The German nobility was a class of persons which enjoyed certain privileges relative to other members of society under the laws and customs of various regimes of what is now Germany until 1919. Governments which recognised or conferred nobility were the Holy Roman Empire, the German Confederation and the German Empire. All legal privileges of the nobility were officially abolished in 1919 by the Weimar Republic, and nobility is no longer conferred or recognised by the German Republic, former hereditary titles being allowed only as part of the surname. The system of nobility in the former German Empire was similar to the nobility of Austria, as both territories long belonged to the Holy Roman Empire, although the Austrian Republic, unlike Germany's, legally abolished its nobility and banned use of hereditary titles in any form. Wikipedia [ - ]

The German nobility was a class of persons which enjoyed certain privileges relative to other... [ + ]