Illustration S.13.1     “Gruesome Crime in Berlin” (Simplicissimus, 1910)

 

In the issue of the satirical journal Simplicissimus published on 28 February 1910, Thomas Theodor Heine depicted a “gruesome crime in Berlin.” The target of his satire was Theobald von Bethmann Hollweg—German chancellor and Prussian minister president—as well as the Prussian suffrage reform bill under debate at that time in the Prussian House of Deputies.

 

Heine’s cartoon made light of Bethmann and his rump bill, which was withdrawn a few months later because no consensus could be reached. But it also pointed a finger in another direction.

 

The text of the cartoon reads: “Once again a horribly mutilated corpse has been found in Berlin. Because it was wrapped in the manuscript of the throne speech, it could easily be identified as ‘the Prussian suffrage.’ Police dogs immediately picked up the trail, which led to the steps of the throne, on which the murderer was found sitting quietly. His name is Bethmann Hollweg. The accused was able to prove that the apparently mutilated body had never possessed hands or feet. He had only wrung its neck a little. Because the removal of this completely unserviceable creature was characterized as an eminently charitable deed, the murderer was not prosecuted; he was awarded the Order of the Black Eagle from on high.”

 

 

Source: Thomas Theodor Heine, “Schauderhaftes Verbrechen in Berlin,” Simplicissimus 14, no. 48 (28 February 1910): 827. Simplicissimus Online: Herzogin Anna Amalia Bibliothek Weimar.

 

Copyright © 2017 James Retallack. All rights reserved. This page is part of the Online Supplement to James Retallack, Red Saxony: Election Battles and the Spectre of Democracy in Germany, 1860-1918 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2017). ISBN 978-0-19-966878-6. Last updated: 5 March 2022.