Anif declaration
Encyclopedia
The Anif declaration issued by the Bavarian king
Kingdom of Bavaria
The Kingdom of Bavaria was a German state that existed from 1806 to 1918. The Bavarian Elector Maximilian IV Joseph of the House of Wittelsbach became the first King of Bavaria in 1806 as Maximilian I Joseph. The monarchy would remain held by the Wittelsbachs until the kingdom's dissolution in 1918...

 Ludwig III on 12 November 1918 at Anif Palace
Anif Palace
The Anif Palace, also known as Water Palace Anif, stands beside an artificial pond within the Austrian county of Anif at the southern edge of the city of Salzburg...

, Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...

, ended the 738-year rule of the House of Wittelsbach in Bavaria
Bavaria
Bavaria, formally the Free State of Bavaria is a state of Germany, located in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the largest state by area, forming almost 20% of the total land area of Germany...

.

Historical background

With the imminent collapse of the German Empire
German Empire
The German Empire refers to Germany during the "Second Reich" period from the unification of Germany and proclamation of Wilhelm I as German Emperor on 18 January 1871, to 1918, when it became a federal republic after defeat in World War I and the abdication of the Emperor, Wilhelm II.The German...

 at the end of the First World War in November 1918, the Kingdom of Bavaria
Kingdom of Bavaria
The Kingdom of Bavaria was a German state that existed from 1806 to 1918. The Bavarian Elector Maximilian IV Joseph of the House of Wittelsbach became the first King of Bavaria in 1806 as Maximilian I Joseph. The monarchy would remain held by the Wittelsbachs until the kingdom's dissolution in 1918...

, like all other states of the Empire, was in a state of transition from monarchy
Monarchy
A monarchy is a form of government in which the office of head of state is usually held until death or abdication and is often hereditary and includes a royal house. In some cases, the monarch is elected...

 to republic
Republic
A republic is a form of government in which the people, or some significant portion of them, have supreme control over the government and where offices of state are elected or chosen by elected people. In modern times, a common simplified definition of a republic is a government where the head of...

.

Max von Speidel, Minister of War in the Bavarian government, under orders from Kurt Eisner
Kurt Eisner
Kurt Eisner was a Bavarian politician and journalist. As a German socialist journalist and statesman, he organized the Socialist Revolution that overthrew the Wittelsbach monarchy in Bavaria in November 1918....

, tried to persuade King Ludwig on 10 November (the day before the Armistice
Armistice with Germany (Compiègne)
The armistice between the Allies and Germany was an agreement that ended the fighting in the First World War. It was signed in a railway carriage in Compiègne Forest on 11 November 1918 and marked a victory for the Allies and a complete defeat for Germany, although not technically a surrender...

) to issue a declaration in which he would release all officers of the Bavarian Army of their oath. Speidel however arrived at the King's residence at Schloss Wildenwart, near Rosenheim
Rosenheim
Rosenheim is a town in Bavaria at the confluence of the rivers Inn and Mangfall. It is seat of administration of the district of Rosenheim, but is not a part of it.-Geography:...

, after Ludwig had already left for Austria.

Ludwig III decided to leave Bavaria temporarily for Austria, and, following an invitation of Ernst Graf von Moy, decided to take up residence at Anif Palace, near Salzburg
Salzburg
-Population development:In 1935, the population significantly increased when Salzburg absorbed adjacent municipalities. After World War II, numerous refugees found a new home in the city. New residential space was created for American soldiers of the postwar Occupation, and could be used for...

. There, he ordered Otto Ritter von Dandl
Otto Ritter von Dandl
Otto Ritter von Dandl was the last Minister-President of the Kingdom of Bavaria.-Life:Otto Ritter von Dandl was born in Straubing, Lower Bavaria, in 1868, his parents being Georg Ritter von Dandl and Karoline Weninger. He studied law and graduated in 1890. He entered the Bavarian government...

, the last prime minister of the Kingdom of Bavaria, to issue a declaration. Dandl demanded an abdication
Abdication
Abdication occurs when a monarch, such as a king or emperor, renounces his office.-Terminology:The word abdication comes derives from the Latin abdicatio. meaning to disown or renounce...

 but the King was only willing to issue a statement absolving all officers, soldiers and government officials of the Kingdom of their oath. With this, the Anif declaration, Dandl returned to the Bavarian capital, Munich
Munich
Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...

.

The declaration

The original document of the declaration has been lost. It was in the possession of the then interior minister of Bavaria, Erhard Auer, but was lost during the Hitler Putsch in 1923. Only typed copies exist now, bearing handwritten additions by Kurt Eisner.

German:
Zeit meines Lebens habe ich mit dem Volk und für das Volk gearbeitet.
Die Sorge um das Wohl meines geliebten Bayern
war stets mein höchstes Streben.
Nachdem ich infolge der Ereignisse der letzten Tage
nicht mehr in der Lage bin, die Regierung weiterzuführen,
stelle ich allen Beamten, Offizieren und Soldaten
die Weiterarbeit unter den gegebenen Verhältnissen frei
und entbinde sie des mir geleisteten Treueeides.

English:
All my lifetime I have worked with the people and for the people.
The care for the well-being of my beloved Bavaria
was always my highest concern.
Due to the events of the latest days,
I find myself no longer able to continue my rule.
I offer all officials, officers and soldiers
the free choice to continue their service
and relieve them of their oath to me.

Source:

Publication

Dandl returned to Munich the same day and the government under Eisner published the declaration as the abdication of Ludwig III. While some, even conservative politicians, shared the government's interpretation of the declaration as an abdication, others pointed out the discrepancy between its wording and its use by the government as a declaration of abdication.

Kurt Eisner had the declaration published word by word with his own below it. In his addition he states that the People's State of Bavaria (German:Volksstaat Bayern) accepts the abdication of King Ludwig III and assures him and his family that they are free to return to Bavaria, like every other citizen, providing they take no steps against the people's state.

After the death of Ludwig III in 1921, his son, Rupprecht, Crown Prince of Bavaria
Rupprecht, Crown Prince of Bavaria
Rupprecht or Rupert, Crown Prince of Bavaria was the last Bavarian Crown Prince.His full title was His Royal Highness Rupprecht Maria Luitpold Ferdinand, Crown Prince of Bavaria, Duke of Bavaria, of Franconia and in Swabia, Count Palatine of the Rhine...

, asserted his rights to the Bavarian crown, claiming it to be his birthright to be King of Bavaria unless the people decided on a different form of government after free elections. Until his death in 1955, Rupprecht continued to demand
Monarchism in Bavaria after 1918
Monarchism in Bavaria after 1918 was driven by the belief that a monarchy would be the best form of government for the German state of Bavaria, despite the abolition of the Bavarian monarchy in 1918...

 that the question of whether Bavaria would be a republic or a monarchy should be decided by a constituent assembly
Constituent assembly
A constituent assembly is a body composed for the purpose of drafting or adopting a constitution...

chosen in a democratic election.

External links


Sources

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