Kuno von Moltke
Lieutenant General Kuno Augustus Friedrich Karl Detlev Graf von Moltke (13 December 1847 – 19 March 1923), adjutant to Kaiser Wilhelm II and military commander of Berlin, was a principal in the homosexual scandal known as the Harden-Eulenburg Affair (1907) that rocked the Kaiser's entourage. Moltke was forced to leave the military service.
Biography
In 1896 Moltke, a 'confirmed bachelor', married Nathalie von Hayden ('Lilly'), a woman more than twenty years his junior.[1] The couple soon became estranged, with Moltke's physician later alleging that Lilly had physically attacked Moltke several times.[2] The couple were eventually divorced in 1902 (the formal divorce proceedings took several years to conclude).[1]
The Harden–Eulenburg affair
In 1907 the journalist Maximilian Harden publicly accused Moltke and Philipp, Prince of Eulenburg-Hertefeld of a homosexual relationship. At this time, homosexual acts between men were illegal per Paragraph 175 of the German Criminal Code.
Accusations and counter-accusations quickly multiplied. Later that year, Moltke sued Harden for libel. His ex-wife Lilly (who had since remarried and was now called Lilly von Elbe) voluntarily testified against him.[1] Magnus Hirschfeld, a physician and sexologist who supported the legalization of homosexuality in Germany, also testified that he believed Moltke to be homosexual.[1] The court sensationally acquitted Harden and concluded that he had been telling the truth about Moltke's sexuality.[3] However, the verdict was voided due to faulty procedure.[3]
In 1908 Hardman was retried, and this time he was found guilty of libel against Moltke.
Later life
Moltke played little further part in public life after the Harden-Eulenberg affair.[4] He died in Berlin in 1923.[5]
Further reading
- Isabel Hull, The entourage of Kaiser Wilhelm II, Cambridge 1982.
- John Röhl, Des Kaisers bester Freund, in: Kaiser, Hof und Staat. Wilhelm II. und die deutsche Politik, Munich 1988, pp. 35–77, v.a. 64 ff.
- Nicolaus Sombart, Wilhelm II. Sündenbock und Herr der Mitte, Berlin 1996.
- Olaf Jessen: Die Moltkes. Biographie einer Familie, C. H. Beck, Munich 2010, ISBN 978-3-406-604997
References
- Domeier, Norman. (2015). Eulenburg Affair A Cultural History of Politics in the German Empire. Boydell & Brewer. pp. 95–113, 297. ISBN 9781782044581. OCLC 957277664.
- Domeier, Norman (2014). "The Homosexual Scare and the Masculinization of German Politics before World War I". Central European History. 47 (4): 737–759. doi:10.1017/s0008938914001903. ISSN 0008-9389.
- Dynes, Wayne R. 1934- éd. Donaldson, Stephen, éd. (1992). History of homosexuality in Europe and America. Garland. p. 344. ISBN 0815305508. OCLC 757692776.CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
- "Death of Count Moltke". The West Australian. 26 April 1923. p. 7.
- "German Court Scandal. Count Cuno von Moltke Dead". Chronicle (Adelaide, South Australia). 21 March 1923. p. 35.