PEEBLES PROFILES
EPISODE 199
Ernst Bassermann
LAWYER TURNED POLITICIAN
Ernst Bassermann was born in Wolfach (in the Grand Duchy of Baden) on July 26, 1854. He was the son of regional court president and member of the Baden state parliament Anton Bassermann and wife Marie (née Eisenlohr).
At eighteen, the young Ernst began studying law at the Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg, where he was accepted into the Corps Suevia Heidelberg (or Student Association of Heidelberg Swabians) in 1873. The next year, Bassermann began attending the University of Leipzig , where he joined the Corps Lusatia Leipzig.
After completing his studies, Bassermann served as a one-year volunteer in the Kurmärkisches Dragoon Regiment Number 14 (a Prussian Army cavalry unit) based in Colmar. Then in 1880, he began working as a lawyer in Mannheim. Bassermann practiced in partnership with fellow lawyer Anton Lindeck until the latter’s death.
On July 12, 1881, Bassermann married Julie Ladenburg, women’s rights activist and long-time chairwoman of the Women’s Education and Women’s Studies Association. She was also the daughter of the Mannheim banker, commercial councilor, honorary citizen, and owner of the Ladenburg Bank, Carl Ladenburg. Both Ernst and Julie would have one son.
Bassermann became politically active in Mannheim, and he became a city councilor in 1887. Six years later, he entered the Reichstag representing the National Liberal Party. A follower of the old National Liberal heroes (especially Eduard Lasker and Rudolf von Bennigsen), Bassermann was elected to the party executive committee in the same year (1893).
In 1898, Bassermann took over the chairmanship of the NLP’s parliamentary group in the Reichstag. In terms of content, he called for a more liberal social policy and tried to make his party appealing to workers. Bassermann brought down the attempts of the aged Chancellor Chlodwig Fürst zu Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst to exclude social democratic workers. Bassermann also advocated a policy of balancing the interests of business and agriculture. In 1901, he was one of the co-founders of the Society for Social Reform.
Four years later, Bassermann was elected chairman of the NLP. He campaigned for the formation of a liberal-conservative coalition (the so-called “Bülow Bloc”), including several liberal parties under Chlodwig’s successor, Chancellor Bernhard Fürst von Bülow. In Mannheim and the Grand Duchy of Baden, the “greater bloc” (a coalition of the NLP, Democrats, and Social Democrats) was preferred. Bassermann served as a mediator between the extreme factions, but he refused all overtures to form a political front with the socialist leader August Bebel and the Social Democrats.
In the Daily Telegraph, Bassermann spoke out against constitutional reforms. With the fall of Bülow in 1909, he immediately voiced opposition to new Chancellor Theobald von Bethmann Hollweg. However, Bassermann supported his arms policy ambitions.
WAR AND DEATH
With the onset of the Great War in August 1914, Bassermann was deployed initially as a captain, then later a major on the Western Front. In February 1915, he took over the office of chief military judge in the Guard Corps in Berlin. Then in November of the same year, Bassermann founded the Wednesday Society (not to be confused with the Berlin Wednesday Society, which has existed since 1863) along with philosopher and journalist Ludwig Stein. The group was a forum for political discussion on national and military-related issues. Together with Gustav Stresemann, Ernst Bassermann was one of the spokesmen for the National Liberals on annexations.
As Allied support from abroad continued to escalate via the high seas in early 1917, Bassermann was a strong supporter of unrestricted submarine warfare. At the same time, he called for domestic policy reforms from the German government.
But in February of that year, Ernst Bassermann resigned all his political offices, including his seat in the Reichstag. He died in Baden-Baden only two days before his 63rd birthday on July 24, 1917.
EULOGY AND MEMORIAL
“Colleagues in the Reichstag once asked me what was going on as Bassermann sat in his seat for hours writing down diligent notes that condensed into ever-growing small volumes. People believed in some political memorandum that was written there in the midst of the Reichstag debates. But what emerged was nothing other than a contribution to the history of the Corps Lusatia Leipzig, which Bassermann wrote down. When the members of the corps came together somewhere, his corps celebrated a foundation party, then he rushed over to them, then he was young with the boys.”
– Gustav Stresemann
A monument to Ernst Bassermann was erected in 1930 at the Oberer Luisenpark in Mannheim. However, the statue created by Hugo Lederer was destroyed.
The tomb made of yellow sandstone in the Mannheim main cemetery shows rich ornamentation of urns, plants and Hermes heads on the corner pillars. A marble slab with a name and portrait medallion is embedded in the center. Above the entablature is the family coat of arms with a waterman in a cartouche with fruit garlands.
HONORS
– Honorary member of the Corps Suevia Heidelberg (1900)
– Prussian Royal Crown Order, Third Class (1901)
– Order of the Zähringer Lion , Knight’s Cross, First Class (1904)
– Order of the Zähringer Lion, Commander’s Cross, Second Class (1910)
– Oldenburg House and Order of Merit of Duke Peter Friedrich Ludwig, Honorary Commander’s Cross (1912)
– Prussian Royal Crown Order, Second Class (1914)
– Order of St. Alexander, Grand Cross (1916)