Kurt von Schleicher (1882–1934) |
Kurt von Schleicher (4. April 1882 – 30. June 1934) was a German general and the last
Chancellor of Germany during the era of the
Weimar Republic.
He was born in Brandenburg, the son of a Prussian officer and a shipowner's daughter. He entered the
German Army in 1900 as a second lieutenant after graduating from a cadet training school. During
World War I he served on the staff of Wilhelm Groener.
During the 1920s, Schleicher moved up steadily in the Reichswehr, or army, becoming the primary liaison
between the army and civilian government officials. He generally preferred to operate behind the scenes,
planting stories in friendly newspapers and relying on a casual network of informers to find out what
other government departments were planning. In this capacity, he headed up the Ministeramt or Office of
the Ministerial Affairs. Although essentially a Prussian authoritarian in his views on order, discipline
and the so-called decadence of the Weimar era, Schleicher also believed that the Army had a social function,
that of an institution unifying the diverse elements in society. Interestingly, he was also opposed to
policies such as Eastern Aid (Osthilfe) for the bankrupt East Elbian estates of his fellow Junkers. In
economic policy, therefore, he was a relative moderate.
Schleicher became a major figure behind the scenes in the presidential cabinet government of
Heinrich Brüning between 1930 and 1932, serving as an
aide to General Wilhelm Groener, the Minister of Defence. Eventually, Schleicher, who established a close
relationship with President
Paul von Hindenburg, came into conflict with Brüning and
Groener, and his intrigues were largely responsible for their fall in May of 1932.
Schleicher became Minister of Defence under the new Chancellor,
Franz von Papen, whom he had hand-picked. He was not as conservative
as Papen, however, as evidenced in a 1932 radio address in which he bluntly announced his unambiguous
opposition to either a military dictatorship or a puppet regime to be backed by military force. Eventually,
Papen and Schleicher came into conflict, and when, following the November 1932 elections, the government
could not maintain a working parliamentary majority, Papen was forced to resign, and Schleicher succeeded
him as Chancellor of Germany.
Schleicher hoped to attain a majority in the Reichstag by forming a so-called Querfront, meaning "cross-front",
whereby he would unify Germany's fractious special interests around a non-parliamentary, authoritarian but
participatory regime. Thus, he reached out to the Social Democratic labor unions, the Christian labour unions
and the more left-wing branch of the NSDAP or Nazis, led by Gregor Strasser. Strasser, however, was already
losing the internal power struggle with Hitler.
Although Schleicher made some initial progress, he was ultimately rebuffed by both sides. Meanwhile, the ousted
Papen now had Hindenburg's ear, because the latter was beginning to have misgivings about Schleicher's
"cryptoparliamentarianism" and willingness to work with the SPD, whom the old President despised. Papen was
urging the aged President to appoint Hitler as Chancellor in a coalition with the Nationalists the DNVP,
or Deutsche Nationalistische Volkspartei, German National People's Party who, together with Papen, would
supposedly be able to moderate Nazi excesses. Unbeknownst to Schleicher, Papen was holding secret meetings
with both Hitler and Hindenburg, who then refused Schleicher's request for emergency powers and another
dissolution of the Reichstag. The President dismissed Schleicher, calling Hitler into power on 30. January 1933.
Schleicher and his wife Elisabeth were murdered during the Night of the Long Knives
on 30. June 1934, along with other supposed enemies of the National Socialist regime. His sixteen-year-old
stepdaughter was the one who found the bodies.
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