In 1905 Germany, a man wrote Bavarian Prince Luitpold Bayern to beg the “well-loved, noble, wise and just” aristocrat not to deport him and his family. In this man’s letter, you could feel the desperation and pain, as he had to cast his dignity and pride aside to beg a powerful stranger for mercy.
Here is the full letter:
‘Most Serene, Most Powerful Prince Regent! Most Gracious Regent and Lord!
I was born in Kallstadt on March 14, 1869. My parents were honest, plain, pious vineyard workers. They strictly held me to everything good — to diligence and piety, to regular attendance in school and church, to absolute obedience toward the high authority.
After my confirmation, in 1882, I apprenticed to become a barber. I emigrated in 1885, in my sixteenth year. In America, I carried on my business with diligence, discretion, and prudence. God’s blessing was with me, and I became rich. I obtained American citizenship in 1892. In 1902 I met my current wife. Sadly, she could not tolerate the climate in New York, and I went with my dear family back to Kallstadt.
The town was glad to have received a capable and productive citizen. My old mother was happy to see her son, her dear daughter-in-law, and her granddaughter around her; she knows now that I will take care of her in her old age.
But we were confronted all at once, as if by a lightning strike from fair skies, with the news that the High Royal State Ministry had decided that we must leave our residence in the Kingdom of Bavaria. We were paralyzed with fright; our happy family life was tarnished. My wife has been overcome by anxiety, and my lovely child has become sick.
Why should we be deported? This is very, very hard for a family. What will our fellow citizens think if honest subjects are faced with such a decree — not to mention the great material losses it would incur. I would like to become a Bavarian citizen again.
In this urgent situation I have no other recourse than to turn to our adored, noble, wise, and just sovereign lord, our exalted ruler His Royal Highness, highest of all, who has already dried so many tears, who has ruled so beneficially and justly and wisely and softly and is warmly and deeply loved, with the most humble request that the highest of all will himself in mercy deign to allow the applicant to stay in the most gracious Kingdom of Bavaria.
Your most humble and obedient,
Friedrich Trump’
That’s right. The letter was written by Donald Trump’s grandfather Friedrich Trump. According to Snopes, it was discovered in a local German archive and saw it’s first publication inside the Bild (a German Newspaper) in November 2016. The Associated Press confirmed the letter’s validity and filled in more details surrounding Trump’s deportation:
‘Bild newspaper printed the 1905 letter located by an historian, in which Friedrich Trump wrote Bavarian Prince Luitpold begging the “well-loved, noble, wise and just” leader not to deport him. Luitpold rejected the “most subservient request.”
Trump’s grandfather was born in Kallstadt, then part of Bavaria, and immigrated to the U.S. as a teenager without performing his military service. It was after he’d made his fortune there and tried to resettle in Germany that he was ordered expelled, and returned to the U.S.’
While Friedrich Trump started out as a 16-year-old barber’s apprentice in 1886 in Bronx, New York, according to his profile in New Yorker magazine, Trump would eventually make his fortune through morally questionable means:
“Suddenly, in 1891, Friedrich was off to Washington State before going to the Klondike regions, where he pursued a colorful career providing food, liquor, and women to miners…. He came back to New York enriched, a decade later, and continued to move around, trying the Bronx before settling in the Woodhaven section of Queens, where the Trump empire put down deeper roots than it had in Manhattan, and where his grandson [President Trump] was raised.”
Despite Trump’s emotional request, he was ultimately denied citizenship by the German government, because he avoided his mandatory military service. Gee Golly Wally, does that remind you of anyone we know? The German public media outlet Deutsche Welle reported:
“The authorities soon discovered that Friedrich Trump had never performed the mandatory military service before leaving Germany. Another problem, according to local historian Roland Paul, was that Trump never officially unregistered from his hometown.”
The official deportation notice read:
“The American citizen and pensioner Friedrich Trump, currently residing in Kallstadt, is hereby informed that he is to depart the state of Bavaria, or face deportation.”
A dejected Trump returned to New York in July 1905 with his pregnant wife Elizabeth who would eventually give birth to President Donald Trump’s father.
There are two things we can take away from this story. The first thing is that immigrants (regardless of their legal status) deserve compassion and mercy if they are living peaceful and productive lives.
And the second thing is, fuck you Prince Luitpold. Thanks for everything you bastard.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k5xfm2YQ1gc
Featured image via Snopes.
