Following his abdication in 1918, Kaiser Wilhelm II moved to the Netherlands. He died there, at his estate Huis Doorn, in June 1941 whilst the Netherlands was under German occupation. He gave express instructions that his funeral was not to include Nazi symbolism, as he had been a vocal critic of Hitler and particularly his anti-semitic policies. But, the Nazis ignored the Kaiser's wishes and he was given a funeral containing a lot of NSDAP symbolism. It was a final insult from Hitler, who despised the Kaiser and all he stood for.

Special thanks to the staff at Huis Doorn for inviting me on a private tour of the building and grounds. My thanks to the following persons: Curator Cornelis van der Bas, Junior Curator Leon van der Kuil, and Marketeer Jaël Buteijn. Many thanks for such a memorable and fascinating visit!

For information on visiting Huis Doorn, please go to: https://www.huisdoorn.nl/en/homepage/

Dr. Mark Felton FRHistS, FRSA, is a well-known British historian, the author of 22 non-fiction books, including bestsellers 'Zero Night' and 'Castle of the Eagles', both currently being developed into movies in Hollywood. In addition to writing, Mark also appears regularly in television documentaries around the world, including on The History Channel, Netflix, National Geographic, Quest, American Heroes Channel and RMC Decouverte. His books have formed the background to several TV and radio documentaries. More information about Mark can be found at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Fe...

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Credits: US National Archives; Library of Congress; Bundesarchiv; Jaël Buteijn; A. Savin.
Thumbnail: Kaiser colorisation by Alexander1868.