Paul von Hindenburg
(1847 – 1934) |
Paul von Hindenburg (full name Paul Ludwig Hans Anton von Beneckendorff und von Hindenburg) (2. October 1847 – 2. August 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.
Biography of Hindenburg
Hindenburg was born in what was then Posen (now Poznan, Poland), located in the Kingdom of Prussia, as the son of
the Prussian aristocrat Robert von Beneckendorff und von Hindenburg and his wife Luise (born Schwickart). After
his education at the Wahlstatt and Berlin cadet schools, he fought at the
1866 Battle of Königgrätz and in the
1870-1871 Franco-Prussian War. In 1903, he gained promotion
to the rank of general.
He retired from the army in 1911, but returned on the outbreak of World War I. He was victorious in the
Battle of Tannenberg (1914) and the 1915 Battle of the Masurian Lakes against
the Russian army. Much of the credit for these victories belongs to Colonel Max Hoffmann, who recognized the significance
of the breakdown in the security of the Russian Army's radio communications.
In late 1916 he became Chief of the General Staff, although real power was exercised by his deputy, Erich Ludendorff.
Presidency
After the end of the war, von Hindenburg again retired from the military in 1918, and began to pursue a career
in politics. In 1925, he succeeded Friedrich Ebert as President during the
turbulent period of the Weimar Republic. Despite the fact that 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 defeated Hitler for the Presidency, but Hitler
staged an electoral comeback, with his Nazi party winning a solid plurality of seats in the Reichstag.
Hindenburg stayed president after appointing Hitler to become Chancellor of Germany
in 1933 and remained in office until his death on 2. August 1934 at his home in Neudeck, East Prussia, exactly two months
short of his eighty-seventh birthday.
Hindenburg's Legacy
He would be Germany's last President until 1945, when Karl Dönitz became President, as following Hindenburg's death,
Hitler merged the offices of President and Chancellor into the new office of Führer and Chancellor (Führer und Reichskanzler)
making himself Germany's Head of State and Head of government.
Hindenburg himself was said to be a monarchist who favored a restoration of the German monarchy which his own office had
replaced. He had hoped one of the Prussian princes would be appointed to succeed him as Head of State.
Hindenburg was buried in the Tannenberg memorial. In 1945, German troops removed his coffin and that of his wife, to save
it from the approaching Russians, to Marburg an der Lahn in Western Germany
(Hindenburg was an Honorary Citizen of this town), where he was interred anew in the famous Saint Elizabeth Church in the
North Tower Chapel. He still rests there, although the church chapter recently voted to keep the lights switched off at his grave.
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