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Prince Adalbert of Prussia

1884–1948

Born
14 Jul 1884, Potsdam
Country of birth
German Empire, today Germany
Died
22 Sep 1948, La Tour-de-Peilz
facts
7
sources
1
images and files
0

Facts and their sources

Tap a fact to see where it comes from.

A life in time

  1. Born · Potsdam

    Birth, Potsdam

  2. Died · La Tour-de-Peilz

    Death, La Tour-de-Peilz

What was it like?

The world around Potsdam, 1884: who ruled, who else was alive, how people lived. This is general history, not a record about the family, and every item shows where it comes from.

Prince was born the same year as Emil Jannings, Max Brod, and Edvard Beneš.

Born the same year

  • Emil Jannings

    German actor (1884-1950)

  • Max Brod

    Bohemian-Israeli author, composer, and journalist (1884–1968)

  • Edvard Beneš

    Czechoslovak politician (1884-1948)

  • Harry S. Truman

    president of the United States from 1945 to 1953; politician (1884–1972)

  • Eleanor Roosevelt

    American diplomat and activist, First Lady of the United States from 1933 to 1945 (1884–1962)

  • Amedeo Modigliani

    Italian painter and sculptor (1884–1920)

Fashion

Distinctive vests signaled marital status in Betzingen

In Betzingen, married men wore black velvet vests, while unmarried men wore red cloth vests with twelve silver buttons. Bachelors also traditionally displayed a red handkerchief from their pocket when searching for a bride.

Rural and urban wedding attire customs

In rural areas, brides traditionally wore black dresses that could be reused for other festive occasions, while white wedding dresses became popular in cities late in the century. Brides traditionally wore a white veil with a myrtle wreath as a symbol of virginity.

Music

Costs for attending local festival banquets

Citizens often paid an entry fee of 20 to 30 Pfennig to attend local festive banquets, which featured patriotic music, choral performances, and speeches.

Diverse musical repertoires in cities

Musical life was diverse, blending folk music and rustic dances with military band repertoires that featured marches, operetta tunes, and original works.

Getting around

City carriage travel rates

Local carriage travel in cities like Barmen and Elberfeld was common, with a non-stop ride costing 50 Pfennig for up to two people, or 1 Mark for a half-hour ride.

Steamship travel on the Weser River

By the late 19th century, steamships on the Weser river were a popular tourist attraction, with the upstream journey from Hamelin to Münden taking 15 hours and 30 minutes, and the downstream journey taking 8 hours and 29 minutes.

Daily life

Access to running water varied by class

Working-class homes often lacked running water, requiring water to be heated in cooking pots, while wealthier, modern homes featured hot-water heaters and running water in the kitchen and bathroom.

Compulsory primary education was six hours daily

Children attended primary school for six hours daily, often sitting four to a bench; primary education became free of charge in 1891.

Food

Meat was a luxury for working families

In working-class households, meat—often cheap sausage or ground meat—was a luxury, frequently reserved for Sunday meals, and sometimes stretched with breadcrumbs to make meat-like dishes like fake rabbit. Men, seen as the primary providers, often received the largest portions of meat, while wives and children ate significantly less.

Simple breakfasts and rare egg treats

Breakfast typically consisted of brown rye bread and a watery brew of coffee and barley, as milk and sugar were considered expensive luxuries. Eggs were an extremely rare delight, and one worker noted that it was amazingly rare for him to even get one.

Prices and wages
Around 1891–1891

Weekly earnings for working-class families

Manual workers commonly earned around 12 to 15 marks per week, while some skilled industrial workers like lathe operators could earn 20 to 30 marks weekly.

Around 1890–1900

Prices of furniture and staples

Furniture was affordable compared to food; a simple chair cost about 3.75 marks and a matching table was 8.75 marks. In contrast, butter was expensive, costing about 1 mark per pound or up to 1.86 marks per kilogram.

Work

Extremely long working hours

Working days were grueling, often lasting 14 to 18 hours, especially for retail clerks and agricultural workers during the harvest season.

Monotonous diet of peas

Farm worker Franz Rehbein recalled that while working at a brickyard for 20 marks a week, his daily diet consisted almost entirely of peas, which left him feeling nauseous for years.

News and letters

Cost of Fast Communication at the Time

A pneumatic post letter cost 30 pfennig and a postcard cost 25 pfennig, an amount that equaled the price of a liter of beer or a kilogram of rye bread around 1900.

Berlin Pneumatic Tube Delivered Messages Within Hours

The pneumatic tube system in Berlin used air pressure to send messages at 50 km/h, allowing letters to be delivered within the city in about one hour.

During their lifetime

  1. 1886

    Maggi instant soups launched in 1886

    In 1886, industrialist Julius Maggi began producing his ready-made soups to address the poor nutrition of factory workers during the Industrial Revolution.

  2. 1888

    First electric tram launched in 1888

    Switzerland introduced its first electric tram in 1888, connecting the towns of Vevey and Chillon in the western part of the country.

  3. 1910

    Life expectancy rose to 47 years by 1910

    By 1910, advancements in medicine, hygiene, and infrastructure, such as improved water and sewage systems, increased the average life expectancy to 47 years, compared to 37 years in 1871.

  4. 1914

    Ten percent of households accessed electricity by 1914

    By 1914, approximately ten percent of German households had access to electricity, transforming daily life through new lighting and urban infrastructure.

  5. 1918

    1918 General Strike transforms Swiss politics

    In 1918, a national general strike involving over 250,000 workers protested economic hardship and war-related inflation. The government quashed the movement with troops, though it eventually led to the 48-hour working week and proportional representation.

  6. 1918

    Women gained suffrage in 1918 Weimar reforms

    Following the 1918 proclamation of the Weimar Republic, a new democratic system was established that enfranchised women and mandated an eight-hour workday for laborers.

Family

Parents

Spouses

Ancestors and children

Open the full tree

Four generations back to the right, the children to the left. The number beside a child counts the generations of descendants known after them.