume full responsibility for the project. After the close of World War II, however, the British in 1948 unfortunately confiscated and transferred to London all their material covering the period from 1848 on, thereby putting a definitive end to the project. In his later years he became a close friend of General Her-mann von Scherkamp and his wife, and he held an honorary position in the Naval Records Office in Coburg during World War II. He spent his final days among former naval subordinates in an old people's home (Heim Kennenburg) in Esslingen, where he died.
|