Harden-Eulenburg Affair

The Harden-Eulenburg affair, often simply Eulenburg affair, was the controversy surrounding a series of courts-martial and five regular trials regarding accusations of homosexual conduct, and accompanying libel trials, among prominent members of Kaiser Wilhelm II's cabinet and entourage and the chancellor von Bismarck during 1907-1909. It is often considered the biggest domestic scandal of the German Second Reich. While the controversy centred on Philipp Prince zu Eulenburg-Hertefeld and his accuser, journalist Maximilian Harden, accusations and counter-accusations quickly multiplied with the phrase "Liebenberg Round Table" being used to describe the gay male circle around the Kaiser.

Initial incident

The incident which provoked the affair followed on the heels of a public relations gaffe by Wilhelm II. Shortly, in November, Wilhelm II began a vacation at an aristocrat's estate in the Black Forest. One evening after dinner Dietrich Count von Hülsen-Häseler, chief of the Military Secretariat, was performing a pas seul in a tutu when his heart failed. Ottokar von Czernin, also in attendance, remarked, "In Wilhelm II I saw a man who, for the first time in his life, with horror-stricken eyes, looked upon the world as it really was." Despite his fears the accident, with its implications of homosexuality at high levels, seemed successfully hushed up.

Related Topics:
Black Forest - Dietrich Count von Hülsen-Häseler - Pas seul - Tutu - Ottokar von Czernin

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