ABSTRACT
No other social class in the history of Germany has possessed so problematic an image as that of the Prussian Junkers-the large landowners of northeastern Germany. Representing the authoritarian and anti-liberal traditions within German history, the Junkers have been reproached for having acquired their economic and social status at the expense of other social classes and for playing a substantial part in the downfall of the Weimar Republic. These views, based essentially on the history of the later nineteenth century and of Weimar, serve to attribute to the Junkers the character of a pre-fascist social class. Historians agree that the Junkers represented a great burden-economic, social and political-for Prusso-German history. The bill for preserving the Junkers as a social class was also presented during 12 years of National Socialist dictatorship and two world wars, and finally paid off through defeat and destruction. It has frequently been noted that the Junkers were able not only to survive under changing circumstances but also to maintain their influence and power even when prevailing currents flowed against them, as, for example, in the first years of the Prussian reforms or at the end of the nineteenth century.1
