Franz von Papen ..also known as "the devil in a top hat."?? Hitler and von Papen Franz von Papen, the son of a wealthy landowner, was born in Werl, Germany, on 29th October, 1879. He joined the German Army and was a general staff officer on the outbreak of the First World War. In 1914 Papen was sent to Washington as a military attaché. While in the United States he helped to arrange for a company in Bridgeport to produce armaments for Germany. However, in 1915 he was forced to leave the country after being accused of attempting to sabotage American armaments production for the Allies. On his return Papen was sent to Palestine where he served as chief of staff of the 4th Turkish Army. He continued to carry out undercover work and was involved in planning rebellions in Ireland and India and sabotage in the United States. As a result of papers found in Nazareth, a number of Papen's agents were arrested and either imprisoned or executed. After the First World War Papen joined the Catholic Centre Party (BVP) and in 1921 was elected to the Reichstag. Two years later he purchased a controlling stake in its leading paper, the Germania. Papen immediately sacked the editor and over the next few years attempted to use the newspaper to impose his right-wing views on the party. This plan was unsuccessful and was considered as an outsider in the BVP. As Papen had only a small political following it came as a great shock when Paul von Hindenburg decided to appoint Papen as chancellor on 31st May, 1932. Papen now decided to gain the support of the Nazi Party by lifting the ban on the Sturm Abteilung (SA) that had been introduced by Heinrich Brüning. This was followed by deposing the Social Democratic Party government in Prussia and aggressive statements about not keeping to the terms of the Versailles Treaty. Papen's reactionary policies upset Kurt von Schleicher who favoured a coalition of the centre. When Schleicher managed to persuade several government ministers to turn against Papen he resigned from office. Papen now began to plot with Adolf Hitler in an effort to oust Schleicher who was now chancellor of Germany. With the support of industrial leaders such as Hjalmar Schacht, Gustav Krupp, Alfried Krupp, Fritz Thyssen, Albert Voegler and Emile Kirdorf, Papen persuaded President Paul von Hindenburg to appoint Adolf Hitler as chancellor. Papen, who became vice-chancellor, told Hindenburg that he would be able to prevent Hitler from introducing his more extremist policies. After the Night of the Long Knives, which included the murder of Kurt von Schleicher, Papen sent a letter to Hitler praising him for "crushing the intended second revolution." Soon afterwards Papen resigned as vice-chancellor and was sent as ambassador to Austria (1934-39) where he plotting successfully for the achievement of Anschluss. This was followed by the post of ambassador to Turkey (1939-44). Papen retired to Westphalia where he was arrested by Allied forces on 10th April, 1945. He was charged with conspiring to start the Second World War at Nuremberg. He was found not guilty but the German government had him re-arrested and charged him with other offences committed while in Hitler's government. On 1st May 1947 Papen was judged to be a "major offender" and sentenced to eight years imprisonment. However, like other wealthy supporters of the Nazi regime he was soon forgiven for his crimes and was released in January, 1949. Papen had his wealth and property returned to him but he did lose his state pension and was deprived of his driving license. In his retirement Papen wrote and published his Memoirs (1952). Franz von Papen died in Obersasbach on 2nd May, 1969. http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/GERpapen.htm Papen to left, Hitler, Goebbels ----------- Von Papen's reactionary policies and attempt to replace the Weimar constitution with authoritarian rule soon alienated General von Schleicher who induced a number of cabinet ministers to reject von Papen's policies and the chancellor soon resigned and was replaced by von Schleicher. Papen, who burned with resentment at this state of affairs came to an agreement with Hitler and was instrumental in persuading von Hindenburg to appoint the Nazi leader to the chancellorship. Von Papen would be vice chancellor, a position from which he naively thought he would be able to retrain Hitler. He soon realized his mistake but continued to serve in his position. He narrowly escaped death during the purge of the SA (night of the long knives) and resigned three days later on July 2, 1934. He was sent as ambassador to Austria where he helped engineer the annexation with Germany. Next he served in Turkey and was instrumental in keeping that country out of alliance with the Allies. http://worldatwar.net/biography/p/papen/ ---------
Maybe the man is not considered in the class with the other nazi bosses but to me his part in getting Hitler to rule the Germany was crucial at one point! Papen persuaded President Paul von Hindenburg to appoint Adolf Hitler as chancellor Of course with time the situation would have changed in Hitler´s favor I believe but to make things as we know now von Papen had a lot to do with it!
Very nice, Kai! Just to add that at Hitler's right in the latest photograph and at Von Papen's right is Von Blomberg. Franz von Papen needed the nazi support if he wanted to control the Reichstag and therefore, rule over Germany. But the nazi leader was not going to give its support cheaply. He had rejected the vice-chancellorship under Von Papen in August 1932, which caused many problems inside the party. And as Hitler used to do, just when there was an extreme crisis, he achieved a tremendous success and everybody forgot about the crisis... At the very same point when the nazi party was desintegrating, Von Papen appointed Hitler as chancellor... That's his only crime. But it was a necessary political movement. As well as the Anschlüß was a necessary political movement. I think the annexion of Austria was a bigger crime to trial him. But I agree that nothing was very severe and that he was exonerated at Nuremeberg.
Thanx Friedrich! Exactly!I think it´s nice to see during the learning process ( of WW2 history ) that first you learn about the persons more and suddenly you notice how the pieces of the puzzle start miraculously fitting-like the people in the photos...
Indeed, Kai! You don't know how exciting it was when I saw a picture of July 19th 1940 in which Hitler is at the chancellery posing with his new Reichsmarschall and 7 new field marshals and I could recognise all of them!!!
Pretty much at the same time when the Hitler Papen meeting was adjourned in the afternoon of 4 January 1933, Hindenburg received Gregor Strasser (!). The audience had been recommended to the Reich President by the Chancellor ( Schleicher ). The latter had still not abandoned his plan to gain, with Strasser's help, the support of parts of the NSDAP for his government. This hope persisted, notwithstanding the fact that Strasser had retreated to South Tyrol after his break with Hitler. Nor had Strasser done anything to foster an active opposition movement within the party so that Hitler was given ample opportunity of more or less reconsolidating the party's position by means of a quick redistribution of Strasser's powers as head of the NSDAP's national organization (Reichsorganisationsleiter). When Strasser had left, Hindenburg is reported to have said: "This man is cutting a very different figure than this Hitler. I like Strasser much better." The President was in principle also quite happy with Strasser's appointment to the vice-chancellorship which Schleicher had envisaged. But the Chancellor did not press his case. He had come to realize that such a move could no longer have the same effect which it would have at the end of November or in early December. Source: Martin Broszat, Hitler and the Collapse of the Weimar Republic (New York: St. Martin Press, 1987). http://www.johndclare.net/Rempel_Nazi28.htm --------------- Interesting two different political options being discussed at the same time: Papen-Hitler Schleicher-Strasser
The programmatic and personal rivalry with Adolf Hitler worsened dramatically when Reichskanzler Kurt von Schleicher offered Gregor Strasser the vice-chancellorship and the office of the Prussian Prime Minister in December 1932. Von Schleicher hoped to disunite the NSDAP with Strasser's help and to pull the left Nazis around Strasser over to his national conservative side, as to prevent a revolution or takeover by Hitler. The plan failed because of Hitler's intervention, and resulted in Strasser's resignation from all party positions. He continued acting as a publicist as he did before his disempowerment. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gregor_Strasser Also the nazis were running out of money, so another Reichstag elections was not an option during those critical times. Not sure if the bankers behind them would have reached for their purse though.
