Paul von Hindenburg

Paul von Hindenburg (full name Paul Ludwig Hans Anton von Beneckendorff und von Hindenburg) (October 2, 1847 – August 2, 1934) was a German Field Marshal and statesman. An important figure during World War I, he also served as President of Germany from 1925-1934. The zeppelin Hindenburg was named in his honor (see Hindenburg disaster).

Presidency

In 1925, he succeeded Friedrich Ebert as president during the turbulent period of the Weimar Republic. Hindenburg had no interest in running for public office. In the first round of the 1925 presidential elections, no candidate had emerged with a majority and a run-off election had been called. The Social Democratic candidate, Prime Minister Otto Braun of Prussia had agreed to drop out the race and had endorsed the Catholic Center Party's candidate, Wilhelm Marx. Since Karl Jarres, the joint candidate of the two conservative parties, the German People's Party and German National People's Party was regarded as too dull, it seemed likely that Marx was going to win the presidency. One of the leaders of German National People's Party, Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz visited Hindenburg and told him that only his candidacy could stop Marx. Hindenburg demured, but Tirpitz applied stong pressure in several meetings, and ultimately Hindenburg broke down, and agreed to run. Though Hindenburg ran during the second round of the elections as a non-party independent, he was generally regarded as the conservative candidate. Largely due to his status as Germany's greatest war hero, Hindenburg won the election.

Related Topics:
1925 - Friedrich Ebert - Weimar Republic - Otto Braun - Catholic Center Party - Wilhelm Marx - Karl Jarres - German People's Party - German National People's Party - Alfred von Tirpitz - Conservative

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For the first five years after taking office, Hindenburg fulfilled his duties of office with considerable dignity and decorum. For the most part, Hindenburg refused to allow himself to be drawn into the maelstrom of German politics in the period 1925-1930, and sought to play the role of an republican equivalent of an constitutional monarch. Indeed, Hindenburg was often referred to as the Ersatzkaiser (Substitute Emperor). Contrary to the hopes of monarchists, Hindenburg made no effort to restore the monarchy. Hindenburg took his oath to the Weimar Constitution very seriously and was determined to remain loyal to the letter of the Constitution. What Hindenburg was not loyal to, was the democratic spirit of the Constitution, which he allowed him to be persuaded was a ?value-free? document. In Hindenburg?s mind, as long his actions were within the letter of the law, it didn?t matter if they were against it?s spirit.

Related Topics:
1925 - 1930

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However, Hindenburg had little interest in playing politics. The only two areas that Hindenburg interested himself were military spending and agrarian subsides for Junkers. In 1928, with the formation of a ?Grand Coalition? government headed by the Social Democrat Hermann Müller, Hindenburg insisted on Groener as Defense Minister. In private, Hindenburg often complained that he missed the quiet of his retirement and bemoaned that he had allowed himself to be pressured into running for President. Hindenburg carped that politics was full of issues that he did not understand such as economics and more importantly he did not want to understand. On the other hand, the Kamarilla (camarilla) that Hindenburg had surrounded himself with had other plans for him. The Kamarilla were a group of friends and advisors of Hindenburg who excised great influence on him. The most important members of the Kamarilla were his son, Major Oskar von Hindenburg, Otto Meissner the influential chief of the Presidential Chancellery, Groener and an protégé of Groener?s, a ambitious political soldier named Kurt von Schleicher. The most powerful member of the Kamarilla was Major von Hindenburg, who moved into the Presidential Palace with his father and served as his Aid-de-camp. By all accounts, an rather stupid man who sought to shamelessly cash in on his father?s name, Major von Hindenburg was Field Marshal Hindenburg?s closest consultant who largely controlled access to his father. Since Schleicher was an close friend of Oskar von Hindenburg, he came in his turn to enjoy privileged access to the President.

Related Topics:
1928 - Social Democrat - Hermann Müller - Otto Meissner - Kurt von Schleicher - Oskar von Hindenburg

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It was Schleicher who came up with the idea of ?Presidential government? based on the so-called ?25/48/53 formula?. ?Presidential governments? were governments in which the Chancellor owed his office to the confidence solely of the President rather the Reichstag. The ?25/48/53 formula? referred to the three articles of the Constitution that made ?Presidential government? possible.

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• Article 25 allowed the President to appoint the Chancellor.
• Article 48 allowed the President to sign into law emergency bills without the consent of the Reichstag. However, the Reichstag could cancel any law passed by Article 48 by an simple majority within sixty days of its passage.
• Article 53 allowed the President to dissolve the Reichstag.

Schleicher?s idea was to have Hindenburg appoint an man of Schleicher?s choosing as Chancellor, have him rule via Article 48 and to have Hindenburg threaten to use Article 53 should the Reichstag vote to annul any laws passed under Article 48. Schleicher?s intention to graducally undermine democracy legally via ?Presidential government? and ultimately create an authoritarian government. ?Presidential governments? were legal within the strict legalistic interpretation of the Constitution, but clearly violated it?s spirit. Hindenburg was not enthusiastic about these plans, but was pressured into going along with them by his son, Meissner, Groener and Schleicher.

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The first attempt to establish a ?presidential government? had occurred in 1926-1927, but had foundered by the unwillingness of any of the leading German politicians to go along with the scheme. During the winter of 1929-1930, Schleicher had more success. After a series of secret meetings attended by Meissner, Schleicher, and Heinrich Brüning, the parliamentary leader of the Catholic Center Party, Schleicher and Meissner were able to persuade Brüning to go along with the plan for ?presidential government?. How much Brüning knew of Schleicher?s ultimate plans to abolish democracy is a matter of some controversy.

Related Topics:
1926 - 1927 - 1929 - 1930 - Heinrich Brüning - Democracy

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Schleicher then set about making worse an bitter dispute within the ?Grand Coalition? government between the Social Democrats and the German People?s Party over whatever the unemployment insurance rate should be raised by a half an percentage point or an full percentage point. The end result of these intrigues by Schleicher was the fall of Müller?s government in March 1930 and Brüning being named Chancellor by Hindenburg.

Related Topics:
March - 1930

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Brüning?s first act was to introduce a budget calling for steep spending cuts and sharp tax increases. When the budget was defeated in July 1930, Brüning had Hindenburg sign the budget into law via Article 48. When the Reichstag voted to cancel the budget, Brüning had Hindenburg dissolve Reichstag only two years into it?s mandate, and had the budget passed again by Article 48. The September 1930 elections saw the Nazis making an electoral breakthrough, going from 2% of the vote in 1928 to 17% in 1930.

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After the 1930 elections, Brüning continued to govern largely through Article 48; his government was kept afloat by the support of the Social Democrats who voted not to cancel his Article 48 bills in order not to have another election that could benefit the Nazis and the Communists. Hindenburg for his part grew increasing annoyed at Brüning, complaining that he was growing tired of using Article 48 all the time to pass bills. Brüning continued with his policies of raising taxes and cutting spending in order to deal with the Great Depression; the only areas where goverment spending rose was in area of defense and in the subsidies for Junkers in the so-called Osthilfe (Eastern Aid) program. Both of these spending increases reflected Hindenburg's concerns.

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In October 1931, Hindenburg and Hitler had their first meeting. The Hindenburg-Hitler meeting was a disaster as both men took an immediate and immense dislike to one another. In private, Hindenburg disparagingly referred to Hitler as ?that Austrian corporal?, ?the Bohemian corporal? and sometimes just simply as ?the corporal?. Hitler in his turn, often described Hindenburg as ?that old fool?. Right up until January 1933, Hindenburg often stated that he would never appoint Hitler as Chancellor under any circumstances.

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Although Hindenburg was now lapsing in and out of senility, he was persuaded to run for re-election in 1932, as the only candidate who could defeat Adolf Hitler. Hindenburg had wanted to leave office in 1932, but was urged by the Kamarilla to run again in order to keep Hitler out of office. Hindenburg reluctantly agreed to stay in office, but wanted to avoid an election. The only way this was possible was for the Reichstag to vote for an two-thirds majority to cancel the election. Since the Nazis were the second-largest party, their co-operation was vital if this was to be done. Brüning met with Hitler in January 1932 to ask if he would argee to the President's demand to forego the election. Hitler stated he would only if Brüning would fulfill an set of impossible demands. Brüning rejected Hitler's demands as totally outrageous and unreasonable. By this time, Schleicher had decided that Brüning had become a obstacle to his plans and was already plotting Brüning's downfall. Schleicher convinced Hindenburg that the reason why Hitler had rejected Brüning's offer was because Brüning had deliberately sabotaged the talks in order to force the elderly president into a grueling re-electon battle.

Related Topics:
Senility - 1932 - Adolf Hitler

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During the election campaign of 1932, Brüning had campaigned hard for Hindenburg's re-election. As Hindenburg was in bad health and an poor speaker anyhow, the task of travelling the country and delivering speeches for Hindenburg had fallen upon Brüning. In the first round of the election held in March 1932, Hindenburg emerged as the front-runner, but failed to gain an majority. In the run-off election of April 1932, Hindenburg defeated Hitler for the Presidency. After the presidential elections had ended, Schleicher had held a series of secret meetings with Hitler in May 1932, and throught that he obtained a "gentlemen's agreement" in which Hitler had argreed to support the new "presidential government" that Schleicher was building. At the same time, Schleicher with Hindenburg's complict consent, had set about undermining Brüning's government. The first blow had occurred in May 1932, when Schleicher had Hindenburg sack Groener as Defense Minister in a way that was designed to humiliate both Groener and Brüning. On May 31, 1932, Hindenburg sacked Brüning as Chancellor and replaced him with the man that Schleicher had suggested, Franz von Papen.

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"The Government of Barons" as von Papen's government was known, openly had as its objective the destruction of German democracy. Like Brüning's government, von Papen's goverment was a "presidential government" that governed through the use of Article 48. Unlike Brüning, von Papen ingratiated himself with Hindenburg and his son through the use of the most oleaginous flattery. Papen's easy charm and his sense of humour made him Hindenburg's favorite Chancellor. Much to Schleicher's annoyance, von Papen quickly replaced him as Hindenburg's favorite advisor.

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In accordance with Schleicher's "gentlemen's agreement", Hindenburg dissolved the Reichstag and set new elections for July 1932. Schleicher and Papen both believed that the Nazis would win the majority of the seats and would support Papen's government. Hitler staged an electoral comeback, with his Nazi party winning a solid plurality of seats in the Reichstag. Following the Nazi electoral triumph in the Reichstag elections held on July 31, 1932, there were widespread expections that Hitler was soon be appointed Chancellor. Moreover, Hitler repudiated the "gentlemen's agreement" and declared that he wanted the Chancellorship for himself. On a meeting between Hindenburg and Hitler held on August 13, 1932 in Berlin, Hindenburg firmly rejected Hitler's demands for the Chancellorship. The minutes of the meeting were kept by Otto Meissner, the Chief of the Presidential Chancellery. According to the minutes:

Related Topics:
Nazi - Reichstag - Berlin - Otto Meissner

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"Herr Hitler declared that, for reasons which he had explained in detail to the Reich President that morning, his taking any part in cooperation with the existing government was out of the question. Considering the importance of the National Socialist movement, he must demand the full and complete leadership of the government and state for himself and his party.

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The Reich President in reply said firmly that he must answer this demand with a clear, unyielding No. He could not justify before God, before his conscience, or before the Fatherland the transfer of the whole authority of government to a single party, especially to a party that was biased against people who had different views from their own. There were a number of other reasons against it, upon which he did not wish to enlarge in detail, such as fear of increased unrest, the effect on foreign countries, etc.

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Herr Hitler repeated that any other solution was unacceptable to him.

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To this the Reich President replied: "So you will go into opposition?"

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Hitler: "I have now no alternative""1.

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After refusing Hitler?s demands for the Chancellorship, Hindenburg had a press release issued of his meeting with Hitler that implied that Hitler had demanded absolute power and had his knuckles rapped by the President for making such a demand. Hitler was enraged by this press release. But given Hitler?s determination to take power legally, Hindenburg?s refusal to appoint Chancellor was an impassable quandary for Hitler.

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When the Reichstag convened in September 1932, its first and only act was to pass an massive vote of no-confidence in von Papen?s government In response, von Papen had Hindenburg dissolve the Reichstag for elections in November 1932. The second Reichstag elections saw the Nazi vote drop from 37% to 32%, through the Nazis once again remained the largest party in the Reichstag. After the November elections, there ensured another round of fruitless talks between Hindenburg, von Papen, von Schleicher on one hand and Hitler and the other Nazi leaders on the other. The President and the Chancellor wanted Nazi support for the ?Government of the President?s Friends?; at most they were prepared to offer Hitler the meaningless office of Vice-Chancellor. Hitler for his part, remained adamant that Hindenburg give him the Chancellorship and nothing else.

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These demands were unacceptable and the stalemate continued. To snap the political stalemate, von Papen proposed that Hindenburg declare martial law and do away with democracy via the presidential putsch. Papen won over the Younger Hindenburg with this idea and the two persuaded Hindenburg to forego his oath to the Constitution and go along with this plan. Schleicher, who had come to see Papen as an threat, blocked the martial law move by unveiling the results of a war games exercise that showed if martial law was declared, the Nazi SA and the Communist Red Front Fighters would rise up, the Poles would invade and the Reichswehr would be unable to cope. Whether this was the honest result of a war games exercise or just a fabrication by Schleicher to force Papen out of office is a matter of some historical debate. The opinion of most leans towards latter, for in January 1933, Schleicher would tell Hindenburg that new war games had shown the Reichswehr would crush both the SA and Red Front Fighters and defend the eastern borders from a Polish invasion.

Related Topics:
SA - Reichswehr

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The results of the war games forced Papen to resign in December 1932 in favor of Schleicher. Hindenburg was most upset at losing his favorite Chancellor, and suspecting that the war games were faked to force Papen out, came to bear a gruge against Schleicher. Papen for his part, was determined to get back into office and on January 4, 1933, Papen met with Hitler to discuss how they could bring down Schleicher?s government, though the talks were inconclusive largely because both Papen and Hitler coveted the Chancellorship for themselves. However, Papen and Hitler agreed to keep talking. Ultimately, Papen came to believe that he could control Hitler from behind the scenes and decided to support him for Chancellor. Papen then persuaded Meissner and the Younger Hindenburg of the merits of his plan, and the three then spent the second half of January pressuring Hindenburg into naming Hitler as Chancellor. Hindenburg was most loath to consider Hitler as Chancellor and preferred that Papen hold that office instead. However, the pressure from Meissner, Papen and the Younger Hindenburg was relentless and by end of January, the President had decided to appoint Hitler Chancellor. On the morning of January 30, 1933, Hindenburg swore Hitler in as Chancellor at the Presidential Palace. Shortly after appointing Hitler chancellor, Hindenburg received a letter from Ludendorff, who by this time had long broke from the Nazis. Ludendorff informed Hindenburg that "I solemnly prophesy that this accursed man will cast our Reich into the abyss and bring our nation to inconceivable misery. Future generations will damn you in your grave for what you have done".

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Hindenburg remained in office until his death on August 2, 1934 at his home in Neudeck, East Prussia, exactly two months short of his eighty-seventh birthday. On January 30, 1933 he had appointed Hitler to become Chancellor of Germany. One day before his death, Hitler flew to Neudeck and visited him. Hindenburg, old and confused, thought he was meeting Kaiser Wilhelm II and called Hitler "Your Majesty".

Related Topics:
August 2 - 1934 - Neudeck - East Prussia - January 30 - 1933 - Chancellor of Germany - Kaiser Wilhelm II

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He would be Germany's last president until 1945, when Karl Dönitz became president, as following Hindenburg's death, Hitler declared the office of President to be permanently vacant, effectively merging it with the office of Chancellor under the title of Leader and Chancellor (Führer und Reichskanzler) making himself Germany's Head of State and Head of government (see Gleichschaltung). Weimar's Constitution implied that in case of a president's death or inability to hold office, the chancellor would substitute him until new presidential elections can be held. Hitler, though, with the Enabling Act in force, never asked for them.

Related Topics:
1945 - Karl Dönitz - Merging - Führer - Head of State - Head of government - Gleichschaltung - Enabling Act

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Hindenburg himself was said to be a monarchist who favored a restoration of the German monarchy. Though he hoped one of the Prussian princes would be appointed to succeed him as Head of State, he did not attempt to use his powers in favour of such a restoration, as he considered himself bound by the oath he had sworn on the Weimar Constitution.

Related Topics:
Monarchist - German monarchy - Head of State - Weimar Constitution

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