Kaiser Karl I, proclamation renouncing any share in state affairs, 11 November 1918

A plain letterpress notice in the emperor's name, signed 'Karl m. p.' and 'Lammasch m. p.', announcing that he renounces 'any share in state affairs'. The tell is the vocabulary of unchanging love for 'all My peoples', their happiness and inner peace, which stands in for any account of the war the notice says he bears no guilt for.

Date: November 11, 1918
Period: First World War
Made by: Emperor Karl I of Austria-Hungary, countersigned by Minister-President Heinrich Lammasch
Region: Western and Central Europe
Country: Austria Hungary
Medium: Poster
Issuer type: State
Regime: Austria Hungary
Leader: Karl I
Audience: Domestic public
Purpose: Reassure
Themes: War and the military, Elections and party politics
Techniques: Glittering generalities
Source: Identified Openly sourced: the speaker is who they say they are
Source: Wikimedia Commons (scan of a poster offered by the Dorotheum), retrieved October 2, 2026
Rights: Public domain (published 1918; author d. 1922; Commons PD-old-70, PD-scan)
Karl I, proclamation of 11 November 1918, via Wikimedia Commons (public domain).

Text on the object

Original (German) · read from the image, not independently checked

Seit Meiner Thronbesteigung war ich unablässig bemüht, Meine Völker aus den Schrecknissen des Krieges herauszuführen, an dessen Ausbruch ich keinerlei Schuld trage.

Ich habe nicht gezögert, das verfassungsmäßige Leben wieder herzustellen und habe den Völkern den Weg zu ihrer selbständigen staatlichen Entwicklung eröffnet.

Nach wie vor von unwandelbarer Liebe für alle Meine Völker erfüllt, will ich ihrer freien Entfaltung Meine Person nicht als Hindernis entgegenstellen.

Im voraus erkenne ich die Entscheidung an, die Deutschösterreich über seine künftige Staatsform trifft.

Das Volk hat durch seine Vertreter die Regierung übernommen. Ich verzichte auf jeden Anteil an den Staatsgeschäften.

Gleichzeitig enthebe ich Meine österreichische Regierung ihres Amtes.

Möge das Volk von Deutschösterreich in Eintracht und Versöhnlichkeit die Neuordnung schaffen und befestigen. Das Glück Meiner Völker war von Anbeginn das Ziel Meiner heißesten Wünsche.

Nur der innere Friede kann die Wunden dieses Krieges heilen.

Karl m. p.
Lammasch m. p.

English translation (machine translation by Claude, not verified by a fluent reader)

Since My accession I have been tirelessly concerned to lead My peoples out of the terrors of the war, for whose outbreak I bear no guilt whatever.

I did not hesitate to restore constitutional life and have opened to the peoples the way to their independent state development.

As before filled with unchanging love for all My peoples, I do not wish to set My person against their free development as an obstacle.

In advance I recognise the decision that German-Austria takes on its future form of state.

The people, through its representatives, has taken over the government. I renounce any share in the affairs of state.

At the same time I relieve My Austrian government of its office.

May the people of German-Austria create and consolidate the new order in concord and reconciliation. The happiness of My peoples was from the beginning the aim of My warmest wishes.

Only inner peace can heal the wounds of this war.

Karl m. p. [manu propria, in his own hand]
Lammasch m. p.

A tiny printer's imprint at the foot of the sheet is illegible. Translation is a machine translation by Claude, not verified by a fluent reader.