Page 6, Issue 5,
Volume VI, 18 March, 2014
In search of Caprivi’s roots
The Slovenians were, for centuries, politically subjugated to
numerically much more powerful neighbors and were subsequently
relatively unknown to the world. As such, they have sometimes
been stereotyped by writers, journalists and politicians of dominant
nations as a “people without history,” a “people of servants” and,
in some instances even as “Schiavi,” which for some came to be
synonymous with slaves. As anyone familiar with the consequences
of victimization will easily understand, as victims of such stereotypes,
quite a number of Slovenians have frequently humbly accepted
them, which was particularly noticeable in the beautiful prose of Ivan
Cankar (1876-1918) and in the poetry of Simon Jenko (1835-1869).
Thus, any mention of Slovenians in important leadership positions
has often been met by skepticism or ridicule. Could members of a
tiny, unknown Slovenian people, or persons with Slovenian roots,
ever become important leaders of great powers - even of the most
powerful state in Europe?
This is why, writing about Caprivi, we emphasize the Austrian,
German, and English documentation. As far as I know, it is also true
that no Slovenian researcher or writer researched, or wrote about,
Caprivi prior to our Slovenian Research Center of America. There
is no mention of him as Kopriva or Caprivi in the Slovenski biografski
leksikon (Slovenian Biographic Lexicons, 1925-1991).
Enciklopedija
Slovenije (Encyclopedia of Slovenia, 1987), if properly informed, should
list Caprivi between its entries of “Cankarjev partizanski bataljon”
and “Capuder, Andrej,” yet there is no such listing. Similarly, Luc
Menaše’s monumental Svetovni biografski leksikon (World Biographical
Lexicon, 1994), while listing 27.277 entries, has nothing on Count
Kopriva, while the entry about Chancellor Caprivi does not
mention his Slovenian roots, contrary to the established practice
in presentation of expatriated Slovenians. This suggests that the
compilers of leading Slovenian reference works were unaware of
Caprivi’s Slovenian ancestry. Hopefully, this will gradually be
corrected.
How did we fi nd out about the Slovenian origin of Caprivi? This
has happened only thanks to Lado Kham, a retired, and by brutal
communist beatings partly disabled, construction engineer and
a close friend of the world-famous architect Joseph Plečnik. Lado,
whom the communists tortured and dispossessed after the Second
World War on a completely mistaken suspicion that he was spying
for the British (yes, you read this correctly), was a prolifi c volunteer
research associate of our Slovenian Research Center of America. He
regularly sent us important clippings, addresses and leads. Once,
he mailed us a copy of Steirische Berichte (Styrian Reports, 1965).
There, Helfried Patz , an Austrian author, contrary to all expectations,
published a short Slovenian-friendly essay under the title, “Geshenke
der Slowenen an die Welt” (The Gifts of Slovenians to the World),
precisely the area in which I was particularly interested ever since
June 1951 when, as a student and construction laborer, I was
ceaselessly challenged by my fellow-laborers to show them a single
Slovenian who had ever accomplished anything of note.
In Berichte, Patz also reported that Ott o von Bismarck’s successor,
Leo von Caprivi, the second chancellor of Germany, was a descendant
of Slovenian peasant stock from Koprivnik, Lower Carniola, and
his ancestors were named Kopriva (meaning nett le). The earliest
ancestor mentioned was Andreas (Andrej, Andrew) Kopriva (born
in 1570) who distinguished himself fi ghting against the invading
and pillaging Turks, was knighted and received the title Freiherr von
Nesseltal (Baron from Nett levalley, an approximate translation of
Koprivnik). When Andrew Kopriva married Sophie Chawolowska,
he acquired the estates of Širje (Scheuern) and Zidani most
(Steinbruck) in Central Slovenia. Their sons, Andrew and Johann
Franz Kopriva, were in turn ennobled in 1653 and acquired the name
Caprivi. The off spring intermarried with other nobility (including
Caprara de Montecuccoli) and moved to various locations in Austria,
Silesia and Germany. The most famous descendant of the Slovenian
Kopriva stock, Leo von Caprivi, the state chancellor of Germany,
was therefore, according to Patz , a Slovenian gift to Germany.
But, was Patz right? I have from time to time received some
misleading leads and was well aware I had to be very careful. But
thanks to our Slovenian associate Kham and the Austrian author
Patz , I was able to start the painstaking research on Leo von Caprivi
in order to either confi rm or reject Patz ’s claim. Litt le by litt le, many
respectable sources confi rmed Caprivi’s Slovenian origin.
Let me here mention James Wycliff e Hedlam-Morley, the late
Leo von Caprivi, State Chancellor of Germany
Descendant of Slovenian ancestors Kopriva,
as documented in Austrian, German and English sources by Edward Gobetz.
A view of Koprivnik in Lower Carniola.
(photo by Vili Kremžar)
Berlin in 1890s.
fellow of King’s College at Cambridge, England. He wrote on page
820 of the fourth volume of Encyclopedia Britannica (1942): “Caprivi
family springs from Carniola and the name was originally Kopriva.”
Perhaps most importantly, in the book, Die Reden des Grafen von
Caprivi (The Speeches of Count von Caprivi), its German editor, Rudolf
Arndt, writes that Caprivi’s family “originated in Krain” (as it was
in Caprivi’s time customary to refer to much of Slovenia) and the
“original name of his ancestors was Kopriva.” This “confi rmation” of
Caprivi’s origin is of special importance since the book of his speeches
was published in 1894, when Caprivi was still state chancellor
of Germany and had
undoubtedly consented
that his Carniolan, or
Slovenian, origin be
indicated. He obviously
did not forget or deny his
ancestral roots.
As I briefl y
summarized in the book
Slovenian Heritage (1980,
three printings), it was,
therefore, clear that
respectable Austrian,
German and British
State Chancellor Leo von Caprivi
18 March, 2014, Volume VI, Issue 5 Page 7
sources agreed on the Carniolan (Slovenian) ancestry of the
Chancellor. Once elevated to nobility, his ancestors intermarried
with other noble families, acquired various estates and enjoyed
great prestige. The father of the Chancellor, Julius Leopold Eduard
von Caprivi, held a high judicial post and was made a life member
of the Prussian House of Lords. He also wrote religious poetry.
Leopold’s brother, Raimond von Caprivi, was Lieutenant General in
the Prussian army. (See Heinrich Ott o Meisner, “Der Reichskanzler
Caprivi,” Zeitschrift für die gesamte Staatswisenschaft/Journal of
Institutional and Theoretical Economics, Berlin, 1955, pp. 669-752; and
German-language Wikipedia).
Life and Achievements of Leo von Caprivi
Leo von Caprivi was born in 1831 in Charlott enburg (now a
part of Berlin). He completed his gymnasium studies in Berlin and
after his maturity exam in 1849 joined the Kaiser Franz Grenadier
Regiment Number 2. He distinguished himself in peace and in war
and rapidly rose through the ranks. By 1865 he was a member of the
General Staff and, during the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-71 was
named Chief of Staff of the Tenth Army Corps and contributed to
the German victory. In the words of American historians Edward
McNall Burns and Philip Lee Ralph, as early as age 39, he won
fame as chief of staff of the Tenth Army Corps that bore the brunt
of fi ghting in the decisive Orleans Campaign of the Franco-Prussian
War of 1870 which “destroyed one empire (that of Napoleon III) and
created another” (Bismarck’s Germany. See World Civilizations, 3rd ed.,
Vol. II, 1964, p. 253).
Caprivi, decorated with the Order of Merit, held after the war
several leading positions in the Army and in the Ministry of War,
after 1878, also as Division Commander. Because of his organizing
and administrative ability, he was transferred in 1883 to the Navy
and given the rank of vice admiral. He led the German Admiralty
until 1888 and believed that the Navy should play only a defensive
role, while German Emperor Wilhelm II wanted to make it a tool
of German expansionism, competing for leadership with the British
naval might. Thus, Caprivi was transferred again and, at age 51,
became the commanding general of the Tenth Army Corps. His fame
as a military strategist and hero was such that, at that time, even
Bismarck admired him and referred to him as “the best horse in the
military stable.”
Indeed, Bismarck, the Iron Chancellor, in 1890, proposed him to
Emperor Wilhelm II (1859-1941) as his successor in the position of
prime minister of Prussia, the leading state of Germany, not knowing
that the Emperor had already asked Caprivi to succeed Bismarck
not only as prime minister of Prussia, but also as state chancellor of
entire Germany. On Bismarck’s resignation, Caprivi, the descendant
of Slovenian peasants, on March 20, 1890, became prime minister of
Prussia and the imperial chancellor of Germany, which was at that
time, according to American historians Burns and Ralph, “the most
powerful state on the Continent” (Western Civilizations, 1947, p. 788).
What kind of state chancellor was Caprivi? Agatha Ramm,
Fellow of Somerville College, Oxford, England, points out that
Caprivi, as Chancellor, “was a lesser man than Bismarck, but no fool
and no man’s tool. He was a man of honor, upright simplicity and
independence. He had courage and was not defl ected by sentiment
or ambition” (Agatha Ramm, Germany 1789-1919: A Political History,
1967, p. 376).
Caprivi initiated a policy of reform, having released projects
which Bismarck’s distrust of change had held back. He launched a
series of trade treaties, beginning with the lowering of the corn duties
in 1891, which aroused the bitt er opposition of the great landowners
east of the Elbe River and provoked the founding, in 1893, of the
Agrarian League. By December 1891, his trade treaties with Austria,
Facsimile of page one of Die Reden des
Grafen von Caprivi where the author, Rudolf
Arndt, states: “actually the family came from
Krain (Carniola, Slovenia) and originally its
last name was Kopriva.”
Count Leo von Caprivi
General Caprivi strolling in Berlin.
Caprivi Strip in Africa
Italy, Switz erland and Belgium
were passed in the Reichstag
(National Diet or Parliament)
by the overwhelming majority
of 343 votes to 48. Treaties with
Romania (also Roumania or
Rumania) and Serbia followed
in 1893 and with Russia in 1894.
Caprivi’s preference for industrial
development over agriculture
laid the basis for Germany’s
subsequent industrial might.
Caprivi also promoted more
liberal, protective legislation for
labor (Arbeitershutz gesetz of June
1891) and introduced eminently
successful tax reforms. His at-
tempts to reform the German edu-
cational system had failed and the
school question was not resolved
until 1919. A former General,
Caprivi reformed the German
army, reducing the period of ser-
vice from three to two years, while
raising the strength of the army by
84.000 men. In foreign policy, he
masterminded the Triple Alliance
of Germany, Austria-Hungary,
and Italy. He secured relaxation
of repression of Polish minorities,
pointing out that the Poles under
Germany should be allowed and
encouraged to learn Polish and
that even Germans in border re-
gions should have an opportunity
to learn both languages, since “it
is always bett er to know two lan-
guages than one” — a
remarkably progressive
policy in 1890s! (He him-
self also spoke French
and English fl uently.) He
greatly improved Germa-
ny’s relations with Eng-
land. As early as 1890,
he concluded the Treaty
of Heligoland, granting
Zanzibar to Great Britain
in exchange for Heligo-
land, the German gem in
the North Sea. (Ramm,
pp. 380-384). He negoti-
ated for Germany the Caprivi Strip, about 400 kilometers long, or
close to 300 miles, which perpetuated the name of the Slovenian-
stock chancellor of Germany on the continent of Africa until 2013
when Namibia renamed it the Zambeze Region. (Interestingly, there
is a small agricultural community in Cumberland County, Pennsyl-
vania, named Caprivi, while Caprivi Kennels are popular breeding
show dogs in South Australia.)
While a believer in constitutional monarchy based on Christian
principles, Caprivi developed a supra-party administration, which,
together with his “New Course” policies alienated much of his need-
ed political party support. Vested economic interests fought bitt erly
against his reforms and trade treaties. He also had to contend with
the increasing venom from his earlier admirer, Bismarck, who had
been elected to the Reichstag in 1891 and disagreed with Caprivi’s
policies. Finally, the Emperor, in 1894, demanded a strict anti-revo-
lutionary law against anarchists, Social Democrats, and trade unions.
According to Ramm (p. 388), Caprivi showed “great wisdom…
but he had lost the power to do what was right.” The Emperor
dismissed him on October 28, 1894. Unmarried and continuing to
live a simple, Spartan life, Caprivi, a former general, admiral and
State Chancellor of Germany, died at Skyren, near Crossen on the
Oder, close to the Polish border, on February 6, 1899, at the age of 68.
His biographer, Georg Gotheim, concluded his book, Reichskanzler
Graf Caprivi (1918), with the following words: “He was a statesman
of great vision and a man of honor in every regard.”
P.S. Angela Merkel, the current chancellor of Germany, is the
34th successor of Caprivi.