Junker (Prussia)

The were members of the landed nobility in Prussia. They owned great estates that were maintained and worked by peasants with few rights. These estates often lay in the countryside outside of major cities or towns. They were an important factor in Prussian and, after1871, German military, political and diplomatic leadership. One of the most famous was Chancellor Otto von Bismarck|. Bismarck held power in Germany from 1871to 1890 as Chancellor of the German Empire; he was dismissed by Kaiser Wilhelm II|.

Many lived in the eastern provinces that were annexed by either Poland or the Soviet Union after World WarII. fled or were expelled alongside other German-speaking populations by the incoming Polishand Soviet administrations, and their lands were confiscated. In western and southernGermany, 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 WarII, the dividing line was often drawn at the river, which was also roughly the western boundary of Slavic settlement by the Wends in the so-called Germania prior to Ostsiedlung. The term for the -dominatedEast was thus Ostelbien, or. They played a prominent role in repressing the liberal movement in Germany, and were often described as reactionary.

Origins

Junker is derived from Middle High German Juncherre, meaning or otherwise , and originally was the title of members of the higher edelfrei 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". As part of the nobility, many families only had prepositions such as von or zu before their family names without further ranks. The abbreviation of the title is, most often placed before the given name and titles, for example:. The female equivalent Junkfrau was used only sporadically. In some cases, the honorific was also used for Freiherren and Grafen.
A good number of poorer took up careers as soldiers, mercenaries, and officials at the court of territorial princes. These families were mostly part of the German medieval Uradel and had carried on the colonisation and Christianisation of the northeastern European territories during the Ostsiedlung. Over the centuries, they had become influential commanders and landowners, especially in the lands east of the in the Kingdom of Prussia.
As landed aristocrats, the owned most of the arableland in Prussia. Being the bulwark of the ruling Houseof, the 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-easternhalf of Germany. This was in contrast to the predominantly Catholic southern states such as the Kingdomof or the Grand Duchyof, where land was owned by small farms, or the mixed agriculture of the western states like the Grand Duchyof or even the Prussian Rhine and Westphalianprovinces.
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.

German and Prussian Empires

Supporting monarchism and militaristic traditions, 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 | and the extraparliamentary Agriculturists' League. This political class held tremendous power over industrial classes and government alike, especially through the Prussian three-classfranchise. When German chancellor Leo von Caprivi| in the1890s reduced protective duties on imports of grain, these landed magnates demanded and obtained his dismissal; and in1902, they brought about a restoration of these higher duties on foodstuffs.
The held a virtual monopoly on all agriculture in the part of the German lying east of the River. Since the 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. Around1900 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 andmeat.
Since the dawn of German Liberalism there had been a desire to see the Junkers abolished. Figures such as Friedrich Naumann and Max Weber believed the middle class and the proletariat would unite to abolish the Junkers and revered Britain as a model of this process.

Weimar Republic

The Junkers Believed that their existence was inherently linked to the existence of the German Monarchy and so they viewed the November Revolution as a crushing defeat. One Junker, Elard von Oldenburg-Januschau testified that "I felt a world was collapsing and burying under its ruins everything that had been the content of my life". And while the trappings and terminology changed after the revolution, the basic existence of the Junkers remained mostly unchanged in the Weimar Republic, the structure of German agriculture didn't change and the Junkers received large government subsidies to survive.
During the Weimar era 41 percent of Prussian land belonged to estates of more than 200 hectares, while 1,155 landlords owned over 1,000 hectares each. Although only a fourth were owned by those with titles of nobility, the typical Junker managed to maintain conditions much as they had been in the german Empire. Junkers’ political position however was threatened after 1918. The German Conservative Party which had worked to defend the interests of big agriculture, gave way to the new DNVP, a party that openly supported the middle class and was not dominated by the Junkers. In response to these threats the Junkers worked to maintain their dominance of the German countryside. Groups like the Stahlhelm and the Pan-German League were viewed as the political protectors of the Junkers in the new republic. In 1921 two Junker lobbying groups united to form the Reichslandbund.
As the 1920's progressed the economic position of the Junkers continiously worsened, high tariffs on the import of rye and wheat helped somewhat but where not sufficient. A policy known as Osthilfe granted 500million in subsidies to help pay for certain debts and to improve equipment. continued to demand and receive more and more subsidies, which increased their wealth, thus resulting in political power. exploited a monopoly on grain by storing it to drive up the price. This increased wealth aided them in maintaining control over political offices. were able to force people to continue paying more money for their product, while keeping who they wanted in office. Through the controlling of politics behind a veil, 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.
During the end of the Weimar Republic the Junkers were not the primary force supporting the Nazis, East Elbia agriculture was very divided when the Nazis rose to power and many Junkers were distressed at the Nazis rise. While the Junkers were anti-republican few supported the Nazis; the Monarchist resurgence they sought had little in common with the Nazi's anti-monarchist leanings. The Junker's political power though was undercut by DNVP chairman Alfred Hugenberg, by the Great Depression, which drove many German peasants and agricultural laborers to support the Nazis, and by the Nazi infiltration of the Reichslandbund.

Nazi Rule

The Junkers lobbying for a nationalization of agriculture was finally achieved under the Nazis, but their previous efforts sped this process along greatly. The Junkers, by fighting for their economic and political existence helped contribute to the rise of the Nazis and their own extinction, finally fulfilling the desires of the German Left.
Many World War II field marshals were also members of the, most notably Gerd von Rundstedt|, Fedor von Bock|, and Erich von Manstein|. Many used forced labourers from Poland and the Soviet Union. However, Helmuth James Graf von Moltke| formed the Circle as part of the resistance to Nazi rule, and as World WarII turned against Nazi Germany, several senior in the Wehrmacht participated in Colonel 's 20 July plot. Fifty-eight of them either were executed when the plot failed, among them Erwin von Witzleben| and Heinrich Graf von Lehndorff-Steinort|, or committed suicide like Henning von Tresckow|. During the advance of the Red Army in the closing months of the war, and subsequently, most had to flee from the eastern territories that were turned over to the re-established Republicof Poland with the implementation of the line according to the Agreement.

Modern History

After World War II, during the communist of September1945 in the Soviet Occupation Zone, later East Germany, all private property exceeding an area of was expropriated, and then predominantly allocated to 'NewFarmers' on condition that they continued farming them. As most of these large estates, especially in and Western Pomerania, had belonged to, the Socialist Unity Party of Germany promoted their plans with East German President 's slogan Junkerland in Bauernhand!. The former owners were accused of war crimes and involvement in the Naziregime by the Soviet Military Administration and the SED, with many of them being arrested, brutally beaten and interned in NKVD special camps, while their property was plundered and the manor houses demolished. Some were executed. Many women were raped. From1952 these individual farms were pressured by a variety of means to join together as collectives and incorporated into Landwirtschaftliche Produktionsgenossenschaften or nationalised as Volkseigene Güter.
After German reunification, some 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 , by which expropriations of land under Soviet occupation were irreversible. The last decisive case was the unsuccessful lawsuit of Prince ofHanover in September2006, when the Federal Administrative Court decided that the prince had no right to compensation for the disseized estates of the House of Hanover around Castle in. Other families, however, have quietly purchased or leased back their ancestral homes from the current owners. A petition for official rehabilitation of the ousted landowners was rejected by the German in2008.