The Zabern or Saverne Affair () was a crisis of domestic policy which occurred in the German Empire at the end of 1913. It was caused by political unrest in Zabern (now Saverne) in Alsace-Lorraine, where two battalions of the Prussian were garrisoned, after a second-lieutenant insulted the Alsatian population. The military reacted to the protests with arbitrary illegal acts. These infringements led to a debate in the German Reichstag about the militaristic structures of German society, as well as the position of the leadership of the Empire in relationship to Kaiser Wilhelm II. The affair not only put a severe strain on the relationship between the imperial state of Alsace-Lorraine and the remainder of the German Empire, but also led to a considerable loss of prestige of the Kaiser.
Causes
Forstner insults the Alsatians
The twenty-year-old Second Lieutenant Günter Freiherr von Forstner (1893–1915) spoke disparagingly about the inhabitants of Zabern on October 28 during a troop induction. He said to his soldiers, "If you are attacked, then make use of your weapon; if you stab such a Wackes in the process, then you'll get ten marks from me." (Wackes is a German derogatory term for a native Alsatian and was considered inflammatory enough that German military regulations prohibited its use.)
In addition, he warned his men with seemingly aggressive language against French agents, who wanted to recruit them for the Foreign Legion.James W. Gerard: My four years in Germany, Grosset & Dunlap, New York, 1917, p. 63
Public indignation and an unyielding military On November 6, the two local newspapers, the Elsässer and the Zaberner Anzeiger, informed the public about these events. The population protested strongly against this treatment by the Prussian military in the next few days. The Statthalter (governor) of Alsace-Lorraine, Count Karl von Wedel, urged the commander of the regiment, Adolf von Reuter, as well as the commanding general, Berthold von Deimling to transfer the second lieutenant. From the viewpoint of the military, however, this was not consistent with the honor and the prestige of the German Imperial Army. Lieutenant von Forstner was sentenced to merely six days of house arrest (and the public was not informed of even this token punishment, which gave the impression that Forstner had gone completely unpunished).Jack Beatty: The Lost History of 1914: Reconsidering the Year the Great War Began, Bloomsburry, New York, 2012, p.24 The official statement of the authorities in Strasbourg on November 11 played down the incident, and interpreted "Wackes" as a general description for quarrelsome people.Lamar Cecil, Wilhelm II: Emperor and Exile, 1900-1941, vol. 2, Chapel Hill and London, UNC Press Books, 1996, p. 189. Eleven days later, ten members of the Fifth Company of Infantry Regiment 99 were arrested and accused of reporting secrets about the Saverne affair to the press.
Unimpressed by these actions, the Alsatian public continued to protest. As a further provocation, Lieutenant Forstner showed himself to the public again after his house arrest, accompanied by an escort of four armed soldiers, by order of the garrison command. Lieutenant Forstner was repeatedly derided and abused, above all by youthful demonstrators, during his appearances outside the barracks, without the local police authorities being able to prevent it.Wolfgang J. Mommsen: War der Kaiser an allem schuld?, p. 203. Colonel von Reuter asked the leader of the local civil administration, Director Mahl, to restore order with the aid of the police, or else he would have to take measures himself. As an Alsatian, Mahl sympathized with the population and denied the request, since the protesters were behaving peacefully and had committed no violations of the law.James W. Gerard: My four years in Germany, Grosset & Dunlap, New York, 1917. p. 64William Anderson, William Stearns Davis, Mason W. Tyler, The Roots of the War : A Non-Technical History of Europe, 1870-1914, New York, The Century Co., 1918, p. 219
The situation escalates On November 28, a huge crowd of people again assembled before the barracks, which led to a counter-reaction of the troops. Von Reuter instructed Second Lieutenant Schadt, who had command of the sentries at that time, to disperse the crowd. Schadt called the sentries to arms and ordered the crowd three times to disperse. The soldiers drove the crowd across the courtyard of the barracks into a side street, under threat of force of arms, and arrested a great number of people without any legal basis. Among the prisoners were the president, two judges and a prosecuting attorney of the Saverne court, who had accidentally become mixed up in the crowd when leaving the court building. Twenty-six of the arrested people were locked up in a coal cellar overnight. The editorial rooms of one of the local newspapers which had publicized Forstner's transgressions were also illegally searched by soldiers after hints from an informant. A feeling as of as being under siege hung over the city, and machine guns were displayed in the streets.James W. Gerard: My four years in Germany, Grosset & Dunlap, New York, 1917. p. 64
Course of events
The first reactions of the Kaiser Emperor Wilhelm II was hunting on the estate of Max Egon Fürst zu Fürstenberg in Donaueschingen at the time. Although this trip had been organized long before the events in Saverne, Wilhelm's lack of interest left a bad impression. According to rumors, the Empress, Augusta Victoria of Schleswig-Holstein, had even ordered a train to take her to her husband so she could persuade him to return to Berlin. According to the historian Wolfgang Mommsen, Wilhelm II underestimated the political dimension of the incident in Alsace at this point in time. The reports which the Statthalter (governor) of Alsace-Lorraine, Karl von Wedel, sent to Donaueschingen, in which he described the incidents as excessive as well as unlawful, were answered so as to play for time. Wilhelm II wanted to wait for the report from the military headquarters in Strasbourg first.James W. Gerard: My four years in Germany, Grosset & Dunlap, New York, 1917. p. 65
On November 30, the Prussian War Minister, Erich von Falkenhayn, General Berthold Deimling and some other high-ranking officers arrived in Donaueschingen and six days of discussions began. The public became even angrier because of that, since the Kaiser apparently only wanted to hear the viewpoint of the military. Chancellor Theobald von Bethmann Hollweg, who had been passed over and who came more and more under pressure, joined the conference shortly before it ended. The result was disillusionment in the view of the critical classes of the population; the Kaiser approved of the behavior of the military officers and saw no reason to believe that they had exceeded their authority. Deimling sent a brigade general to Saverne, who restored civilian authority on December 1.James W. Gerard: My four years in Germany, Grosset & Dunlap, New York, 1917. p. 64-65
Forstner's second false step On December 2, a military exercise was held in Saverne. The scene was watched from the street by Karl Blank, a journeyman shoemaker, who burst into laughter at the sight of the young, finely dressed Forstner, and some locals that were standing around joined in. Enraged, Forstner struck down Blank with his saber, causing severe head injuries. This new act of aggression further intensified the affair.
Forstner was sentenced to 43 days of arrest by a military court in the first trial, and in the appellate trial, the verdict was reversed completely. Although he had been accompanied by five armed soldiers and Blank was unarmed, as well as paralyzed on one side, the judge interpreted his actions as self-defense, since the shoemaker had been guilty of insulting the crown. Within military circles, Forstner received encouragement, since he had defended the honor of the army with his act of violence.James W. Gerard: My four years in Germany, Grosset & Dunlap, New York, 1917. p. 66
Censure vote against Bethmann Hollweg
The events in Saverne also caused heated debate in the Reichstag. The Centre Party, the Social Democratic Party (SPD) and Progressive People's Party directed parliamentary inquiries to the Chancellor. Three representatives, from the Centre Party, from the Progressive People's Party and Jacques Peirotes from the SPD, opened the discussion on December 3 by explaining their critical views of the Saverne affair as representatives of their respective parties. Bethmann Hollweg played down the behavior of the military in his concluding speech. According to observers of the proceedings, he seemed visibly nervous and shaken. After him, Falkenhayn spoke before the Reichstag for the first time. He defended the officers, who had only done their duty, and sharply attacked the press, who had played up the affair with propagandistic methods to bring their influence to bear on the military.James W. Gerard: My four years in Germany, Grosset & Dunlap, New York, 1917. p. 66-67
At this time, it became clear how different the views of the Reichstag and the Chancellor were. The debate was continued on the next day. Bethmann Hollweg commented again on the events. His second speech did make a better impression, but it could no longer turn the mood of the Reichstag around. On December 4, the parliament made use of a censure vote (§ 33a of the standing orders of the Reichstag, a section which had been at its disposal since 1912) for the first time in the history of the Empire. With 293 votes, four abstentions and 54 opposing votes, which came exclusively from the ranks of the conservatives, it disapproved the behavior of the government as being "not the view of the Reichstag".William Anderson, William Stearns Davis, Mason W. Tyler: The Roots of the War : A Non-Technical History of Europe, 1870-1914, New York, The Century Co., 1918, p. 221
However, the vote had no effect at all, which is why the Saverne affair serves as an example of the balance of power in the German Empire of the early 20th century. When the SPD demanded that Bethmann Hollweg face the consequences of the disapproval and resign, he refused and indicated that he was only dependent upon the confidence of the Kaiser. That was how it was foreseen in article 15 of the Constitution. According to that, the Kaiser alone could replace the Chancellor.William Anderson, William Stearns Davis, Mason W. Tyler: The Roots of the War : A Non-Technical History of Europe, 1870-1914, New York, The Century Co., 1918, p. 221 But he did not want to follow the decision of the Reichstag, since he wanted to resist the "parliamentarizing" of the Empire with all his might. In addition, Bethmann Hollweg denied that the question of the parliament had a binding effect on the government. The Reichstag and the political parties were considered to be of merely secondary importance in the Empire.
An attempt by the SPD, on December 9, to reject the chancellor's proposed budget, thus forcing him out of office, did not find sufficient approval. Only the Polish Party (Polenpartei) supported the suggestion of the Social Democrats.James W. Gerard: My four years in Germany, Grosset & Dunlap, New York, 1917. p. 70
Protests in the entire German Reich
On November 28, the district councillor of Saverne wrote a telegram to Kaiser Wilhelm II, Bethmann Hollweg and Falkenhayn, in which he protested against the arbitrary arrests of his citizens. Two days later, an assembly of the SPD with 3000 participants took place in Mülhausen, which demonstrated against the infringements of the soldiers. In a resolution, the participants described the state as a military dictatorship and demanded resistance against the prevailing conditions—if necessary even by means of strikes.