The Kotze Affair

In January of 1891, a public scandal erupted in imperial Germany over a party at Grunewald castle. What were the reasons for it, how did the participants react and what were the social circumstances that led to this whole thing?
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Sources:
- Dietze, Gabriele: Queering Willie. Wilhelminische Maskulinitäten
und die Kaiser-Figuration, in: L' homme : Zeitschrift für feministische Geschichtswissenschaft, 22 (2011), Nr. 2, pp. 95-112.
- Röhl, John C. G.: Wilhelm II. Der Aufbau der Persönlichen Monarchie, Munich 2001.
- Wippermann, Wolfgang: Skandal im Jagdschloss Grunewald. Männlichkeit und Ehre im deutschen Kaiserreich, Darmstadt 2010.
Music:
Prokoviev - Dance of the Knights
Dvořák - Serenade for strings in E-major

[@Majupe94]

Champagne? Spacious accommodation? Damn, seems like that prisoner had better life in Glatz than current citizens of the city. As always great content, mate 💪

[@boostaah]

Imagine the Kaiser visits you in hospital and gifts you an Easter egg 😂

[@tubewatcher77]

Von Kotze means "from vomiting" in german. My friends name is Duke of Peeing and his brothers name is Shitstorm because if he goes to toilette we get a disaster warning.

[@ellidominusser1138]

Chad german names

[@Reichsritter]

Herzog von Pissen? I highly doubt that

[@frogdoclp1377]

Glauben sie diese Geschichte ist wahr?da muss ich sie leider enttäuschen sie ist frei erfunden

[@santi2683]

"Your excellency, Duke von scheisse requires an audience"

[@jackripper9810]

"from/of vomit" would be more precise

[@jonathanwilliams1065]

The thing is it really wasn’t socially acceptable for men to sleep around either, though powerful men have often been given a pass because calling them out was historically bad for your health

[@blugaledoh2669]

You are correct. It was just more tolerated if it was done men.

[@vorynrosethorn903]

Spot on.

[@hedgehog3180]

This started out fairly wild but then somehow managed to escalate to a man being killed in broad daylight.

[@Crimsrn]

trust me, the gay sex was much rarer.

[@KR4FTW3RK]

This was fun! I never imagined the german high society back then was this wild... now the roaring 20s make a lot more sense.

[@SirManateee]

Lol

[@drzoidnilsson73]

Yes, it thought was close to hilarious. 😀I had never heard about this and it is definitely a high society story on a Hollywood scripted level.

[@rafaelokamura]

Try to search about the Harden-Eulenberg affair, the goes wild.

[@oooshafiqooo]

​@@drzoidnilsson73fr

[@darkbrightnorth]

This channel is so great, I truly hope a channel like yours is monetized because you deserve it.

[@Artur_M.]

Well, that was something. 😳 I wonder how many such fun parties went completely undocumented. 😁

[@SirManateee]

Probably a lot more than we dare imagine

[@Troppau]

Good question

[@cdcdrr]

*Wilhelm II makes Kotze a cavalry officer so he can be prosecuted, then launches an investigation when that fails to keep him as a scapegoat. But it instead acquits Kotze.* Wilhelm II: It seems these other aristocrats owe you an appology for what I did.

[@Cheesenommer]

Wow, this was great! Keep up the good work!

[@SirManateee]

I try my best

[@Irobert1115HD]

@@SirManateee sir im afraid that i know your first name: hugh.

[@holakfun8243]

For a second from the thumbnail i assumed this was a analyst of a porno

[@SirManateee]

Close enough

[@Abdo-ip4te]

Great vid! The last kaiser seems like a very reckless person.

[@SirManateee]

Which is why he was often called "Wilhelm der Plötzliche" or "Wilhelm the Sudden" back then

[@Irobert1115HD]

germany had three emperors/kaisers: willhelm, friedrich the third and willhelm the second. friedrich the third ruled for just 99 days and is considered the best of the three with the second place being taken by willhelm. you need to be realy bad to be seen inferior to your own father that ruled for just about 3 months and 10 days.

[@supergowiak4369]

Imagine getting military position just so you can by prosecuted for something you didn't do. Wonder if he was paid for his time as cavalary captain

[@ingvarhallstrom2306]

This couldn't have been a more German affair even if they tried....

[@eljanrimsa5843]

In Germany very few affairs start with actual sex. Usually we fight wars about a silly remark made while drunk.

[@mountab1253]

Just discovered your channel today and binged watched all of your videos great stuff keep it up

[@EliotDenStore]

I dont know how you are not a bigger channal but keep making great videos so when the algoritm gods decides to show your stuff you have a great backlog of fantastic videos.

[@JesusMorales-gc4yo]

Its videos like this that make my time at my janitorial job more enjoyable, thank you 🥳

[@boomblam5738]

I also remember reading about this one scandal where Wilhelm II's friend and courtier, Philipp, Prince of Eulenburg was connected to a homosexual liasons. That was questionable then and is questionable still, considering Philipp was married man who had eight children and multiple relationships with other women outside of marriage. In any case, Philipp was accused of being homosexual by a Berlin magazine and he took this to a court, suing his accuser for slander. The evidence produced got Philipp put on trial himself as a homosexual. Wilhelm II promised to arrive to pick up Philipp with his royal carriage the moment he would clear his reputation over that accusations. The stress and the court proceedings got to Philipp and he was not in good enough health to stand in the court after developing a heart condition. Kaiser brushed him under the rug, never speaking him to again.

[@SirManateee]

Might be something I will have to look into ;)

[@francisdec1615]

@@SirManateee Similar to Oscar Wilde. He made his own fall by suing the Marquis of Queensbury.

[@dingbum8618]

Could you please provide the source for the Royal Court consuming 20% of the imperial Budget? This seems insane for an industrialized Nation.

[@carlj.6983]

I was walking to the Halensee train station when you mentioned the duel there

[@adamkerman475]

Great job!👍

[@SirManateee]

Cheers :D

[@drzoidnilsson73]

😀Interesting (funny) story story and a very nice video. Prussian nobility knew how to party in a way that would have made Hedonismbot envious.

[@icaroviera8257]

Great work mate

[@SirManateee]

Cheers!

[@BigScreamingBaby]

The puke affair? What a name

[@quotenpunk279]

"furthermore the one who points out the dirt (here), is seen as much more dangerous then the one who makes it - Kurt Tucholsky, German writer who left germany in 1929, calling it a sh*t-country.

[@jkr9594]

BTW. Kotzte, as a noun, means vomit in German.

[@toomuchinformation]

It seems like this is common throughout Royal families and aristocrats. It’s a fascinating story and I’m surprised there hasn’t been a film made about it.

[@dgu8240]

The most amusing thing I watched Today

[@oooshafiqooo]

German Royals drama is really funny. lets put them back as ceremonial leaders of Germany that would be very fun to watch

[@Tfwest9337]

Brilliant video!

[@pickle4422]

Bro got an easter egg from the Kaiser?! I want an easter egg from the Kaiser!!

[@Pyhantaakka]

You mean to tell me, that Finland almost had a SEXUAL DEVIANT as a king? 🤣

[@SirManateee]

Exactly lol

[@Pyhantaakka]

@@SirManateee btw, if I may recommend a subject. Russo-Swedish war of 1741 "war of the hats". Just read a book about it and it was asshattery (pun intented) from beginning to the end.

[@mappingshaman5280]

"The german empire was an empire of based traditionalists and very redpil..." the 14 year old American was saying before he watched this video.

[@SirManateee]

It's always the same type of people lol

[@hispalismapping155]

Liberalism among ruling class 😴

[@vorynrosethorn903]

Boundaries exist to police behaviour, they can't stop them from happening, only limit them though incurring a cost for them. The fact this was a scandal and ended in dual suggests it was a right wing traditionalist society. Likewise Victorian Britain was one but it didn't stop the Prince of Wales from being a total moral degenerate.

[@RuthvenMurgatroyd]

The ruling classes have always been degenerate no matter the era. It's almost one of their defining traits. I mean, even nowadays when almost everything is permitted it is still not enough for them and they must fly to certain islands to have their """fun""" whether they are aristocrats, democratically elected politicians, actors, clergymen, or even scientists. Overall though, social attitudes were less permissive and that was for the good of most of society.

[@boozecruiser]

@@hispalismapping155 Liberalism? Sexual deviancy and abuse is a firmly entrenched conservative tenet.

[@Pomen]

OMG, I did not know this. Insane... Where do i join?

[@SirManateee]

Just remember to bring protection

[@JaelaOrdo]

Subscribed for the interesting history and because manatees are my favorite animals

[@jakegarvin7634]

Fuck, you mean to tell me that all I've missing this whole time was a SLEIGH RIDE?!?!?

[@hhvhhvcz]

i hope for more ghei shit but the affair was entertaining as well

[@SirManateee]

Glad you enjoyed it anyway 🏳‍🌈

[@kidmohair8151]

ahh nobility. they're just so...noble.

[@TheStickCollector]

Not something discussed often enough Nice

[@J-Bahn]

Well at least von kotze was released when letters kept coming in.

[@kobban63]

Good stuff

[@user-tk2lf1dv3s]

It's crazy I never knew about this

[@Mrmidknight-yx9pg]

You know the more I learn about kizer Wilhelm 2 the more I realized that ya this is defiantly the type of guy that'll start a world war.

[@Crimsrn]

he didn't even start the world war so you're already wrong.

[@Mrmidknight-yx9pg]

@@Crimsrn I mean he could of not assisted austria against russia vausi g the domino effect that lead to the war

[@eljanrimsa5843]

he was in over his head with Bismarck's diplomatic finely balanced web, and navigated a changing world with the stubborn ignorance of being always right by birth

[@thanhhoangnguyen4754]

​@@Mrmidknight-yx9pg He didn't have said in the matter that up to the other. Beside if you said that it Kaiser Wilhelm II fault i can also blame Tsar Nicholas II for starting to mobilize to help Serbia. If Nicholas II stop Russia mobilization there wouldn't be no war. This is between Austria Hungary and Serbia only.

[@thanhhoangnguyen4754]

​@@eljanrimsa5843 Bismarck policy already failing the alliance with Russia is dead. What the point of balance again? Especially in the Balkan. Bismarck balance have been shattered. Read the affairs around Europe before blame one man.

[@mv.d.k.prepperoma6310]

Das mit dem.Osterei war doch wirklich nett😊

[@mueezadam8438]

Very well researched and presented topic!

[@blepblops]

Well he was... Kinda not really "King of Finland", like he was chosen but never actually went through with it

[@Troppau]

Oh hey

[@SirManateee]

Hello fellow Polandball enjoyer ;D

[@patria3023]

Yee haw its artical 175. If only there was someone who would stop that. (Enter Magnus Hirschfield, stage left.)

[@watermelonejones4476]

Honestly I’m pissed he got a medal after being assumed as effeminate

[@wetwillyis_1881]

I’m glad being an effeminate man, who has style, and is a little too extraverted, is no longer a crime. Would you ever think about making a video about the Dryfes affair, if you haven’t already?

[@SirManateee]

Yeah, I'm quite relieved about that as well. And I might make a video on that, thanks for the tip ;D

[@pootis4986]

Effeminacy is a crime

[@hedgehog3180]

@@pootis4986 Heavy would be disappointed in you.

[@kobban63]

@@hedgehog3180 yes i could go on a lore tyrade but yes

[@boozecruiser]

@@pootis4986 I think it's wild how your entire worldview stems from not having a romantic relationship before you reached your 20s

[@sourpusstv7984]

Was this sort of incident one of a kind or are there more cases of this happening?

[@handle_unknown]

Gotta love some Prokofiev Romeo and Juliet!

[@kampfkartoffel8994]

Herzog Rammler😆

[@SmashingCapital]

The patriarchy hurts everyone

[@markgarrett3647]

And we need it more than ever.

[@SmashingCapital]

@@markgarrett3647 no

[@markgarrett3647]

@@SmashingCapital Millions of American families and literal Americans especially in the womb were destroyed since the 70's without the protective and principled hand of the patriachy.

[@vorynrosethorn903]

It's a construct like capitalism which largely means whatever it's detractors want at the time of speaking. Social hedonism is really really not a winning formula and is unbelievable predatory.

[@SmashingCapital]

@@vorynrosethorn903 what?

[@jcoker423]

There was another interesting party in Donaueschingen with von Hülsen-Haeseler. From wiki 'During a formal evening function, von Hülsen-Haeseler appeared dressed in the pink tutu and rose wreath of a ballerina, dancing for the Kaiser and his assembled guests. The performance included pirouettes, jumps, capers and flirtatious kisses to the audience.Apparently exhausted by his exertions, the general bowed, collapsed and was pronounced dead after hasty medical attention. The circumstances were covered up by the officer corps so as not to further inflame public pressure over the homosexually themed Harden-Eulenburg affair. Ironically, it was von Hülsen-Haeseler who had organized the cover-up of that scandal. It features in a very funny episode of the podcast 'The Rest is History', 10 worst parties.

[@Eli-tj3ve]

May God* help him, this wasn't a pagan country

[@germling9596]

There were numerous affairs like this in late imperial Germany, simply because there was a lot of homosexuality. Berlin was full of poor, young soldiers and filthy old men. Homosexuality was also so common in the Nazi movement that the HJ was also called "the Homo Youth" and the NSDAP called the "National Pederast Party" by the Weimar press. The French spoke if le "vice Allemand" and Berlin''s police had its own department just to chase people who blackmailed prominent homosexuals. It was also one of the reasons many inside the police supported decriminalization and Hitler only eventually cracked down on it to get rid of Roehm and the SA. Much like today, sexual "diversity" was never merely a private thing, but a political phenomenon, a way to earn money, gain influence and an expression of the pure lust for domination and subordination Germans have so often been associated with. There was also the religious aspect - one journalist who became known for revealing these orgies, Maximilian Harden, was Jewish - and got attacked by the far right. Many of the German military monastic orders that conquered medieval Prussia were basically "armies of lovers", Prussian King Frederick the Great was most likely gay - his father had his lover publicly executed. After the war, a German Jew in exile published a book claiming that basically Germans hated Jews so much because they were gay and Judaism condemned all forms if sodomy. It is interesting that even today, Muslims are also criticized for their "sexual intolerance" in Germany. Germans still get pretty angry to this day if you don't do things the way they do...

[@normalperson410]

yo rq are you finnish? your accent is kinda finnish

[@-mortem-]

He's german

[@reichsmusikkammerarchiv1133]

And where exactly is the evidence here?

[@herbertschulz4313]

You mean the lettres? They are in the prussian archive in berlin, you can go and read them

[@patrickoehrle4686]

@@herbertschulz4313 There exist a lot of letters, nobody knows today whether these are authentic.😄

[@herbertschulz4313]

@@patrickoehrle4686 yes we do. The people involved in the affair certainly believed they were authentic, or they would not have acted the way they did

[@boozecruiser]

@@patrickoehrle4686 Being nostalgic for old monarchies is wild, you're basically wanting the same system of oppression from nowadays except where the elites were more brazen about their hatred of the common person

[@FlosBlog]

Hehe ... von Kotze

[@jojonas5463]

You know Kotze Jeans puke?

[@Irobert1115HD]

did you know that kotze means puke in german?

[@clem714]

Ich verstehe nichts

[@SirManateee]

Oh nein

[@Irobert1115HD]

einer von den ganzen skandalen des kaiser reiches.

[@Irobert1115HD]

@@SirManateee könntest du vieleicht ein video über entweder friedrich III oder die revolution von 1918 machen? ich glaube nicht das so viele leute vom besten deutschen kaiser oder der militärisch gestützten friedlichen revolution die den ersten weltkrieg beendet haben gehört. zumindest nicht auserhalb von deutschland.

[@SirManateee]

@@Irobert1115HD Ja, mit dem Gedanken habe ich definitiv schon gespielt. Wahrscheinlich mache ich beides ;D

[@kobban63]

Väldigt

[@Reichsritter]

Kotze means puke

[@SmashingCapital]

The kaiser was stupid as hell

[@christopherstein2024]

But he visited people in hospital and gave them eggs!

[@candide1065]

absolute cringe video