Junker (SS Rank)

Junker ( da, Junker, german: Junker, nl, Jonkheer, en, Yunker, no, Junker, sv, Junker ka, იუნკერი (Iunkeri)) is a noble honorific, derived from Middle High German ''Juncherre'', meaning "young nobleman"Duden; Meaning of Junker, in German

/ref> or otherwise "young lord" (derivation of ''jung'' and ''Herr''). The term is traditionally used throughout the German-speaking, Dutch-speaking and Scandinavian-speaking parts of Europe. It was also used in the Russian Empire due to Baltic German influence, up until the Russian Revolution. The term is currently still in use by the Georgian Defense Forces for student officers of the National Defence Academy.

Honorific title

In Brandenburg, the ''Junker'' was originally one of the members of the higher ''Edelfrei'' ( immediate) nobility without or before the accolade. It evolved to a general denotation of a young or lesser noble, sometimes politically insignificant, understood as "country squire".

Martin Luther disguised himself as "Junker Jörg" at the Wartburg; he would later mock King Henry VIII of England as "Juncker Heintz".

As part of the nobility, many ''Junker'' families only had prepositions such as '' von'' or '' zu'' before their family names without further ranks. The abbreviation of the title was'' Jkr''., most often placed before the given name and titles, for example: Jkr. Heinrich von Hohenberg. The female equivalent ''Junkfrau'' (''Jkfr.'') was used only sporadically. In some cases, the honorific ''Jkr.'' was also used for ''Freiherren'' (barons) and ''Grafen'' (counts).

Usage

''Junker'' (and its cognates) was traditionally used as a noble honorific throughout the German-speaking parts of Europe. The title today survives in its traditional meaning in the Netherlands and Belgium in the Dutch form ''Jonkheer''.

The term was also used in several countries in the title ''Kammerjunker'', the German and Scandinavian equivalent of the French ''valet de chambre'', a position usually given to young noble men in the service of a princely rank person at the court. A ''Kammerjunker'' was ranked below a chamberlain, but above a chamber page. It has also been used in military roles in the German and Scandinavian realm, such as ''Fahnenjunker'' and its Scandinavian equivalents (for instance: ''fanjunkare)''.

In Denmark, the term ''Junker'' connotes a young lord, originally the son of a medieval duke or count, but also a term for a member of the privileged landowner class. Before 1375 the honorific was also suitable for Danish royal sons. It was also used in the title ''Kammerjunker'' within the royal household.

Modern popular usage in Prussia

In modern Prussian history, the term became popularly used as a loosely defined synecdoche for the landed nobility (particularly of so-called East Elbia) who controlled almost all of the land and government, or by extension, the Prussian estate owners regardless of noble status. With the formation of the German Empire in 1871, the ''Junkers'' dominated the central German government and the Prussian military. A leading representative was Prince Otto von Bismarck. "The ''Junkers''" of Prussia were often contrasted with the elites of the western and southern states in Germany, such as the city-republic of Hamburg (which had no nobility) or Catholic states like Bavaria, in which the "''Junker'' class" of Prussia was often viewed with contempt.Percy Ernst Schramm: ''Gewinn und Verlust''. Christians, Hamburg, 1969, p. 108. After World War II, the junker class, which had formed much of the officer corps of the Wehrmacht and whose prominent member President and former General Paul von Hindenburg had appointed Hitler chancellor in 1933, was often blamed for Prussian militarism, the rise of the Nazis and World War II. As a consequence, a land reform in the Soviet Occupation Zone which had the goal of collectivization along Soviet lines was justified in propaganda as a strike against the Junker class with the slogan "Junkerland in Bauernhand" (junker lands in peasant hands).

Modern usage in Russia

See also

*Dutch nobility
*German nobility
*Jonkheer
*Yonkers

References

{{reflist
German words and phrases
German noble titles