Lamar Cecil

The Bismarck Papers

Historians of the German Empire of 1871 are fortunate that, in spite of the deprivations of war, the personal papers of three of the five imperial chancellors have been preserved virtually intact. The record for General Leo von Caprivi is regrettably thin, for on his resignation he made no attempt to detach his personal papers from the public record of his administration. As a result, his Nachlass, with the exception of a small body of correspondence, perished in the conflagration of Berlin in 1945.1 The literary remains of Theobald von Bethmann Hollweg are even more meager, all that has survived being a few documents now in the hands of his descendants.2 A reconstruction of Bethmanns life, like that of Caprivi, must be accomplished through the use of other sources. In the case of Caprivis successor, Prince Chlodwig zu HohenloheSchillingsfiirst, and Bethmanns predecessor, Bernhard von Billow, the archival holdings are rich indeed. The Hohenlohe papers, long closed to scholars and somewhat carelessly housed at Schillingsfiirst, were transferred to the Bundesarchiv in Koblenz in 1968. There are no restrictions governing access to this large and important collection, and historians consequently no longer have to rely on the partial and not always accurate edition of the chancellors papers.3 The Billow papers, the extraordinary bulk of which give an intimation of the character of the man whose life they record, are copious to the point that they excite suspicion of narcissism. From Billows childhood until the eve of his death at the age of eighty, in 1929, he was tireless in retaining every letter that came his way, every newspaper clipping that honored him with praise, every flattering photograph. The Bundesarchiv obtained the chancellors vast collection of papers in 1962. They were initially available only with the permission, always generously extended, of his heirs. The Billow Nachlass is now open without restriction.