Manifesto of the Ninety-Three

The "Manifesto of the Ninety-Three" (originally "To the Civilized World" by "Professors of Germany") is a 4 October 1914 proclamation by 93 prominent Germans supporting Germany in the start of World War I. The Manifesto galvanized support for the war throughout German schools and universities, but many foreign intellectuals were outraged. For instance, some military actions by Germany were called elsewhere the Rape of Belgium.

The astronomer Wilhelm Foerster soon repented having signed the document. Soon, with the physiologist Georg Friedrich Nicolai, drew up the ''Manifesto to the Europeans''. They argued,

Whilst various people expressed sympathy with these sentiments, only the philosopher Otto Buek and Albert Einstein signed it and it remained unpublished at the time. It was subsequently brought to light by Einstein.

A report in 1921 in ''The New York Times'' found that of 76 surviving signatories, 60 expressed varying degrees of regret. Some claimed not to have seen what they had signed.

Purpose and reaction

The manifesto was primarily designed to contradict the negative image of Germany being portrayed in the press by other countries (especially in Britain), which is indicated by the fact that it was published in ten different languages. In addition, the manifesto articulated moral indignation, laid charges against foreign governments, academic institutions, and scholars whom the authors believed had wronged the German nation. They also probably hoped to undermine support for the war among the civilian population of the Entente powers by demonstrating that German scientists — who at the time were very highly reputed — were fully in support of their country, thereby inducing the intellectuals of other European nations to put pressure on the governments of their respective countries. The reaction of both the European and American press and of academic institutions around the world indicate that this attempt was a failure.

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Here is an English translation (italics in original):To the civilized world
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Signatories

The 93 signatories included Nobel Prize laureates, artists, physicians, physicists, chemists, theologians, philosophers, poets, architects and known college teachers. The German composer Richard Strauss refused to sign, on the basis that "Declarations about war and politics are not fitting for an artist."

List of signatories

#Adolf von Baeyer, chemist: synthesized indigo, 1905 recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry
#Peter Behrens, architect and designer
#Emil Adolf von Behring, physiologist: received the 1901 Nobel Prize in Physiology of Medicine
#Wilhelm von Bode, art historian and curator
# Aloïs Brandl, Austrian-German philologist
# Lujo Brentano, economist and social reformer
# Justus Brinckmann, art historian
#Johannes Conrad, political economist
# Franz von Defregger, Austrian artist
#Richard Dehmel, anti-conservative poet and writer
#Adolf Deissmann, Protestant theologian
#Wilhelm Dörpfeld, architect and archeologist (including site of ancient Troy)
#Friedrich von Duhn, classical archaeologist
#Paul Ehrlich, awarded the 1908 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, initiated chemotherapy, "the magic bullet"
# Albert Ehrhard, Catholic priest and church historian
# Karl Engler, chemist
# Gerhard Esser, Catholic theologian
#Rudolf Christoph Eucken, philosopher: winner of the 1908 Nobel Prize for Literature
#Herbert Eulenberg, poet and playwright
# Henrich Finke, Catholic church historian
#Hermann Emil Fischer, chemist: 1902 recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry
#Wilhelm Foerster, also signed counter-manifesto
#Ludwig Fulda, Jewish playwright with strong social commitment
# Eduard von Gebhardt, painter
#Jan Jakob Maria de Groot, Sinologist and historian of religion
# Fritz Haber, chemist: received the 1918 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for synthesizing ammonia
#Ernst Haeckel, biologist: coined the words "ecology, phylum, stem cell," developed "ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny"
#Max Halbe, dramatist
#Adolf von Harnack, Lutheran theologian
# Carl Hauptmann, playwright
# Gerhart Hauptmann, dramatist and novelist: received the 1912 Nobel Prize in Literature
#Gustav Hellmann, meteorologist
#Wilhelm Herrmann, Reformed theologian
# Andreas Heusler, Swiss medievalist
# Adolf von Hildebrand, sculptor
# Ludwig Hoffmann, architect
# Engelbert Humperdinck, composer: including "Hänsel und Gretel"
#Leopold Graf von Kalckreuth, painter
# Arthur Kampf, history painter
# Friedrich August von Kaulbach, painter
#Theodor Kipp, jurist
# Felix Klein, mathematician: group theory, complex analysis, non-Euclidean geometry; "the Klein bottle"
#Max Klinger, Symbolist painter, sculptor, printmaker, and writer
# Aloïs Knoepfler, art historian
# Anton Koch, Catholic theologian
#Paul Laband, professor of law
# Karl Lamprecht, historian
#Philipp Lenard, physicist: winner of the 1905 Nobel Prize for Physics for cathode rays research
#Maximilian Lenz, painter
#Max Liebermann, Jewish Impressionist painter and printmaker
#Franz von Liszt, jurist and legal scholar (cousin of the composer)
#Ludwig Manzel, sculptor
# Joseph Mausbach, theologian
# Georg von Mayr, statistician
# Sebastian Merkle, Catholic theologian
# Eduard Meyer, historian
# Heinrich Morf, linguist
# Friedrich Naumann, liberal politician and Protestant pastor
#Albert Neisser, physician who discovered the cause of gonorrhea
#Walther Hermann Nernst, physicist: third law of thermodynamics, won the 1920 Nobel Prize in chemistry
#Wilhelm Ostwald, chemist: received the 1909 Nobel Prize in Chemistry
# Bruno Paul, architect, illustrator, interior designer, and furniture designer.
# Max Planck, theoretical physicist: originated quantum theory, awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1918
# Albert Plohn, professor of medicine
#Georg Reicke, author and politician
#Max Reinhardt, Austrian-born, American stage and film actor and director
#Alois Riehl, philosopher
# Carl Robert, philologist and archeologist
#Wilhelm Röntgen, physicist: known for X-rays, awarded 1901 Nobel Prize in Physics
#Max Rubner, physiologist and hygienist
#Fritz Schaper, sculptor
#Adolf von Schlatter, Evangelical theologian
# August Schmidlin, theologian
# Gustav von Schmoller, economist
# Reinhold Seeberg, theologian
#Martin Spahn, historian
#Franz von Stuck, symbolist/Art Nouveau painter, sculptor, engraver, and architect
#Hermann Sudermann, dramatist and novelist
#Hans Thoma, painter
#Wilhelm Trübner, realist painter
# Karl Vollmöller, playwright and screenwriter
#Richard Voss, dramatist and novelist
#Karl Vossler, linguist and scholar
#Siegfried Wagner, composer, son of Richard Wagner
#Wilhelm Waldeyer, anatomist: named the chromosome
#August von Wassermann, bacteriologist: developed the "Wassermann test" for syphilis
#Felix Weingartner, Austrian conductor, composer and pianist
#Theodor Wiegand, archeologist
#Wilhelm Wien, physicist: received the 1911 Nobel Prize for work on heat radiation
#Ulrich von Wilamowitz-Moellendorff, classical philologist
#Richard Willstätter, organic chemist: won the 1915 Nobel Prize for Chemistry for structure of plant pigments
#Wilhelm Windelband, philosopher
#Wilhelm Wundt, physician, psychologist, physiologist, philosopher, "father of experimental psychology"

See also

* Septemberprogramm

References

General references

* Herbert Gantschacher "Warpropaganda and the manifesto of the Ninety-Three" in Herbert Gantschacher "VIKTOR ULLMANN ZEUGE UND OPFER DER APOKALYPSE - WITNESS AND VICTIM OF THE APOCALYPSE - Testimone e vittima dell'Apocalisse - Prič in žrtev apokalipse - Svědek a oběť apokalypsy" - Complete original authorized edition in German and English language with summaries in Italian, Slovenian and Czech language, ARBOS-Edition , Arnoldstein-Klagenfurt-Salzburg-Vienna-Prora-Prague 2015, page 185.
*

External links

Original manifesto
{{DEFAULTSORT:Manifesto Of The Ninety-Three
Cultural history of World War I
German Empire in World War I
Political manifestos
World War I publications
1914 documents