Paul von Hindenburg Set the Holocaust in Motion

To implement such an enormous (and enormously murderous) project such as the Holocaust, it was necessary to establish a totalitarian dictatorship in Germany. To establish (and maintain) a dictatorship, a dictator was needed.

There was but one individual in Weimar republic capable of becoming one: Der F;hrer of NSDAP Adolf Hitler. However, after the disastrous (and ridiculous) Beer Hall Putsch he (wisely) vowed to gain absolute power only legally.

Which meant that he had to become Chancellor of Germany and use that power to transform Weimar Republic into a National-Socialist totalitarian dictatorship. Nazi Germany. Third Reich. F;hrerstaat.

In a peculiar constitutional and political environment of Weimar Republic, Hitler had two options to achieve that all-important objective: (1) obtain absolute majority in Reichstag – lower house of national parliament; or (2) be appointed Chancellor by President Paul Ludwig Hans Anton von Beneckendorff und von Hindenburg.

The first option turned out to be all but impossible: in free elections NSDAP never got even 40% of votes (their best result was just over 37% in July 1932). Even in last elections in Weimar republic in Marc 1933 – which were anything but free – NSDAP got just over 43% of the votes falling short of absolute majority (they got 45% of seats in Reichstag – not enough for absolute majority).

The second option initially looked not much better because President Hindenburg did not like Hitler much (to put it mildly) and was reluctant to make the latter Chancellor (ditto).

However, it appears that he had little choice – Germany was in the midst of a devastating Great Depression… and without a stable government. Chancellor Br;ning who was head of the government from March 1930 to June 1932 did not have sufficient support from the Reichstag so he governed by emergency decrees issued by President Paul von Hindenburg, overriding the Reichstag where his policies were unpopular, to put it mildly).

Ditto for nation in general as his austerity measures brought little economic improvement – and a lot of hardship. In summer of 1932 Br;ning was replaced by Franz von Papen who lasted only until December and was replaced by general Kurt von Schleicher who ran essentially a caretaker government.

It became (literally) painfully obvious that the system did not work so Franz von Papen and Alfred Hugenberg, along with several other industrialists and businessmen convinced Hindenburg to bring in outsiders. Adolf Hitler and NSDAP.

For his role in bringing Hitler to power, Franz von Papen war tried by International Military Tribunal – but acquitted. Acquitted because he did not have much choice – and neither did President Hindenburg.

In January 1933, Germany faced genuinely existential threats, problems and challenges. It needed to get itself out of Great Depression; radically reduce unemployment, achieve fast economic growth, protect itself from the existential threat of Bolshevism – and return territories taken away by Versailles criminals.

To make it happen, Germany had to restore it political, economic and military might – and to make that happen they needed the political and government system that would work – and work efficiently towards those objectives.

And the workable system at that time needed the leader and the stateman at the helm – and his Party. At that time, there was no alternative to Adolf Hitler and his NSDAP – so President Hindenburg used his power to appoint Hitler Chancellor of Germany on January 30, 1933.

In brokering the appointment of Hitler as Reich Chancellor, Papen had sought to control Hitler (he failed) by limiting the number of Nazi ministers in the cabinet; initially Hermann G;ring (without portfolio) and Wilhelm Frick (Interior) were the only Nazi ministers.

Further, Alfred Hugenberg, the head of the DNVP, was enticed into joining the cabinet by being given the Economic and Agricultural portfolios for both the Reich and Prussia, with the expectation that Hugenberg would be a counterweight to Hitler and would be useful in controlling him (he failed).

Of other significant ministers in the initial cabinet, Foreign Minister Konstantin von Neurath was a holdover from the previous administration, as were Finance Minister Lutz Graf Schwerin von Krosigk, Post and Transport Minister Paul Freiherr von Eltz-R;benach, and Justice Minister Franz G;rtner.

The cabinet was “presidential” and not “parliamentary”, in that it governed on the basis of emergency powers granted to the President in Article 48 of the Weimar Constitution rather than through a majority vote in the Reichstag.

This had been the basis for Weimar cabinets since Hindenburg’s appointment of Heinrich Br;ning as Chancellor in March 1930 so there was nothing new here. This appointment was a huge success because Hitler and his NSDAP pretty much solved all abovementioned problems.

However, Hindenburg brought to power the individual both willing and able to make Germany Judenrein – at all costs. This creating a major slab in the stack that ultimately launched the “Holocaust Avalanche” that took away four million Jewish lives.