History of the inventor: In 1898, a governor subordinated to the R e i c h s m a r i n e a m t was appointed for the protection work in China that was taken into possession in 1897. He was head of the entire military and civil administration as well as commander of the land forces stationed there. Description: The Kiautschou area, with its capital Tsingtau, was leased from China in 1898 for 99 years. A governor subordinated to the Reichsmarineamt was appointed for the protectorate taken into possession. He was head of the entire military and civil administration as well as commander of the land forces stationed there. The governor was always a naval officer, the military crew consisted of the III. sea battalion and the sailor artillery department Kiautschou. At the end of an ultimatum granted by Japan in August 1914, the Tsingtau fortress capitulated under its governor to the military superiority of its opponent. From 1914 to 1922 Japan occupied Kiautschou and then handed it over to China. In 1923 the German Reich waived its rights. Characterisation of content: Only fragments of files on the mobilization, siege and fall of the Tsingtau fortress have survived, mainly war diaries, reports and newspaper articles. State of development: Invenio Scope, Explanation: Existing stock without increase 2.7 m 66 AE Citation method: BArch, RM 16/...
History of the Inventor: After the German Reich had abandoned an active colonial policy in the first years of its existence due to foreign policy considerations, this changed in 1884. The colonies Deutsch-Südwestafrika, Togo, Cameroon, Deutsch-Neuguinea, Deutsch-Ostafrika and Samoa, formally referred to as "protectorates", emerged. The governorates of these protectorates established in the following period were first under the control of the Colonial Department in the A u s w ä r t i g e s A m t and finally of the resulting R e i c h s k o l o n i a l a m t . The Kiautschou leasehold in China, acquired in 1898, was subject to the R e i c h s m a r i n e a m t . From the very beginning it was necessary to be able to assert and protect the interests of the empire in the colonies by military force. In the initial phase, this task was performed by ships and landing commands of the Imperial Navy. In the German South Sea colonies this remained so until the end. In the African colonies there was a development of their own. In 1889, a troupe of German volunteers with a contract under an active officer (Captain Curt von François) was formed in D e u t s c h - S ü d w e s t a f r i k a , which was initially only to perform police duties. In 1889, in D e u t s c h - O s t a f r i k a, the Reich Commissioner Captain Herrmann Wissmann set up a troop of recruited Africans to suppress the "Arab Uprising" that broke out in 1888. With the law of 22 March 1891 the "Schutztruppe für Deutsch-Ostafrika" was finally formed from volunteers of the army and navy as well as recruited volunteers, followed by the "Schutztruppe für Deutsch-Südwestafrika" and the "Schutztruppe für Kamerun" with the law of 9 June 1895. A protection force for Togo was planned at times, but was not formed, just as there were no protection forces for German New Guinea or Samoa. Only police troops were formed there. In the respective protectorates the governor held the highest military power, the commander of the protection troop was subordinated to him. The protection troops were responsible for maintaining security and public order. At times the individual protection troops were exclusively occupied with the suppression of insurrections of the indigenous population. To this end, some considerable personnel reinforcements were recruited from Germany. The Schutztruppen were first led by the Reichsmarineamt. With the "Gesetz betreffend die Kaiserlichen Schutztruppen in den Afrikanischen Schutzgebieten und die Wehrpflicht daselbst" of 18 July 1896, the Schutztruppen were subordinated to the Reich Chancellor, administered by the Colonial Department in the Foreign Office. In the Colonial Department, the Department M - Military Administration (Command or High Command of the Protection Forces) was responsible. The Prussian War Ministry (Army Department) took over the organizational support. Command affairs were handled by the Director of the Colonial Department, with Division M as his military staff. With the establishment of the R e i c h s k o l o n i a l a m t by the Most High Decree of 17 May 1907, the command of the Schutztruppen was placed under its control, now as a military command staff with responsible command power. Like the Navy, the Schutztruppen were under the supreme command of the Emperor. Its members were volunteers of the army (or armies of Prussia, Bavaria, Saxony and Württemberg) and the navy, who retired from the respective army or navy for the time of their service in the Schutztruppen and then returned there again. The male German population in the protectorates was subject to compulsory military service. The conscripts in the Schutztruppen were able to meet these demands. In 1913 the Schutztruppe included the following personnel: - Command of the Schutztruppe in Berlin: 80 men - Schutztruppe für Deutsch-Ostafrika: 2758 men (266 Germans, 2492 natives) - Schutztruppe für Deutsch-Südwestafrika: 1970 Mann (German) - Schutztruppe für Kamerun: 1471 Mann (171 German, 1300 indigenous) During the Herero Uprising, the Schutztruppe für Deutsch-Südwestafrika's personnel strength in 1907 was approx. 15,000 men. The outbreak of the First World War hit the German colonies unprepared. Defensive measures against other colonial powers had never been seriously considered, the Imperial Government had assumed that in the event of a European conflict the colonies could be kept out of the fighting according to the agreements in the Congo Act of 1885, despite warning voices from the colonies themselves. On 1 August 1914, therefore, only a state of emergency was declared in the protectorates. It was not until mid-August 1914 that mobilization began in the protectorates, but the armed units there (Schutztruppen, police troops, naval units present) were ultimately without a chance compared with the opponents who were far superior in terms of numbers and materials. The following were lost, partly after fierce fighting, partly without a fight: - on 27 August 1914 Togo - on 7 September 1914 Samoa - on 17 September 1914 Deutsch-Neuguinea - on 9 July 1915 Deutsch-Südwestafrika - in February 1916 Cameroon The Kiautschou leasehold area under the control of the Navy had capitulated after heavy fighting on 7 November 1914. It was only in D e u t s c h - O s t a f r i k a that the Schutztruppe was able to hold its ground to the end and thus bind considerable enemy forces. Their commander, Major General Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck, only laid down his weapons on 25 November 1918 on order from Berlin. Processing note: The stock RW 51 was originally created as stock for the "imperial protection troops and other German land forces overseas" and comprised 29 units. In 2010, the documents of the East Asian Expeditionary Corps were extracted and, together with the corresponding new additions, formed the newly created holdings RW 61. Since then, the holdings of RW 51 have consisted exclusively of documents of the Imperial Protection Forces and were subsequently fundamentally revised and developed further. Some new additions were added. Description of the holdings: The collection contains the documents of the Imperial Schutztruppen for D e u t s c h - S ü d w e s t a f r i k a , D e u t s c h - O s t a f r i k a and Cameroon, as well as the command of the Schutztruppen, as far as they are available in the military archives. Characterization of content: The inventory contains only a few real fact files. It consists above all of a compilation of commandos of the Schutztruppe für Deutsch-Ostafrika from 1907 to 1914, as well as a file of the same commandos with reports of subordinated units and offices from 1916. In addition there are documents on organization and supply in Deutsch-Ostafrika and Deutsch-Südwestafrika and in particular some hand-drawn maps. Only two documents have survived on Cameroon. State of development: The inventory RW 51 was originally created as an inventory for the "imperial protection troops and other German land forces overseas" and comprised 29 units. In 2010, the documents of the East Asian Expeditionary Corps were extracted and, together with the corresponding new additions, formed the newly created holdings RW 61. Since then, the holdings of RW 51 have consisted exclusively of documents of the Imperial Protection Forces and were subsequently fundamentally revised and developed further. Some new additions were added. Pre-archival order: The tradition of the Schutztruppen In the Bundearchiv military archive is purely fragmentary. The Schutztruppen archive in the Heeresarchiv was destroyed during the air raid on Potsdam in April 1945. This applies to the personnel files of the Schutztruppen and to the records in the archives of the Schutztruppen in the colonies themselves. The tradition of the command of the Schutztruppen is essentially in the R 1001 R e i c h s k o l o n i a l a m t . The documents of the protection troops remaining in Africa after the First World War are now in the national archives of Tanzania (Dar es Salaam), Namibia (Windhoek) and Cameroon (Duala). In addition, the Belgian Imperial Archives in Brussels contain documents of the Rwandan Schutztruppen. Films on the documents in Windhoek and Dar es Salaam can be found in the Federal Archives in Berlin. Replacement records of the Schutztruppen and their deployments can be found above all in the documents of the Imperial Navy, which as a rule acted in a supportive capacity or, during uprisings, also issued landing commands. In addition, reference should be made to the tradition of the contingents of protection troops in the respective state archives provided by Bavaria, Saxony and Württemberg. Scope, explanation: 30 AU Citation method: BArch, RW 51/...
Contains among other things: Invitation to the Chinese Commander to Evacuate the Kiautschou Area (draft), 22 - 26 July 1897 Order of the Commanding Admiral Eduard von Knorr to Occupy Kiatuschou Bay (telegram), 7 Nov 1897 Command of the Cruiser Division to Manage the Kiautschou Area, 27 Sept 1897 Command of the Cruiser Division to Evacuate the Kiautschou Area (draft), 22 - 26 July 1897 Command of the Commanding Admiral Eduard von Knorr to Occupy Kiatuschou Bay (telegram), 7 Nov 1897 Command of the Cruiser Division to Manage the Kiautschou Area, 27 Sept 1897 Command of the Cruiser Division to Evacuate the Kiautschou Bay (draft), 22 - 26 Sept 1897 Command of the Commander of the Commander Eduard von Knorr to Occupy the Kiatuschou Bay (telegram). 1897 Report to the commanding admiral Eduard von Knorr on the situation in Kiautschou during the transfer of administration to the Imperial Naval Office, Feb. 15, 1897 Geographical location, economic importance and fortifications of the Kiautschou Bay Chiffre Code Also includes: Kiautschou area (1:11000), (map) Port facilities of Kiautschou (1:56000), (map) Wai-hai-wei (map)
Naval officer, Freikorpsführer and writer Bogislaw Selchow Life data July 4, 1877 born in Köslin died February 6, 1943 died in Berlin Military career April 7, 1897 Recruitment as cadet of the Kaiserl. Navy May 1897 Cadet on board of SMS stone 6.12.1897 Participation in the siege of the port of Port au Prince on Haiti with SMS stone 27.4.1898 Promotion to sea cadet Apr. 1898- Sep. 1900 In various functions on board of SMS Moltke, Hela, Mars and Blücher Jan.March 1900 Meningitis, Marinelazarett Kiel 3.9.1900 Ensign at sea 23.9.1900 Transportation to lieutenant at sea Nov. 1900- Nov. 1901 On board of SMS Sachsen, from Oct. 1901 as adjutant; on 4.9.1901 Collision with SMS Wacht near Rügen, which then sinks Nov. 1901- Sep. 1902 Adjutant aboard SMS Kaiser Wilhelm der Große 15.3.1902 Promotion to lieutenant at sea Oct.-Dec. 1902 Wachoffizier aboard SM Torpedoboot G 109 Jan.-Apr. 1903 Company officer of the second company of the I. Torpedo Department, in April radio course on SMS Neptun Apr.-Sep. 1903 Watch officer aboard SM Torpedoboot G 109 Oct./Nov. 1903 Departure as passenger to East Asia aboard SS King Albert Nov. 1903- May 1905 Watch officer aboard SMS Hertha in the Asian region with return journey to Kiel via Africa and the Mediterranean Sea 11.9.1904 Award of the Kung-Pai Order of Merit (Chinese Silver Medal of Remembrance) on the occasion of an audience with the Empress's widow and the Emperor of China 11.2.1905 Award of the Royal Siamese Crown Order of the Fourth Class on the occasion of an audience with the King of Siam June-Sep. 1906 Commander of SM Torpedoboote S 29, S 25 and S 30 as well as services in the Mine Company and as First Officer of the Mine Search Reserve Division Oct. 1906 - June 1907 Naval Academy 6.3.1907 Promotion to Captain Lieutenant July 1907 Service on board of SMS Elector Friedrich Wilhelm Aug.Sep. 1907 Service on board SMS Yorck Oct. 1907- June 1908 Naval Academy July-Sep. 1908 Language leave in England 22.8.1908 Appointment as Honorary Knight of the Johanniter Order Oct. 1908 Departure as a passenger to West Africa on SS Lucie Woermann Nov. 1908- Nov. 1909 First officer on board SMS Sperber Nov./Dec. 1909 Return as a passenger to Germany on SS Lucie Woermann Dec. 1909- Jan. 1909- Jan. 1909 1911 Admiral Staff of the Navy Jan. 1911- March 1913 Adjutant of the North Sea Station 19.9.1912 Award of the Red Eagle Order 4th Class Apr. 1913- Nov. 1914 First Officer aboard SMS Victoria Louise 22.3.1914 Promotion to Corvette Captain 17.7.1914 Award of the Royal Crown to the Red Eagle Order 4th Class 10.11.1914- 30.6.1915 Commander of the 1st Btl. of the Sailor Artillery Regiment III (10.-25.11.1914); II. Part of Sailor's Artillery Regiment I (26.11.-31.12.1914); Part of Sailor's Artillery Regiment II (1.1.-4.2.1915); Part of Sailor's Regiment 4 (5.2.-10.5.1915); Part of Sailor's Regiment 5 (III.2.-10.5.1915); Part of Sailor's Regiment 5 (11.11.-31.12.1914).5.-30.6.1915); Field of application: Flanders 1.5.1915 Wound at Het Sas/Belgium by splinters of shell in head, right shoulder, right arm and right leg 7.2.1915 Iron cross II. class Aug.-Dec. 1915 First officer aboard SMS Freya Jan.-March 1916 Reservelazarett Liebenstein Apr. 1916- July 1917 First officer aboard SMS Hannover, in this function participation in the Battle of Skagerrak on 31.5./1.6.1916 30.6.1916 Award of the Iron Cross I. Class 22.8.1916 Award of the Oldenburg Friedrich-August-Kreuz I. and II. Class 14.9.1916 Neurasthenia recognised as war service damage by the Kdo. von SMS Hannover July 1917 - end of war Admiralstab der Marine 1918 Publication of the propaganda "World War and Fleet" 10.4.1918 Austrian Military Merit Cross 3rd class with war decoration 20.5.1918 Award of the Grand Ducal Hessian Medal of Valour 16.11.1918- 20.8.1919 Department head in the Reichsmarineamt 20.8.1919 Promotion to frigate captain Civil life After his departure from the navy, Bogislav von Selchow began studying history in Marburg and was at the same time commissioned by the Reichswehr Brigade Kassel to form a voluntary formation of Marburg students to protect the young republic. Von Selchow founded the Freikorps "Studentenkorps Marburg" (StuKoMa) and subsequently commanded it in the suppression of Spartacist and Council Democratic riots in Thuringia. On 20 March 1920, the so-called massacre of Mechterstädt took place, in which 15 workers suspected of being rebels, who had been arrested by a StuKoMa strike force, were shot - allegedly "on the run". The accused for these killings were acquitted in two sensational trials, the sentences received by the public as an act of class justice with disgust and protest. Von Selchow had stood before his men during the trial, and Marburg University also showed solidarity with its students and rehabilitated them completely. In addition, von Selchow organized himself in the right-wing extremist, later illegal so-called organization Escherich (Orgesch), which he temporarily led in West Germany. The paramilitary organization set up secret arsenals for an expected fight against Bolshevism and was responsible for murders of personalities of the opposing political camp. Disappointed by Escherich's hesitation to take an offensive course against the Republic, he turned away from Orgesch again in December 1922, resigned his command of the StuKoMa and withdrew from the political public until 1933. Bogislav von Selchow received his doctorate from the University of Marburg on 24.1.1923. Already in 1920 he had published his first volume of poems "Deutsche Gedanken", and soon he succeeded with his poems in the right spectrum. He was now active as a writer and philosopher of history and developed, as a child of his epoch, a so-called "Zeitwendemodell", which depicted the spiritual-historical and political development of mankind. Von Selchow defined the ages of the "all-time", the "we-time" and the "ego-time", which were shaped by various social forces. This system of thought became the basis for his works and, together with the topos of the heroic that he repeatedly took up, made him an ideological pioneer of National Socialism. His anti-Semitism and his view of current events after the fall of the old world had brought him close to the NSDAP by 1933 at the latest: although he was never a party member, he developed into a passionate National Socialist and was one of the 48 personalities who publicly called for Adolf Hitler to be elected in 1933. In 1936 the NS-Studentenkameradschaft, which had emerged from the former Marburger Burschenschaft Germania, named itself after von Selchow. On 9.6.1939 he was appointed honorary senator of the Philipps-Universität Marburg. Description of the holdings: The estate consists of two main areas: the so-called logbooks and a literary-philosophical collection of material, which is supplemented by manuscripts. The so-called logbooks are available until 1931 without gaps and reflect individual experiences and facts in partly epic breadth. 39 of the 51 "logbooks contain records of Selchow from his time as an active naval officer and as leader of the "student corps Marburg" in Freikorpseinsatz. In addition there are copies of the logbooks 61 to 68, which only contain illustrations and cover the period from 1935 to 1940. The "logbooks", however, are not diaries in the narrower sense, but rather through-composed memory books. Von Selchow transferred his diary entries recorded on loose-leaf collections - an example of which can be found in the collection folder of the planned "Logbuch" 65 (N 428/86) - into leather-bound folios and decorated his work with artistic watercolour and pen drawings, among other things. Empty places in the logbooks, on which notes on the pictures or drawings to be inserted are entered in pencil, to be traced in N 428/46, indicate this procedure. The basis of the logbooks, the diary pages, but also his correspondence and other documents, which were unfortunately destroyed privately in the 1950s, are lost except for fragments found in the present collection. Von Selchow created the "logbooks" by first collecting and compiling his notes and supplementary material in folders. Based on this, he transferred text and illustration onto sheets which he had incorporated into the high-quality leather covers bearing the coat of arms of the von Selchow family and embossed inscriptions. This procedure can be traced by means of the above-mentioned collection folder, other folders he used again for other material collections, among others, see N 428/75. The source value of the "logbooks" is increased by the more than 1,000 precisely identified pictures and photos that illustrate the text beyond the drawings. The illustrations show places, ships, everyday scenes from the soldier's but also private life in the homeland and in international waters, crews and persons for the time up to 1919. In addition there are various documents like nautical charts, invitations, etc. From the context of the tradition it can be concluded that the "logbooks" in the form presented here were probably written in the 1930s, since volumes 61 to 68 have inscribed illustrations and empty spaces for the text to be entered. Bogislav von Selchow belonged to the Uradel and had a large circle of relatives and acquaintances. The logbooks give an insight into the life of these circles from the imperial era to National Socialism and reflect the wealth of official and social contacts in the written memoirs and the correspondence, some of which is reproduced. Some spectacular insights into naval life are provided by Selchow's memoirs about his active service with the Imperial Navy. They show the diversity of experience and impressions as an officer of the Imperial Navy, which was deployed around the German colonies. For the first years of the Weimar Republic the so-called logbooks give valuable insights into the world of the Freikorps, above all the so-called student corps Marburg and the so-called organization Escherich; but also to the organization Consul von Selchow maintained contacts - to the latter two numerous statements can be found in the "logbooks". However, his notes not only bear witness to the early phase of the Weimar Republic, but also to the soldierly thinking of Selchow. Even after his withdrawal from public life in 1922, he remained a soldier in his basic attitude as a poet, writer and philosopher of history living in Berlin. The "logbooks" give direct and unique impressions of the life of a member of the Imperial Navy Corps of Officers - also a nobleman - and of his reactions to the collapse of the old order. In terms of the history of mentality, this part of the estate is revealing for the transition from the Empire to the Weimar Republic and probably the only one of its kind that provides information about the revolutionary events in Berlin. Its value might increase with the inclusion of Selchow's publications, especially his autobiography "One hundred days from my life" from 1936. The estate illustrates Selchow's relationship to the old and despised new system. The copies of the "logbooks" for the years 1935 to 1940 also document Selchow's proximity to and access to parts of the NSDAP leadership in their illustrations. In addition to the logbooks, the literary-philosophical estate of Selchow forms the second focal point of the collection. As a conservative-nationalist thinker, von Selchow attempted to establish a time model that divided world history into intellectual epochs, to which he assigned certain developmental steps of mankind in intellectual, but also scientific, political, and religious terms. He thus followed a research trend of his time. His legacy from this phase of his life as a humanities scholar includes collections of various, often loose materials, texts, smaller publications, newspaper articles and his own drafts, but also large diagrams which represent the basis or intermediate steps of his literary work: the note box of a conservative-nationalist writer of the 1920/30s, enriched with his own manuscripts, some published, some unpublished. The tradition of this material, which can be understood from the diagrams, is, however, incomplete; materials on individual subject areas are missing, but may simply not have been laid out. Notes on other stocks BArch MSg 100 (Bogislav Frhr. von Selchow: Deutsche Marineoffiziere) BArch N 253/262 (Estate of Alfred von Tirpitz, correspondence, letter S) BArch RM 5/920 (Critique of the corvette captain of Selchow on birthday congratulations of the members of the admiral's staff for Grand Admiral v. Holtzendorff, Jan. 1919) Vorarchivische Ordnung: The so-called logbooks are continuously available for the years 1897 to 1931. The Federal Archives acquired volumes 39 to 54 as early as 1957 together with the non-military estate of Selchow and in 1960 bought the remaining pieces from the Marine-Offizier-Hilfe, today: Marine-Offizier-Vereinigung. The first two volumes and volume 51 of the former 68 logbooks contained information on family history and were already missing when the estate was acquired; while volume 1 remains in family possession, volume 2 has been considered lost since 1945. The same applies to the main estate consisting of documents and letters, which was destroyed privately in 1957. These volumes are supplemented by copies of the "Logbooks" 61 to 68 for the period September 1935 to December 1940. The originals of these logbooks are still in family ownership. They differ from the "logbooks" available for the years up to 1931 in that they have remained without text. Only pictures and photos were pasted here and also only these sides were copied and taken over into the present estate. This addition to the collection was carried out in 1987 in cooperation with Selchow's nephew Wolfgang von Selchow, who owned the "logbooks" 61 to 68 at that time. Despite this addition, there is a gap in the stock which cannot be clarified on the basis of the available information: While information is available on the whereabouts of volumes 1, 2 and 51, the whereabouts and contents of volumes 55 to 60, covering the period January 1932 to August 1935, are unknown. The memory books are joined by the literary-historical-philosophical archives, which cover the intellectual work of Selchow from 1920 onwards. After the military archive moved to Freiburg in 1968, the so-called logbooks and the literary material initially remained at the main office in Koblenz due to the literary portions. Only in 1976 did the estate come to Freiburg, where in the Military History Collection under the signature MSg. 100 the so-called pennant boards as well as the so-called commemorative plaques were stored since 1957 or partly since 1964 - personnel sheets of the German naval officers from 1848 to 1909 or short biographies and pictures of all officers of the navy who died and died between 1914 and 1918 and in the post-war fights. Citation style: BArch, N 428/...
History of the Inventory Designer: Grand Admiral Alfred Peter Friedrich von Tirpitz Life data March 19, 1849 born in Küstrin/Oder as son of the Court of Appeal Rudolf Tirpitz March 6, 1930 died in Munich Career (1) April 24, 1865 Entry as a cadet in the Prussian Navy 15. May 1865 Corvette "Arkona" Mid June 1865 Sail training ship Frigate "Niobe" 24 June 1866 Nautical cadet July-September 1866 Frigate "Gazelle" October 1866 - April 1867 Sail training ship Brig "Musquito" Spring 1867 Main Division Baltic Sea July-August Frigate "Gefion" August 1867 - June 1868 Frigate "Thetis" 3 August 1868 -1 -1. July 1869 Naval school Kiel 22 September 1869 Lieutenant at sea Cannon ship "Barbarossa" October 1869 Regular Division Baltic Sea May 1870 - January 1871 Armour frigate "King Wilhelm" July 1871 - September 1872 First officer on cannon boat "Blitz" 25. May 1872 Lieutenant at sea October 1872 - April 1874 Officer on watch on the brig "Musquito" June - October 1874 Corvette "Nymph" October 1874 - May 1876 Naval academy and exercises as artillery officer 18. November 1875 Captain Lieutenant May - August 1876 Artillery officer on the "Kronprinz" armoured frigate September 1876 Artillery officer on the "Kaiser" armoured frigate December 18, 1877 Transfer to the Admiral Staff from January 1, 1877 Repeatedly commands to service the Admiralty/Decernate T/Torpedoangelegenheiten Commanded 17. September 1881 Corvette Captain 1884 - 1887 (summer months) Chief of the Torpedo Boat Flotilla (16 March) 1886 Inspector of Torpedo Navy 24 November 1888 Captain at sea 12 March 1889 Commander of the armoured ship "Prussia" 10. March 1890 commander of the armoured ship "Württemberg" 10 September 1890 with decommissioning of the "Württemberg" (30 November 1890) chief of the staff of the command of the naval station of the Baltic Sea 20 January 1892 chief of the staff of the supreme command of the navy 13 May 1895 Rear Admiral 31. March 1896 Head of the Kreuzerdivision 31 March 1897 Representative of the State Secretary of the Reichsmarineamt on leave 15 June 1897 State Secretary of the Reichsmarineamt 25 June 1897 Plenipotentiary to the Bundesrat 28 March 1898 State Minister and Member of the State Ministry 5. December 1899 Vice Admiral 14 November 1903 Admiral 5 April 1908 Appointment to the manor house of the Prussian Parliament for life 27 January 1911 Grand Admiral 15. March 1916 Resignation as State Secretary of the Reich Navy Office September 1917 First Chairman of the German Fatherland Party 1924 Member of the Reichstag of the German National People's Party 1928 Farewell from the Reichstag and withdrawal from political work ---------- (1) see also copy of the personal sheet in No. 10. The personal file has not been handed down. Orden und Ehrenzeichen 31. December 1871 War Memorial Coin for Combatants 2. December 1879 Royal Prussian Red Eagle Order 4. Class 26. April 1881 Cross 2. Class of the Royal Spanish Order for Merits at Sea 16. March 1886 Royal Prussian Crown Order 3. Class 9. June 1888 Service Award Cross 9. November 1889 Royal Prussian Red Eagle Order 3. Class with Ribbon 17 December 1889 Commander's Cross of the Royal Greek Order of Redeemer 2 July 1890 Commander's Cross 2 Class of the Royal Swedish Order of the Redeemer 3 September 1892 Royal Prussian Crown Order 2 Class 15 September 1893 Grand Officer's Cross of the Order of the Italian Crown 21 September 1894 Cross of the Royal House Order of Hohenzollern 3 July 1895 Grand Cross of the Royal Swedish Order of the Redeemer 3 July 1890 Austrian Franz Joseph Order 10 July 1895 Commander Cross of the French Legion of Honour 22 October 1895 Grand Commander Cross of the Royal Bavarian Order of Military Merit 1895 Cross of Honour 1st Class of the Princely Schaumburg-Lippe House Order 18. January 1897 Royal Prussian Red Eagle Order 2nd class with oak leaves 18 January 1898 Star to Royal Prussian Crown Order 2nd class 14 October 1898 Grand Cross of the Royal Württemberg Frederick's Order ca. 1898 Ksl. Commemorative steel coin for services to the expedition in China 11 January 1899 Grand Cross of the Royal Bavarian Military Order 27 January 1899 Star of the Royal Prussian Red Eagle Order 2nd Class with oak leaves 20 May 1899 Grand Cross of the Royal Spanish Military Order 9. June 1899 Grand Cross with oak leaves of the Grand Ducal Baden Order of the Zähringer Lion July 7, 1899 Grand Cross of the Royal Saxon Albrecht Order October 9, 1899 1st Class of the 2nd Class of the Chinese Order of the Double Dragon January 27, 1900 Royal Prussian Red Eagle Order 1st Class with oak leaves February 1900 Ksl. Russian White Eagle Order 18 April 1900 Grand Cross of the Grand Duke of Hesse Order of Merit of Philip the Magnanimous 23 May 1900 Grand Cross of Ksl. Austrian Order of Leopold August 1900 Grand Cross of Honour of the Grand Duke of Oldenburg House and Order of Merit of Duke Peter Ludwig Friedrich June 20, 1901 Golden Chain to the Grand Cross of the Grand Duke of Baden Order of the Zähringer Lion September 13, 1901 Commander's Cross and Star of the Royal King House Order of Hohenzollern 9 November 1901 Grand Cross of the Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerinischer Greifenordens 27 October 1902 Grand Cross of the Royal Spanish Order for Merits at Sea 20 December 1902 Grand Cross of the Duke of Brunswick Order of Henry the Lion December 1902 Ksl. Russian Alexander Nevsky Order 31 January 1903 Grand Cross of the Royal Italian Order of St Mauritius and Lazarus, Royal Order 1903 Grand Cross of the Royal Prussian Crown Order with Crown 1 July 1904 Grand Cross of the Royal British Victoria Order December 1905 Grand Cross of the Royal Greek Order of the Redeemer 27 Febrauar 1906 Commemorative Signs on the occasion of the Silver Wedding of Emperor Wilhelm II. September 1906 Memorial Medal on the occasion of the inauguration of the Kaiser-Friedrich-Museum in Berlin November 13, 1906 Grand Cross of the Royal Spanish Order of Charles III December 15, 1906 Grand Cross of the Royal Norwegian Order of St. Olav December 31, 1906 Grand Cross of the Royal Danish Order of Danubia January 27, 1907 Royal Prussian Black Eagle Order November 2, 1907 Ksl. Commemorative steel coin for services rendered on the occasion of the uprising in South West Africa 6 June 1908 Grand Cross of the Royal Swedish Wasa Order 1908 Ksl. Russian Alexander Nevsky Order with Brilliants April 16, 1909 Grand Cross of the Star of Romania November 21, 1909 Grand Cross of the Grand Ducal Saxon-Weimar House Order of Vigilance or of the White Falcon 1909 Ks. Japanese Paullownia Order 24 December 1910 Grand Cross of the Order of the Wüttembergische Krone 1910 Grand Cross of the Duke of Saxony-Ernestine House Order 30 August 1911 Grand Cross of the Royal Hungarian Order of St. Stephen 22 May 1912 Diamonds to the Royal Prussian Black Eagle Order 18 September 1912 Chilean Order of Merit 1st Class 1912 Grand Cross of the Royal Bulgarian Order of St. Alexander 1912 Ksl. Turkish Osmanié Order 1st Class 4th June 1913 Grand Ducal Baden House Order of Faithfulness 16th June 1913 Grand Commander Cross of the Royal House Order of Hohenzollern 16th June 1913 Honorary Doctorate of the Georg August University Göttingen 24th April 1915 Swords to the Grand Commander Cross of the Royal House Order of Hohenzollern 10th August 1915 Order pour le mérite 3. October 1915 Austro-Hungarian Military Service Cross 1st Class with War Decoration 19 October 1915 Hamburg Hanseatic Cross 2nd November 1915 Lübeck Hanseatic Cross 10th November 1915 Bremen Hanseatic Cross 15th December 1915 Grand Cross with Star in Gold and Silver Crown and Swords of the Royal King Saxon Albrecht Order 15 March 1916 Star of the Grand Commander with Swords of the Royal House Order of Hohenzollern 15. January 1917 Honorary citizen of the city of Frankfurt/Oder Description of the holdings: The estate of the officer and politician Alfred von Tirpitz contains rich sources on seven decades of German history: from the entry of the sixteen-year-old into the Royal Prussian Navy in 1865 to his service in the Imperial Navy as founder of fleet building and as long-standing State Secretary of the Reichsmarinemat, from his political service in the World War II as Chairman of the German Fatherland Party to his work for the German National People's Party. Since Tirpitz's research concentrated for a long time on fleet construction and fleet policy in Wilhelmine Germany, the part of the estate on this topic that had been developed until 1991 was intensively evaluated. The hand files and correspondence from the period of service as State Secretary of the R e i c h s m a r i n e a m t , which form a focal point of the collection, were particularly used for this purpose. The value of these documents is only marginally diminished by the publication of Tirpitzen's "Political Documents", since the texts published here are sometimes incomplete. Even more than the hand files, some of which had been compiled from copies and multiple copies of the official records, the letters from those years supplement the tradition of the R e i c h s m a r i n e a m t . Contrary to the papers of the politician Tirpitz, the openly and impartially written letters of the young Tirpitz to his parents from the decade around the foundation of the Reich - from 1865 to 1878 -, filling several volumes, convey a vivid picture of everyday life in the Prussian, then the North German, and finally the Imperial Navy. They also give an impression of the young Tirpitz's view of history and of the national ideas of the time when the Reich was founded. In addition, the estate documents the career of an officer in the Imperial Navy, but also the private ties within the officer corps. In the history of naval affairs, the sources on the development of the torpedo system deserve special mention; in foreign policy, the letters and documents on the representation of German interests in East Asia deserve special mention, as do the sources on the development of German-English relations against the background of German fleet building. After all, the collection is also rich in cultural history, as it reflects something of the lifestyle of a state secretary in Wilhelmine Germany. Tirpitz's activities after his resignation as State Secretary were focused both on the past and on the current political problems. Both have been reflected in the estate. The justification of fleet policy is documented, among other things, in the fragmentarily preserved drafts of the "Memories" and "Political Documents" as well as in the correspondence on these publications. The rich materials on the submarine war refer both to the policy of State Secretary Tirpitz and to his evaluation of the submarine war after his resignation; they form a bracket between the work in the civil service and the work afterwards. A not inconsiderable part of the collection comes from the party political commitment after 1916, first for the German Vaterlandspartei, of which he was first chairman, then for the Deutschnationale Volkspartei, whose Reichstag fraction he belonged to from 1924 until his age-related withdrawal from politics in 1928. The extensive correspondence from the work of the party politician Tirpitz, his speeches, essays and notes on his work as a member of the Reichstag, equally informative sources on the foreign and domestic policy of the Weimar Republic, only attracted the interest of research in recent years. Reference is made to Hagenlücke's monograph on the German Fatherland Party published in 1997 and Scheck's work on Tirpitz as a politician of the right wing 1914-1930 published in 1993 (see bibliography). For research into the activities of the Imperial Navy, the tradition from the period of service, including the related materials from the last phase of life, forms a comprehensive and far from exhausted fund. The rich private correspondence opens the way to further sources: since part of the correspondence is a recipient tradition and the drafts or copies of Tirpitz letters are only partially available and rather from his last decade of life, the determination of his letters in the estates of the correspondence partners is still a worthwhile object of research. References to other stocks 1. Bundesarchiv Abteilung B N 1275 Nachlass Oskar Messter N 1549 Nachlass Theobald von Bethmann Hollweg Siegfried Graf von Eulenburg-Wicken Walter von Keudell Abteilung R, Berlin R 43 Reichskanzlei R 301 Bundesrat/Reichsrat R 8048 Alldeutscher Verband Abteilung Militärarchiv, Freiburg RM 3 Reichsmarineamt RM 5 Admiralstab der Marine RM 27 III Inspection of Torpedoes RM 31 Marinestation der Ostsee RM 43 Dienst- und Kommandostellen der Kaiserlichen Marine im Heimtbereich N 170 Eduard von Capelle N 156 Wilhelm Souchon N 568 Johann-Bernhard Mann 2. Secret State Archives of Prussian Cultural Heritage (GStA), Berlin I. HA, Rep. 169 A Mansion of the Prussian Parliament I. HA, Rep. 90 Ministry of State HA VI Family of Bissing Citation method: BArch, N 253/...
Tirpitz, Alfred von