Harden, Maximilian Felix Ernst

Maximilian Felix Ernst Harden, original name Felix Ernst Witkowski, (born Oct. 20, 1861, Berlin—died Oct. 30, 1927, Montana-Vermala, Valais, Switz.), political journalist, a spokesman for extreme German nationalism before and during World War I and a radical socialist after Germany’s defeat.

Initially an actor, Harden founded and edited the weekly Die Zukunft (1892–1923; “The Future”), which attained great influence by tasteless methods. Calling war a “bracing educational experience,” Harden was enraged when Germany’s abortive challenge (1905–06) to French hegemony over nominally independent Morocco failed to result in war. Using evidence supplied by the privy councillor, Friedrich von Holstein, he published (1906) accusations of homosexuality against several associates of the German emperor William II, alleging that those men somehow were responsible for the Emperor’s “weakness” in foreign policy. These attacks led to his prosecution for libel (1907–09), in which he largely proved his statements to the disgrace of William’s closest friend, the diplomat Philipp zu Eulenburg und Hertefeld. During World War I, Harden advocated unrestricted submarine warfare and the appointment of Adm. Alfred von Tirpitz as imperial chancellor.