Franz von Papen
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| Order: | 22nd Chancellor of Germany |
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| Term of Office: | June 1, 1932 - November 17, 1932 |
| Predecessor: | Heinrich Brüning |
| Successor: | Kurt von Schleicher |
| Date of Birth: | October 29, 1879 |
| Date of Death: | May 2, 1969 |
| Profession: | officer and diplomat |
Franz von Papen (October 29, 1879–May 2, 1969) was a German politician and diplomat associated with the Centre Party.
Born to a wealthy Catholic family in Westphalia, Papen served as a soldier on the Turkish front in World War I. Returning to Germany, he entered politics, joining the Centre Party, in which the monarchist Papen formed part of the far right wing.
In the 1925 presidential elections, he surprised his party by supporting the right-wing candidate Paul von Hindenburg over the Centre Party's Wilhelm Marx.
In June 1, 1932, he moved from relative obscurity to supreme importance when President Hindenburg appointed him Chancellor, even though this meant replacing his own party's Heinrich Brüning. The day before, he had promised to to party chairman Ludwig Kaas not to accept any appointment, and Kaas accordingly branded him the "Ephialtes of the Centre Party". Papen forestalled being expelled by leaving the party on June 3, 1932.
Except from the conservative German National People's Party (DNVP), he had practically no support in the Reichstag, of which he was never a member. Papen ruled in an authoritarian manner, launching a coup against the Social Democratic led government of Prussia, and repealing his predecessor's ban on the SA as a way to appease the Nazis, whom he hoped to lure into supporting his government. Ultimately, after two Reichstag elections only increased the Nazis' strength in the Reichstag without substantially increasing Papen's own parliamentary support, he was forced to resign as Chancellor, and was replaced on December 4, 1932 by Kurt von Schleicher, who hoped to establish a broad coalition government by gaining the support of both Nazi and Social Democratic trade unionists.
Papentiergarten.jpg
As it became increasingly obvious that Schleicher's maneuvering to find a Reichstag majority would be unsuccessful, Papen and DNVP leader Alfred Hugenberg came to an agreement with Hitler to allow him to become Chancellor of a coalition government with the Nationalists, and with Papen serving as Vice-Chancellor. Papen used his personal ties with the aged Von Hindenburg to persuade the President, who had previously vowed never to allow Hitler to become Chancellor, to fire Schleicher and appoint Hitler to the post on January 30, 1933.
Once Hitler was in power, von Papen and his allies were quickly marginalized, and he retired from the Vice-Chancellorship in 1934, following the Night of the Long Knives, when many of Hitler's enemies inside and outside the party (including Schleicher) were murdered. Von Papen was arrested and put under house arrest for three days but his secretary, Herbert von Bose, and his speech writer, Edgar Julius Jung, were murdered. Later, Papen served the Nazi government as Ambassador to Austria from 1934 to 1938 and Ambassador to Turkey from 1939 to 1944. There he survived an assassination attempt by Stalin's agents.
During the war, the German government considered appointing Papen ambassador to the Holy See, but Pope Pius XII, after consulting Konrad von Preysing, Bishop of Berlin, rejected this proposal.
Papen was captured by the allies after the war and was one of the defendants at the main Nuremberg War Crimes Trial, but was acquitted.
He tried unsuccessfully to re-start his political career in the 1950s.
In 1923 Papen had received the honorary dignity of a Papal chamberlain. After Pope Pius XI had died in 1939, his successor Pius XI did not this appointment, probably in the light of Papen's political role. John XXIII however, who was aquainted with Papen from his years as nuntius to Greece and Turkey, revived this honour on July 24, 1959 - an act criticized both inside and outside the Church and by Chancellor Konrad Adenauer.
Papen's Government, June - November 1932
- Franz von Papen - Chancellor
- Konstantin Freiherr von Neurath - Minister of Foreign Affairs
- Wilhelm Freiherr von Gayl (DNVP) - Minister of the Interior
- Lutz Graf Schwerin von Krosigk - Minister of Finance
- Hermann Warmbold - Minister of Economics
- Hugo Schäffer - Minister of Labour
- Franz Gürtner (DNVP) - Minister of Justice
- Kurt von Schleicher - Minister of Defence
- Paul Freiherr Eltz von Rübenach - Minister of Posts and Transport
Changes
- October 29, 1932 - Franz Bracht and Johannes Popitz enter the Cabinet as Ministers without Portfolio.
| Preceded by: Heinrich Brüning | Chancellor of Germany 1932 | Succeeded by: Kurt von Schleicher |
| Preceded by: (first term) Otto Braun | Prime Minister of Prussia 1932, 1933 | Succeeded by: (first term) Kurt von Schleicher |
| Preceded by: (second term) Kurt von Schleicher | Succeeded by: (second term) Hermann Göring | |
| Preceded by: Hermann R. Dietrich | Vice Chancellor of Germany 1933–1934 | Succeeded by: Franz Blücher |
External links
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