Oskar von Hindenburg
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President of Germany
The President of the Federal Republic of Germany is the country's head of state. His official title in German is Bundespräsident . Germany has a parliamentary system of government and so the position of President is largely ceremonial...
Paul von Hindenburg
Paul von Hindenburg
Paul Ludwig Hans Anton von Beneckendorff und von Hindenburg , known universally as Paul von Hindenburg was a Prussian-German field marshal, statesman, and politician, and served as the second President of Germany from 1925 to 1934....
.
Born in Königsberg
Königsberg
Königsberg was the capital of East Prussia from the Late Middle Ages until 1945 as well as the northernmost and easternmost German city with 286,666 inhabitants . Due to the multicultural society in and around the city, there are several local names for it...
, East Prussia
East Prussia
East Prussia is the main part of the region of Prussia along the southeastern Baltic Coast from the 13th century to the end of World War II in May 1945. From 1772–1829 and 1878–1945, the Province of East Prussia was part of the German state of Prussia. The capital city was Königsberg.East Prussia...
, (now Kaliningrad
Kaliningrad
Kaliningrad is a seaport and the administrative center of Kaliningrad Oblast, the Russian exclave between Poland and Lithuania on the Baltic Sea...
, Russia), Hindenburg followed his father into the German Army
German Army
The German Army is the land component of the armed forces of the Federal Republic of Germany. Following the disbanding of the Wehrmacht after World War II, it was re-established in 1955 as the Bundesheer, part of the newly formed West German Bundeswehr along with the Navy and the Air Force...
. Initially, his career did not prosper, as Hindenburg's superiors considered him to be of low intelligence. One of the units Hindenburg served in was the Third Guards Regiment, where he was befriended by Kurt von Schleicher
Kurt von Schleicher
Kurt von Schleicher was a German general and the last Chancellor of Germany during the era of the Weimar Republic. Seventeen months after his resignation, he was assassinated by order of his successor, Adolf Hitler, in the Night of the Long Knives....
. After his father became a German war hero in World War I, Oskar von Hindenburg's career started to advance, thanks to his surname. During the war, Hindenburg (who achieved the rank of Major) acted as his father's liaison officer. After his father became President of the Weimar Republic
Weimar Republic
The Weimar Republic is the name given by historians to the parliamentary republic established in 1919 in Germany to replace the imperial form of government...
in 1925, Major von Hindenburg acted as his father's aide-de-camp. As his father's closest friend and advisor, Oskar von Hindenburg exercised considerable power behind the scenes as he largely controlled access to the President. It was in large part due to his friendship with the younger von Hindenburg, that von Schleicher became Chancellor and one of the elder von Hindenburg's closest advisors. Because of this influence on the President beyond any control by constitutional means, the publicist and writer Kurt Tucholsky
Kurt Tucholsky
Kurt Tucholsky was a German-Jewish journalist, satirist and writer. He also wrote under the pseudonyms Kaspar Hauser, Peter Panter, Theobald Tiger and Ignaz Wrobel. Born in Berlin-Moabit, he moved to Paris in 1924 and then to Sweden in 1930.Tucholsky was one of the most important journalists of...
ironically spoke of him as "... the son of the president, not designated by the Reich's constitution ...".
In January 1933, Major von Hindenburg, who had long been opposed to his father making Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
Chancellor, was persuaded by Franz von Papen
Franz von Papen
Lieutenant-Colonel Franz Joseph Hermann Michael Maria von Papen zu Köningen was a German nobleman, Roman Catholic monarchist politician, General Staff officer, and diplomat, who served as Chancellor of Germany in 1932 and as Vice-Chancellor under Adolf Hitler in 1933–1934...
of his plan to have Hitler appointed Chancellor but having von Papen control Hitler from behind the scenes as Vice-Chancellor. It was in part because of this pressure from Major von Hindenburg, that his father appointed Hitler as Chancellor.
Shortly after his father's death in August 1934, Major von Hindenburg made a radio broadcast (18 August 1934) in which he asked the German people to vote "Yes" in a plebiscite that took place on 19 August. The question posed in this plebiscite, was whether the German people approved of Hitler merging the offices of President and Chancellor into one. The "Yes" vote amounted to over 90%.
Prewar years
William Shirer, in his book The Rise and Fall of the Third ReichThe Rise and Fall of the Third Reich
The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich is a 1960 non-fiction book by William L. Shirer chronicling the general history of Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945...
, states that Oskar von Hindenburg was promoted to Major General after the plebiscite unifying the offices of President and Reich Chancellor and that he remained a loyal Nazi. While he did fade from the history of the Third Reich after this plebiscite, Shirer argues that this final act in Hitler's consolidation of power was vital and without Oskar von Hindenburg's earlier influence with his father, Paul von Hindenburg
Paul von Hindenburg
Paul Ludwig Hans Anton von Beneckendorff und von Hindenburg , known universally as Paul von Hindenburg was a Prussian-German field marshal, statesman, and politician, and served as the second President of Germany from 1925 to 1934....
, on behalf of Hitler's bid to be invited to form a government after the fall of Chancellor von Schleicher on 28 January 1933, Hitler might not have ascended to power at all. Franz von Papen
Franz von Papen
Lieutenant-Colonel Franz Joseph Hermann Michael Maria von Papen zu Köningen was a German nobleman, Roman Catholic monarchist politician, General Staff officer, and diplomat, who served as Chancellor of Germany in 1932 and as Vice-Chancellor under Adolf Hitler in 1933–1934...
, who had served previously as Reich Chancellor until he was supplanted by Schleicher in December 1932 was negotiating behind Hitler's back to again be named Chancellor of a Presidential government (a government that would rule by decree under Article 48 of the Weimar Constitution) and almost succeeded, had it not been in large part for the influence of Oskar von Hindenburg on his father. While other factors are important, without the behind the scenes influence of Oskar von Hindenburg and State Secretary Meissner, Hitler would have had a much tougher time convincing Paul von Hindenburg
Paul von Hindenburg
Paul Ludwig Hans Anton von Beneckendorff und von Hindenburg , known universally as Paul von Hindenburg was a Prussian-German field marshal, statesman, and politician, and served as the second President of Germany from 1925 to 1934....
to invite "that Austrian corporal" and the Nazis to form a government at all.
The other obvious influence in Hitler's favor was the likelihood of a coalition government with the Nationalist party. This almost fell apart at the last minute as well—the coalition partners were so intent arguing over prospective Cabinet appointments (the Nazis were ultimately outnumbered in the Cabinet 8-3) that they left Reichspresident Hindenburg
Paul von Hindenburg
Paul Ludwig Hans Anton von Beneckendorff und von Hindenburg , known universally as Paul von Hindenburg was a Prussian-German field marshal, statesman, and politician, and served as the second President of Germany from 1925 to 1934....
waiting well past the appointed time for the meeting at which Hitler was named Chancellor. Hindenburg almost cancelled the meeting in exasperation. Hitler being named Chancellor was not certain until it was announced and it was Oskar von Hindenburg and his work with his father that (in Shirer's view) tipped the balance in Hitler's favor.
Shirer also claims that Hindenburg Junior received 5000 additional acres to his estates at Neudeck in addition to rapid advancement in the German Armed Forces.
World War II
Late in the war as Soviet forces approached Germany's border the younger Hindenburg supervised the dismantling of the War Monument honoring his father's victoryTannenberg Memorial
The Tannenberg Memorial commemorated fallen German soldiers of the second Battle of Tannenberg in 1914, which was named after the medieval Battle of Tannenberg...
over the Russians at Tannenberg
Stebark
Stębark is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Grunwald, within Ostróda County, Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship, in northern Poland. It lies approximately south-east of Ostróda and south-west of the regional capital Olsztyn. The village has a population of 630...
in 1914. He also had his parents' remains moved west.
Oskar von Hindenburg died in Bad Harzburg
Bad Harzburg
Bad Harzburg is a town in central Germany, in the Goslar district of Lower Saxony. It lies on the northern edge of the Harz mountains and is a recognised saltwater spa and climatic health resort.- Location :...
, West Germany
West Germany
West Germany is the common English, but not official, name for the Federal Republic of Germany or FRG in the period between its creation in May 1949 to German reunification on 3 October 1990....
on 12 February 1960.