‘As if the heartbeat of time came to a halt’: Wilhelm in German Cultural Memory

Wilhelm I successfully established the imperial role for the new German nation-state, but in cultural memory and historical scholarship he was considered the epitome of Prussian virtues and unwilling to become emperor. How was this possible? This chapter demonstrates that Wilhelm’s death in 1888—and not Bismarck’s resignation from office in 1890—was seen by contemporaries as the watershed moment in the history of the German Empire. As a result of this experience of rupture, two myths were created, which are detailed here. First, Wilhelm II set out to stylize his grandfather as ‘Wilhelm the Great’, to cultivate notions of historical greatness and project strong monarchical rule in the face of an expanding democratic political culture. Although frequently disputed, the myth was sustained as long as the Hohenzollern monarchy was in power and vanished after 1918. The second myth presented Wilhelm as the epitome of Prussian virtues and an era of peace, prosperity, and tranquillity that had ended with his death and contrasted with an unruly present. Because this nostalgic myth was not dependent on the existence of the monarchy, it could be constantly renewed and persisted well into the twenty-first century.