Dispute with the Hohenzollerns: Agreement after almost 100 years

It looks like a final blow – and it probably is. In Germany, a dispute that has lasted almost a hundred years is coming to an end. A historic moment, because it clarifies the ownership of thousands of works of art.

The House of Hohenzollern —a German noble family to which the last German Emperor, Wilhelm II , belonged—had laid claim to various objects in German museums for decades. The Hohenzollerns also demanded millions in compensation for expropriated castles and inventory.

The whole thing went to court – until Georg Friedrich, Prince of Prussia, great-great-grandson of the last German emperor, finally changed the noble house's strategy in 2023: He withdrew the compensation claims , thus paving the way for out-of-court negotiations. Talks began in the fall of 2024. The result is the agreement now reached.

Works of art remain in museums

Back in May, the new German Minister of State for Culture, Wolfram Weimer (CDU), and Georg Friedrich, Prince of Prussia, announced a breakthrough: The federal government and the states of Berlin and Brandenburg had agreed with the former ruling House of Hohenzollern to establish the non-profit "Hohenzollern Art Heritage Foundation." It will manage the art and cultural objects reclaimed from the House of Hohenzollern. Now that the supervisory boards of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation and the German Historical Museum have also approved it, the agreement is finalized.

The public is the big winner, said Minister of State for Culture Weimer in Berlin. They can continue to view the holdings in museums, including around 3,000 objects in the collections of the Prussian Palaces and Gardens Foundation Berlin-Brandenburg , the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation, and the German Historical Museum. The new foundation also manages the inventory—furniture, tableware, and paintings—from some 70 palaces, villas, and other properties in Berlin and Potsdam that were owned or used by the Hohenzollern family until 1945. After all, these are items from the family's possession that were confiscated in 1918, after the end of the monarchy.

The expropriation of the "Junkers"

Looking back: In World War II, which Germany lost , Soviet troops conquered the formerly German territories east of the Elbe River – and with them the bulk of the Hohenzollern estates. The Soviet Union viewed the "Junkers," the landowning nobility, as class enemies and pillars of the Nazi system, and in 1945, it made short work of them: In the Soviet occupation zone, all noble houses were expropriated without compensation.

Four decades later, the Berlin Wall fell, and Germany was reunified. Suddenly, many former Hohenzollern palaces and estates found themselves on the territory of the Federal Republic. However, the 1990 Unification Treaty stipulated that the land reform of 1945 would not be reversed. Thus, the Hohenzollerns had to write off their old properties in the East.

A good 30 years later, the heirs of the last monarch demanded millions in compensation from the German state and the restitution of cultural assets – to no avail. The courts were to decide.

"Aiding and abetting" the Nazis?

This question played a central role in the compensation dispute: Had representatives of the House of Hohenzollern made common cause with the National Socialists, who ruled Germany between 1933 and 1945? Specifically, had the heirs of the last German Emperor, Wilhelm II, who abdicated in 1918, "significantly promoted" National Socialism?

And what role did the son of the last monarch and former Crown Prince Wilhelm of Prussia play between the world wars? Did he help the Nazis come to power and re-establish the monarchy? The so-called "Compensation Act" of 1994 regulates the compensation of landowners expropriated in the East in 1945 and states: Anyone who provided "significant support" to Hitler and the Nazis has no right to compensation.

Indeed, historical documents attest to Wilhelm's closeness to Hitler. Photographs and films show the former Crown Prince with Hitler and other Nazi leaders. However, Wilhelm's hope that the Nazis would crown him the new emperor was dashed. Historians continue to debate Wilhelm's role in the Nazi state.

Seeking proximity to Hitler

In their biographies, historians Lothar Machtan ("The Crown Prince and the Nazis") and Stephan Malinowski ("The Hohenzollerns and the Nazis") describe the Crown Prince as a radical anti-democrat who admired Mussolini and sought proximity to Hitler. His declared goal: the imperial throne. Malinowski and his colleague Peter Brandt concluded in an expert report that Wilhelm of Prussia, through his conduct, "significantly aided" the establishment and consolidation of the National Socialist regime.

The former Crown Prince is documented as having called for Hitler's election in the 1932 presidential election. He later boasted that he had secured two million votes for him. Wilhelm also publicly demonstrated his solidarity with the new elites. "The symbolic capital of the Hohenzollerns was very important for the Nazis in 1932/33," Münster historian Jacco Pekelder judged in a television interview, "even if the Crown Prince had his own agenda."

Outcome without a verdict

The editors of the 2021 anthology "The Hohenzollern Debate" expressed serious doubts about this. Historian Frank-Lothar Kroll attested to Wilhelm's "rather marginal commitment" to the Nazis. While he had curried favor with Hitler, he did not share his totalitarian ideology. History professor Christian Hillgruber, like historian Michael Wolffsohn, did not see the element of "significant support" as being present.

For decades, scores of lawyers, politicians, and historians have been dealing with the restitution and compensation claims of the descendants of Wilhelm of Prussia, the former Crown Prince of the German Empire. All of this is now history, with the unification of Berlin.