Junkers << YUNG kuhrz >> were socially prominent landowners of Prussia. The first Junkers were descendants of knights who settled in Prussia in the Middle Ages. The Junkers gained a monopoly of civilian and military offices in the 1700’s, during the reign of Frederick the Great. Prussia, led by the Junkers under the statesman Otto von Bismarck, unified Germany in 1871. Liberals of Germany’s Weimar Republic tried to reduce the Junkers’ power after World War I (1914-1918). Paul von Hindenburg, a Junker elected president in 1925, helped to make the Junkers’ influence last. In 1933, Junkers helped the Nazis overthrow the Weimar Republic. Later, some Junkers plotted to assassinate the Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler and were executed as a result. See also Prussia.
