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Friedrich Naumann: A Mirror of Wilhelmian Germany1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 August 2009

Extract

Friedrich Naumann (1860–1919) was born into that generation of Germans whose Weltanschauung had begun to accommodate an emerging world of science, technology, nationalism, and power politics. When he entered upon university studies in 1879 the Reich had been established, the German industrial revolution was well under way, and the scientific-historical outlook had begun to replace philosophy as the prevailing national temper. These historical currents were presently gathered into his powerful intellect, bent upon understanding itself and the times. This quest mirrored in an extraordinary way the political tendencies and intellectual moods of Wilhelmian Germany. All of its foibles and conceits, its doubts and ambition were freely exhibited in Naumann's writing. A prose style outstanding in modern German letters for its clarity and easy grace facilitated Naumann's task. Few works in German on political subjects share the literary qualities of Naumann's prose; his personal archive of Wilhelmian times can yield pleasure as well as secrets to the historian.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © University of Notre Dame 1951

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References

2 See the author's study: “Friedrich Naumann: A German View of Power and Nationalism,” in Nationalism and Internationalism. Essays Inscribed to Carlton J. H. Hayes (Earle, Edward Mead, ed.; New York, 1950), pp. 352–98.Google Scholar

3 Ludwig Curtius, the classical scholar, tells how Naumann cast his rhetorical spell over an audience of Munich intellectuals, all opponents of William II, convincing them that social progress and the Kaiser's authority went hand in hand! Curtius, Ludwig, Deutsche und Antike Welt. Lebenserinnerungen (Stuttgart, 1950), p. 162.Google Scholar

4 Cf. Conze, Werner, “Friedrich Naumann; Grundlagen und Ansatz seiner Politik in der nationalsozialen Zeit (1895 bis 1903),” in Schicksdswege Deutscher Vergangenheit (Hubatsch, Walther, ed.; Dusseldorf, 1950), pp. 359–60.Google Scholar

5 Details can be pursued in Theodor Heuss' superb biography: Friedrich Naumann. Der Mann, Das Werk, Die Zeit (2nd ed.; Stuttgart and Tübingen, 1949)Google Scholar. The author, new the President of the German Federal Republic, was one of Naumann's political disciples.

6 The standard biography is Frank, Walter's Hofprediger Adolf Stoecker und die christlichsoziale Bewegung (2nd ed.; Hamburg, 1935), a work marred by the audthor's own anti-Semitic bias.Google Scholar

7 A movement in German Protestantism which began after the War of Liberation, partly in opposition to Pietism, and partly sustained by it. The Erweckungsbewegung underlay the quickening of German Protestant thinking about the connection of religion and politics; during the fifties it helped to inform the Christian-conservative theory of the state and society. Cf. Hübner, Paul Gerhard, Die sozidethischen Anschauungen Adolf Stöckers (Wittenberg, 1929), pp. 1113.Google Scholar

8 Naumann's early rejection of anti-Semitism is the clearest proof. In 1900 he wrote: “Der Antisemitismus ist Konservatismus unaristokratischer Art.” Demokratie und Kaisertum (3rd ed.; Berlin-Schöneberg, 1904), p. 106Google Scholar. And “Keine einzige grosse politische Frage kann vom antisemitischen Standpunkt aus grundsätzlich erledigt werden.” Loc. cit.

9 Gerhardt, Martin, Johann Hinrich Wichern (Hamburg, 1927) is the best biography.Google Scholar

10 Even the official history cautiously admits this. Gerhardt, Martin, Ein Jahrhundert Innere Mission (Gütersloh, 1948), II, 5758.Google Scholar

11 Naumann had published fifteen pamphlets and books before 1894; the most important titles were: Arbeiterkatechismus oder der wahre Sozialismus?(Stuttgart and Calw, 1889)Google Scholar;Was tun wir gegen die glaubenslose Sozialdemokratie (Leipzig, 1889)Google Scholar; Das soziale Programm der evangelischen Kirche (Leipzig, 1891)Google Scholar; Jesus als Volksmann (Gottingen, 1894)Google Scholar; Was heisst Christlich-Sozial? (Leipzig, 18941896, 2 vols.).Google Scholar

12 Thier, Erich, Die Kirche und die soziate Frage. Von Wichern bis Friedrich Naumann (Gütersloh, 1950), pp. 7879Google Scholar also stresses Naumann's debt to Wichern while developing some basic differences, especially Naumann's optimistic view of man.

13 Naumann's principal testament of the social responsibility which liberalism must accept was Neudeutsche Wirtschaftspolitik (Berlin-Schöneberg, 1906).Google Scholar

14 A quotation from the last year of Naumann's life reflects his mature religious philosophy: “Aus der Pastorenkirche heraus ringt sich ein greifbares Laienchristentum ans Licht, dessen schliesslich Art und Kraft heute nur geahnt werden kann, ein allgemeines Priestertum brüderliche Tat, dem jeder seine Mitwirkung bieten sollte, der uns Wert darauf Iegt, ein Christ zu heissen.” Nationales und soziales Christentum. Ein Auszug aus Friedrich Naumanns Gedankenwelt (Herz, Johannes, ed.; Berlin-Tempelhof, 1935), p. 76.Google Scholar

15 While still an Inner Mission chaplain Naumann had concluded: “Gott will den technischen Fortschritt, er will die Maschine.” Naumann, Friedrich, Ausgewählte Schriften (Vogt, Hannah, ed.; Frankfort on the Main, 1949), p. 96Google Scholar. Bodelschwingh's temperament was considered old-fashioned by some of Naumann's associates. See Wenck's, Martin obituary in Hilfe, XVI (1910), No. 14.Google Scholar

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17 Wendland, Johannes, Albrecht Ritschl und seine Schüler (Berlin, 1899), pp. 2022Google Scholar. This reconciliation was sought more eagerly by the pupils than the master. Ritschl for example was hostile to the Protestantenverein, an organization embodying the liberalizing tendencies in German Protestantism which had been created by the disciples and admirers of Schleiermacher. Ibid., p. 28.

18 Mackintosh, Robert, Albrecht Ritschl and His School (London, 1915), pp. 95, 146, 248.Google Scholar

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21 Christliche Welt subsequently became, under Rade's direction, one of the most respected organs of the liberal tendency in German Protestantism. Unlike most German Protestant publications, Christliche Welt endorsed the republic in 1919 without any qualifications. For an appreciation see Mulert, Hermann, Vierzig Jahre “Christliche Welt.” Festgabe für Martin Rade (Gotha, 1927).Google Scholar

22 A contemporary summation may be found in Göhre, Paul, Die evangelisch-soziale Bewegung ihre Geschichte und ihre Ziele (Leipzig, 1896), pp. 160–63, 173–75Google Scholar. Gohre was one of Naumann's followers who subsequently joined the Social Democrats.

23 A comment made at the Congress of the Inner Mission in 1890, but not included in the official transcript, Verhandlungen des 26. Kongresses für Innere Mission (Nümberg, 1890)Google Scholar. Heuss reports the phrase in op. cit., p. 68.Google Scholar

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26 A preliminary issue appeared on Dec. 2, 1894; regular publication began on Jan. 6, 1895. The circulation quickly reached 10,000. Hilfe, I (1895), No. 45Google Scholar. A daily newspaper, Die Z.eit, founded by Naumann in Oct., 1896, was not successful. For details see Schneider, Carl, Der Publizistik der national-soziale Bewegung (Berlin diss., 1934).Google Scholar

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29 On this issue, Weber had clearly been the teacher. For Naumann's comment see his article, Die Stellung der Gebildeten im politischen Leben,” Patria. Jahrbuch der “Hilfe,” VII (1907), 89.Google Scholar

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31 Individualism was an ever recurrent theme in Naumann's writing. Cf. Liberalismus, Zentrum und Sozial-demokratie (Munich, 1903), pp. 2930Google Scholar. His essay, Die Erzie hung zur Persönlichkeit im Zeitalter des Grossbetriebs (Berlin-Schöneberg, 1907), p. 47Google Scholar, demanded “dass im Zeitalter der Waffen und Maschinen und der Massenhaftigkeit das Ich nicht stirbt.”

32 Weber, Max, Gesammelte Politische Schriften (Munich, 1921), pp. 730.Google Scholar

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34 The primacy of foreign policy was reiterated in the party platform. Salomon, Felix, Die Deutsche Parteiprogramme vom Erwachen des politischen Lebens in Deutschland bis zur Gegenwart (3rd ed.; Leipzig and Berlin, 1924), II, 152.Google Scholar

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37 Sohm, Rudolf, “Die Entwicklung des Staatsgedankens in Deutschland,” Protokoll über die Verhandlungen des Nationalsozialen Vereins (vierter Vertretertag) zu Göttingen vom 1.-4. Oktober 1899 (Berlin-Schöneberg, 1899), pp. 5354, 60.Google Scholar

38 Here also Naumann retreated to the individual. “Das Reich Gottes kommt weder im Staat noch in der Kirche, es ist eine Geistesbewegung von Mensch zu Mensch….” Geist und Glaube (Berlin-Schöneberg, 1911), p. 258.Google Scholar

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42 See Troeltsch, Ernst, The Social Teaching of the Christian Churches (2nd impression; London, 1949), II, 540–76.Google Scholar

43 All recent research on Luther points toward this. Cf. Pauck, Wihelm, The Heritage of the Reformation (Glencoe, Ill. and Boston, Mass., 1950), pp. 2, 1014.Google Scholar

44 On the idea of the callings see Bainton, Roland H., Here I Stand. A Life of Martin Luther (New York and Nashville, 1950), pp. 232–36.Google Scholar

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49 Naumann, Friedrich, Briefe über Religion (3rd ed.; Berlin-Schöneberg, 1904), p. 3.Google Scholar

50 Ibid., pp. 20–22, 30, 68. But many German Protestants did resent Naumann's social Darwinism. See Hilfe, XII (1906), No. 26Google Scholar, Beiblatt (June 30, 1906), pp. 1011.Google Scholar

61 Briefe über Religion, p. 64.Google Scholar

52 Ibid., pp. 64, 78–79. Elsewhere Naumann had written: Unser deutsches Volk muss Macht gewinnen wollen. Für manche verfeinerte Ohren ist das Wort Macht zu hart, aber ohne Macht giebt es keinen Staat, keinen Fortschritt der Gesamtnation. Ein Volk ohne Machtideale verliest sich in Tädeleien.” Patria, I (1901), iv.Google Scholar

53 Briefe über Religion, p. 81Google Scholar.

54 Ibid., p. 72.

55 Ibid., pp. 66–67, 68–70, 72–73, 82–83.

56 Christlkhe Welt, XIV (1900), col. 468Google Scholar. Lutheran Protestant influence also bore upon Max Weber's distinction between Gesinnungsethik und Verantwortungsethik as his biographer points out. Mayer, , op. cit, p. 89Google Scholar. Weber's final analysis of political ethics was made in the essay, Politik als Beruf (1919)Google Scholar. See Gesammelte politische Schrijten, pp. 396450.Google Scholar

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58 “Es gibt gar keine Richtung in der deutschen Geschichte, solange überhaupt das Deutschtum lebt, durch welche die Nation als Ganzes so gehoben worden ist wie dutch den Liberalismus.”Naumann, Friedrich, Die politischen Parteien (Berlin-Schöneberg, 1910), p. 86.Google Scholar

59 The Daily Telegraph affair (Oct. 28, 1908)Google Scholar finally disillusioned Naumann about the Kaiser's abilities. Naumann used the occasion to advance a plea for responsible government in the hands of the chancellor. Hilfe, XIV (1908), No. 45.Google Scholar

60 His arguments for the fleet were typical. Cf. Demokratie und Kaisertum, pp. 212 ff.Google Scholar

61 Wer also heute Deutschland stärken will, muss freie Bürger schaffen.” Hilfe, II (1896), No. 49.Google Scholar

62 “Der Fortschritt der menschlichen Kultur ist eine Folge des Fortschritts der einzelnen Menschen.” Naumann, Friedrich, Das Blaue Buck von Vaterland und Freiheit (Leipzig, 1913), p. 83.Google Scholar

63 “Freiheit ist in erster Linie ein nationaler Begrifi.” Naumann, Friedrich, Das Ideal der Freiheit (Berlin-Schöneberg, 1908), p. 5.Google Scholar

64 Naumann, Friedrich, Was heisst Christlich-Sozial? (Leipzig, 1896), II, 2728.Google Scholar Virtually the same view of Bismarck was presented in an essay written in 1915. See Naumann, Friedrich, Gestalten und Gestalter (Berlin and Leipzig, 1919), pp. 111.Google Scholar

65 The Freien kirchlich-sozialen Konferenz, corresponding to the “positive” or orthodox theology, entertained an old-fashioned monarchical patriotism; the Evangelisch sozialer Kongress, representing the liberal theological outlook, was equally patriotic but in a modern nationalistic sense.

66 Naumann, Friedrich, Einige Gedanken über die Gründung christlich-sozialer Vereine (Bern, 1896), was typical of his Swiss lectures.Google Scholar

67 For accounts of the Swiss movement by its leaders see Matthieu, J., “Von Christlich-sozial zu Religios-sozial,” Neue Wege, VII (1913), 179–93Google Scholar; and Ragaz, Leonhard, “Von der schweizerischen religiös-sozialen Bewegung zur dialektischen Theologie,” in Reich Gottes Marxismus-Nationalsozialismus: Ein Bekenntnis Religiöser Sozialisten (Wünsch, Georg, ed.; Tübingen, 1931), pp. 165.Google Scholar

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71 Rade, Martin, Der Beitrag der Christlicben Kirchen zur Internationalen Verständigung (Stuttgart, 1912), pp. 9, 1315.Google Scholar

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73 See the comment in Bäumer, Gertrud, Lebensweg durch eine Zeitenwende (Tübingen, 1933), p. 377Google Scholar, and the analysis of Naumann's politics which follows, Ibid., pp. 378–79.

74 Westphal, Otto, Welt- und Staatsauffassung des deutschen Liberalismus (Munich and Berlin, 1919), p. 257Google Scholar. On the idea of “moral conquests” see Schroth, Hansgeorg, Welt- und Staatsideen des deutschen Liberalismus in der Zeit der Einheits- und Freibeitskämpfe 1859–1866 (Berlin, 1931), pp. 9092.Google Scholar

75 These deliberations are described in Brentano, Lujo, Mein Leben im Kampf um die soziale Entwicklung Deutschlands (Jena, 1931), pp. 229–31Google Scholar. Also see Ganger, , op. cit., pp. 6061.Google Scholar

76 Naumann, Friedrich, “Liberalismus als Partei,” Freiheitskämpfe (Berlin, 1913), pp. 1177Google Scholar; and Naumann, Friedrich, “Das Prinzip des Liberalismus,” Die Politik der Gegenwart (Berlin-Schöneberg, 1905), pp. 4859.Google Scholar

77 Note the treatment of this issue in Schroth, , op. cit., pp. 100–02.Google Scholar

78 Hilfe, II (1896), No. 49.Google Scholar

79 “Der Fortschritt der menschlichen Kultur ist eine Folge des Fortschritts der einzelnen Menschen.” Geist und Glaube, p. 60.Google Scholar

80 Naumann's understanding of Germany's foreign policy will be taken up in a subsequent article.

81 From the translation found in Von Laue, Theodore H., Leopold Ranke; The Formative Years (Princeton, N. J., 1950), p. 162.Google Scholar

82 See the opening remarks in Heffter, Heinrich, “Vom Primat der Aussenpolitik,” Historische Zeitschrift, CLXXI (1951), 120.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

83 Naumann's confidence in the future was expressed with characteristic fervor in the article, Auf dem Wege zur Menschheit,” Patria, XIII (1913), 5585Google Scholar; also found in the Ausgewählte Schriften, pp. 361–86.Google Scholar

84 Ritter, Gerhard, one of the foremost German historians, has aptly summarized this outlook: “Die gesamte deutsche Bildungswelt sah das Werden ihres nationalen Staates so tief eingebettet in den Strom einer glücklichen Aufwärtsentwicklung menschlicher Kultur, dass sie von einem naturbedingten Gegensatz zwischen Politik und Moral, zwischen Macht und Recht nicht mehr viel empfand.” Die Dämonie der Macht (5th ed.; Stuttgart, 1947), p. 164.Google Scholar

85 Ibid., pp. 171–72.