Manifesto of the Ninety-Three

The "Manifesto of the Ninety-Three" is the name commonly given to a 1914 proclamation endorsed by 93 prominent German scientists, scholars and artists, declaring their unequivocal support of German military actions in the early period of World War I. These actions were elsewhere called the Rape of Belgium. The Manifesto galvanized support for the war throughout German schools and universities, but many foreign intellectuals were outraged.

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.^[1]

Text

In English translation:^[2]

As representatives of German Science and Art, we hereby protest to the civilized world against the lies and calumnies with which our enemies are endeavoring to stain the honor of Germany in her hard struggle for existence—in a struggle that has been forced on her.

The iron mouth of events has proved the untruth of the fictitious German defeats; consequently misrepresentation and calumny are all the more eagerly at work. As heralds of truth we raise our voices against these.

It is not true that Germany is guilty of having caused this war. Neither the people, the Government, nor the "Kaiser" wanted war....

It is not true that we trespassed in neutral Belgium. It has been proved that France and England had resolved on such a trespass, and it has likewise been proved that Belgium had agreed to their doing so. It would have been suicide on our part not to have preempted this.

It is not true that the life and property of even a single Belgian citizen was injured by our soldiers without the bitterest defense having made it necessary....

It is not true that our troops treated Louvain brutally. Furious inhabitants having treacherously fallen upon them in their quarters, our troops with aching hearts were obliged to fire a part of the town, as punishment. The greatest part of Louvain has been preserved....

It is not true that our warfare pays no respects to international laws. It knows no undisciplined cruelty. But in the east, the earth is saturated with the blood of women and children unmercifully butchered by the wild Russian troops, and in the west, dumdum bullets mutilate the breasts of our soldiers....

It is not true that the combat against our so-called militarism is not a combat against our civilization, as our enemies hypocritically pretend it is. Were it not for German militarism, German civilization would long since have been extirpated....

We cannot wrest the poisonous weapon—the lie—out of the hands of our enemies. All we can do is proclaim to all the world, that our enemies are giving false witness against us....

Have faith in us! Believe, that we shall carry on this war to the end as a civilized nation, to whom the legacy of a Goethe, a Beethoven, and a Kant, is just as sacred as its own hearths and homes.

Signers

Signers among the 93 included: Nobel Prize laureates, artists, physicians, physicists, chemists, theologians, philosophers, poets, architects and known college teachers.

N.B.: The italicized names indicate links to articles on German or French Wikipedia.

List of Signatories

1. Adolf von Baeyer
2. Peter Behrens
3. Emil Adolf von Behring
4. Wilhelm von Bode
5. Aloïs Brandl
6. Lujo Brentano
7. Justus Brinkmann
8. Johannes Conrad
9. Franz von Defregger
10. Richard Dehmel
11. Adolf Deissmann
12. Wilhelm Dörpfeld
13. Friedrich von Duhn
14. Paul Ehrlich
15. Albert Ehrard
16. Carl Engler
17. Gerhart Esser
18. Rudolf Christoph Eucken
19. Herbert Eulenberg
20. Henrich Finke
21. Hermann Emil Fischer
22. Wilhelm Foerster
23. Ludwig Fulda
24. Eduard Gebhardt
25. J. J. de Groot
26. Fritz Haber
27. Ernst Haeckel
28. Max Halbe
29. Adolf von Harnack
30. Gerhart Hauptmann
31. Karl Hauptmann
32. Gustav Hellmann
33. Wilhelm Herrmann
34. Andreas Heusler
35. Adolf von Hildebrand
36. Ludwig Hoffmann
37. Engelbert Humperdinck
38. Leopold Graf von Kalckreuth
39. Arthur Kampf
40. Fritz-August von Kaulbach
41. Theodor Kipp
42. Felix Klein
43. Max Klinger
44. Aloïs Knoepfler
45. Anton Koch
46. Paul Laband
47. Karl Lamprecht
48. Philipp Lenard
49. Maximilien Lenz
50. Max Liebermann
51. Franz von Liszt
52. Ludwig Manzel
53. Joseph Mausbach
54. Georg von Mayr
55. Sebastian Merkle
56. Eduard Meyer
57. Heinrich Morf
58. Friedrich Naumann
59. Albert Neisser
60. Walther Hermann Nernst
61. Wilhem Ostwald
62. Bruno Paul
63. Max Planck
64. Albert Plohn
65. Georg Reicke
66. Max Reinhardt
67. Alois Riehl
68. Karl Robert
69. Wilhelm Roentgen
70. Max Rubner
71. Fritz Schaper
72. Adolf von Schlatter
73. August Shmidlin
74. Gustav von Schmoller
75. Reinhold Seeberg
76. Martin Spahn
77. Franz von Stuck
78. Hermann Sudermann
79. Hans Thoma
80. Wilhelm Trübner
81. Karl Vollmöller
82. Richard Voss
83. Karl Vossler
84. Siegfried Wagner
85. Wilhelm Waldeyer
86. August von Wassermann
87. Felix Weingartner
88. Theodor Wiegand
89. Wilhelm Wien
90. Ulrich von Wilamowitz-Moellendorff
91. Richard Willstätter
92. Wilhelm Windelband
93. Wilhelm Wundt

References

1. ^ "The Ninety-Three Today" (PDF). The New York Times: p. 7. March 2, 1921. http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9E01E2D61639E133A25751C0A9659C946095D6CF. "A German writer, M.H. WEHBERG, has recently published the results of personal inquiries made of the surviving professors, scientists and literary men who in 1914 signed the famous manifesto of the ninety-three Gelehrten. Seventeen of them have since died, but of this number it was known that several had changed their minds, or at least wished that they had not put their names to a document which was a reproach to German learning. Among the living only sixteen were found to stand by their action in 1914 without wavering, and to say that they would sign the manifesto again. This leaves some sixty of the original ninety-three who now express regret — in some cases amounting almost to remorse. Some of them explain that they did not read or know what they had signed. They gave their names by telephone or telegraph to what they supposed to be a truthful utterance of German university opinion. Later they felt 'keen chagrin' when they found that, with their indignant 'it is not true,' they had been denying facts amply proved. More than one of the signers now has strong words in condemnation of the 'unlucky and senseless' declaration, as it is now admitted to have been, to which they were induced to put their names. This is perhaps the nearest to repentance that we have had or may expect from Germany. Herr WEHBERG records many excuses, some semi-apologies, several expressions of sorrow that the thing turned out so badly; but not one form of the straight-out confession that is good for the soul." 
2. ^ "Manifesto of the Ninety-Three German Intellectuals (English translation)". World War I Document Archive. Brigham Young University. http://www.lib.byu.edu/~rdh/wwi/1914/93intell.html.