August Wilhelm von Preussen (1887-1949)

August Wilhelm von Preussen

Birth

29 Jan 1887

Potsdam, Stadtkreis Potsdam, Brandenburg, Germany

Death

25 Mar 1949 (aged 62)

Stuttgart, Stadtkreis Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, Germany

Burial

Friedhof Langenburg

Langenburg, Landkreis Schwäbisch Hall, Baden-Württemberg, Germany Add to Map

Memorial ID

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Prince August von Preussen was the fourth son of Emperor Wilhelm II of Germany by his first wife, Augusta Viktoria von Schleswig-Holstein. He spent his youth with his siblings at the New Palace (Neues Palais), also in Potsdam, and his school days at the Prinzenhaus in Plön. Later, he studied at the universities of Bonn, Berlin and Strasbourg. He received his doctorate in political science in 1907.
Prince August Wilhelm married his cousin Princess Alexandra Victoria von Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg (1887-1957) on 22 October 1908 at the Berliner Stadtschloss (City Castle). The marriage was unhappy, and produced just one son: Prince Alexander Ferdinand Albrecht Achilles Wilhelm Joseph Viktor Carl Feodor von Preussen (26 December 1912 – 12 June 1985). The couple divorced in 1920.
Prince August was very much in favour of Adolf Hitler's policies and joined the ranks of the new political establishment very early and became Obergruppenführer, the second highest rank in the SA.
Being captured after the war by United States soldiers and imprisoned on the premises of the Flak-Kaserne Ludwigsburg, he was later categorized as "incriminated" by the denazification court of the internment camp of Ludwigsburg, and was sentenced to two and a half years' hard labour. Due to his confinement since 1945 in an internment camp, he was considered to have served his sentence.
Immediately after his release, however, new proceedings were instituted against him. There was an arrest warrant against him from a court in Potsdam in the Soviet zone. He was never arrested, as soon after he became seriously ill and died at a hospital in Stuttgart at the age of 63.