Alfred von Waldersee: Quotes about people

Alfred von Waldersee was Prussian Field Marshal. Explore interesting quotes on people.
Alfred von Waldersee: 74 quotes0 likes

“Too many people are under the influence of the Jews.”

Alfred von Waldersee

Waldersee in his diary c. 1888, quoted in John C. G. Röhl, The Kaiser and his court : Wilhelm II and the government of Germany

“All the Progressive people with their supporters, the entire Judenschaft and most foreign countries, that is to say, taken together are formidable foes … In view of the colossal influence which the Jews wiled by virtue of their wealth, through which they have secured the services of Christians in influential positions, even though they themselves are few in number, they are by far the most dangerous of our enemies.”

Alfred von Waldersee

From a 1887 letter to Prince Wilhelm (the future Kaiser)

“It is wonderful that certain people and circles still believe I have the aspiration to become Chancellor and receive nightmares from this thought. How often I have declared that I would have to be a fool if I wanted to strive for this really unenviable position! I have already achieved some time ago everything a soldier can achieve, I hold a post that involves little work and no agitation or anger, and I know the position of a Chancellor under Kaiser Wilhelm II only too well that I would have to be mad to desire it.”

Alfred von Waldersee

Waldersee in his diary c. December 1901

“I am not a politician. Once and for all, I beg you not to believe the absurdities which malicious people seem to be publishing about me. I am contented with my military calling and have no higher ambition than to do credit to the post with which my sovereign has entrusted me.”

Alfred von Waldersee

Waldersee in an interview to The New York Herald, 24 July 1892

“Never before has a ruler been so beloved by his own people, so highly esteemed by the whole world.”

Alfred von Waldersee

Waldersee in his diary, 16 March 1888, on the recently deceased Kaiser Wilhelm I

“We are living although the majority of the people do not realize it, in the midst of an immense revolution. What is radically wrong with our condition lies in the harsh contrast between rich and poor. This cannot go on forever, as we are human beings with human differences. No use is being made of religion, the only way towards alleviation and compensation; on the contrary, attempts are being deliberately made to excite the masses into asserting their equality with the middle and upper classes. The State contents itself with attempts to improve the material circumstances of the workers, with the only result that their covetousness has been intensified. The possibility of acquiring great sums of money by speculation has developed a fondness for luxury and enjoyment which has taken hold of wide circles. German family life is going to the dogs. Unfortunate marriages, divorces, youthful corruption, pleasure-seeking, the anxiety to seem richer than one is–all this is increasing terribly. In the lower classes of the great cities the demoralization has already reached a high degree … The unequal distribution of wealth with all its consequences must lead in the end to a catastrophe.”

Alfred von Waldersee

Waldersee in his diary, 9 November 1890

“People are telling me that I am regarded by the Chancellor (and indeed in wider circles) as the leader of the so-called War Party, and by no means favorably, as the Chancellor is most anxious to avoid war. I shall soon begin myself to believe that I am a thoroughly bad man! What will be brought up against me next?”

Alfred von Waldersee

Waldersee in his diary, 15 May 1887