Friedrich von Bernhardi – author of the book that started World War I and his villa in Jelenia Góra (Hirschberg)

I felt that someone exceptional lived in this house, but I did not expect that the pre-war owner of the villa at today’s ul. Tkacka 19 in Jelenia Góra (pre-war Warmbrunnerstrasse 104 in Cunnersdorf) would turn out to be the author of the book that supposedly triggered World War I.

Contemporary view of the villa formerly owned by Friedrich von Bernhardi / Photo by Marta Maćkowiak

The first German who passed through the Arc de Triomphe after the Prussians entered Paris. One of the most controversial German militarists. Friedrich von Bernhardi lived and died in Jelenia Góra (Hirschberg), specifically in Cunnersdorf, a village annexed to Hirschberg in 1922.

Friedrich Adam Julius von Bernhardi

Friedrich was born in St. Petersburg, Russia, on November 22, 1849, as the son of diplomat and historian Felix Theodor Bernhardi and Charlotte Friederike Julie (née Krusenstern), Baltic Germans. His maternal grandfather was Admiral Adam Johann Ritter von Krusenstern (Baltic Germans were recruited into the Russian administrative apparatus and the officer corps of the Russian army), the commander of the first Russian circumnavigation expedition and a co-founder of the Russian Geographical Society.

When Friedrich was 2 years old, the family moved to Cunnersdorf, an area known as the Little Post Office District in Jelenia Góra.

Friedrich’ s grandfather, Adam Johann Ritter von Krusenstern

During the Franco-Prussian War (1870-1871), he served as a cavalry lieutenant in the 14th Hussar Regiment of the Prussian Army. At that time, he had the honor of leading the parade that marched under the Arc de Triomphe in Paris. From 1891 to 1894, he was a German military attaché in Bern, later the head of the military history department at the Great General Staff in Berlin, and then became a commanding general the VII Corps of the Army in Münster, Westphalia.

In 1909, he retired and devoted himself to writing, focusing on his favorite subject, which was military affairs.

His most famous work, Deutschland und der Nächste Krieg or Germany and the Next War, published in 1911, is considered a book that supposedly triggered World War I. In it, Bernhardi openly advocated for Germany to attack France and Britain, anticipating their moves.

Friedrich was also considered one of the most controversial militarists. He asserted, among other things, that war is a “biological necessity” and is in accordance with the “natural law upon which all laws of nature are based, the law of the struggle for existence.”

He also believed that war ensures development and that it was war that “forged Prussia hard as steel.” The rallying cry was to be: “World power or downfall,” and he advocated for an aggressive stance for Germany.

When the war finally broke out, Bernhardi was reinstated into active military service. Initially stationed in Poznań, in September 1915, he was transferred to the Eastern Front, where he commanded near Slonim and later in Volhynia. In 1918, due to health reasons, he retired from military service and returned to his family estate in Cunnersdorf.

Contemporary view of the house and photos of preserved historical interior details / Source: private archive

Friedrich was married twice. His first wife, Helene Agnes von Klitzing, whom he married in Berlin on January 19, 1881, hailed from Lüben, present-day Lubno in Wielkopolska (Greater Poland), and was the daughter of Max von Klitzing and Louise, owners of the now-ruined manor in Kłębowiec.

Helene Agnes passed away at the age of 31 on July 6, 1890, and 2 years later, Friedrich married for the second time. At the age of 44, on July 19, 1893, he married Katherine von Colomb in the Evangelical Church in Cassel. Katherine was born in Berlin and was the daughter of Prussian General Wilhelm Günther Von Colomb and Klara Louise von Binger.

Friedric’s father-in-law, Wilhelm Günther von Colomb

Katharine also passed away first – on April 5, 1929, in her home at Warmbrunnerstrasse 104 (today ul. Tkacka 19), having lived for 75 years. Friedrich, at the age of 80, departed a year later – on July 10, leaving no descendants.

Death certificate of Katharine von Bernhardi (left) and Friedrich von Bernhardi (right) / Source: State Archives in Wrocław, Jelenia Góra branch

Thank you very much to the owners for sharing these beautiful interior photos.

Sources:

private archive
Archiwum Państwowe we Wrocławiu oddział w Jeleniej Górze (State Archives in Wrocław, Jelenia Góra branch)

Friedrich von Bernhardi – author of the book that started World War I and his villa in Jelenia Góra (Hirschberg)

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