Weimar's Manna from Heaven

SteveW

Well, I've been away for a while (busy times at work and home) but couldn't resist the lure of Alternate History! So I'm back with a new timeline. But this time I had a thought. All the PODs I ever do seem to be absolutely meticulously based on some specific thing. But of course, this can sometimes be a bit pointless because most events in life come out of nowhere.

So, yet another interwar Germany thread. But this time a different point to most that get taken, potential for massive change, and a simple POD which isn't unlikely- simply that, during the 1932 presidential election, Hitler's plane drops out of the sky. In those days, it wouldn't have been a big surprise- after all, General Sanjurjo died in similar circumstances not that much later, and the technology was still really in its infancy. So here we go...

On the 28th February 1932, just south of Luckenwalde in Brandenburg, farmers reported seeing a plane come down in mid-afternoon. Planes were a relatively common site at this point only around 70 miles from Berlin, so seeing one come down was an even bigger surprise, especially as the weather was not too appalling.

Local emergency crews raced to the scene and were confronted by a grim scene. The plane had grounded without catching fire, but all people on board were clearly dead as the plane had hit the ground nose-first and was in a terrible state. The Austrian journalist Joseph Roth, who arrived that evening from Berlin when he heard reports of the casualties' identities, records it thus:

"It looked rather like a torn-open tin can, with the contents spilled across the field. There was luggage shredded and scattered all over, empty seats torn from their brackets, and of course one or two of the corpses, as most had stayed within the main body of the aircraft".

By evening, it was clear as to exactly who had been onboard, not least because the livery showed that it was clearly a Nazi Party-leased aircraft. Inside amongst the dead were the party's leader, Adolf Hitler, and his chief propagandist, Joseph Goebbels. Hitler, the party's candidate for the first round of the presidential election on 13th March, had been travelling on one of his whistlestop tours of the country.

That evening, on the request of President Hindenburg, Chancellor Bruening ordered all campaigning to cease until the end of the following week.
 

SteveW

The news filtered back to Berlin relatively quickly, and hit the airwaves of Funk-Stunde that evening. Hitler, putative master of modern technology, had been prematurely buried by it as well. A few SA members attacked the Oranienburg synagogue in 'revenge', but were held off by police (and made to look stupid when it transpired that a Nazi sympathiser had provided the plane, removing the conspiracy element in the public view).

Elsewhere in Berlin (Funk-Stunde's reception being rather unreliable elsewhere), there was a mix of anger, sadness and unbridled joy. In Wedding, KPD members came out onto the street to celebrate Hitler's demise, and naturally came into conflict with the local Nazis. Fighting broke out across the city and in some further outlying areas where the news had spread.

But it was the politicians who were most taken about. Almost out of nowhere (the 'deus' taken out by the 'machina', as one wit quipped), the biggest threat to the republic's survival was gone. Many suspected that the NSDAP had taken a body blow of enormous proportions.

The presidential campaign itself was now an utter mess. Previously it had been Hindenburg versus Hitler, with the Communist Ernst Thaelmann and the DNVP's Theodor Duesterberg bringing up a poor rear. But, under electoral law, a replacement could be sought, especially as the first round was still awaited. But it would have to be quick.

Handily for the NSDAP, the Fuehrerprinzip allowed them to make a quick decision, but hardly the right one. They decided within 4 days to put up Hermann Goering as the replacement candidate. Anecdotes suggest that Hindenburg laughed on hearing the news, especially when the NSDAP tried to claim him as the "war hero candidate".

Berlin and other cities carried on with all manner of street fighting, to say nothing of the infighting going on within the Nazi ranks. The old NSDAP Left scented a chance to regain its past strength. Roehm and the Strasser brothers were already in conversation, as were a number of other marginal and marginalised figures. Without the spectre of Hitler, the old regional and ideological factions were back, and would be back in force after the election- an election that most expected to lose.
 
Grey Wolf

Grey Wolf

Donor
Don't laugh TOO soon at Goering, he was a political manipulator and much of the Nazis backing by industry and by the aristocracy came through him and his connections

Of course, Roehm is still alive at this juncture and I imagine the SA are going to have some say in things, even if a negative one

Best Regards
Grey Wolf
 

SteveW

Grey Wolf said:
Don't laugh TOO soon at Goering, he was a political manipulator and much of the Nazis backing by industry and by the aristocracy came through him and his connections

Of course, Roehm is still alive at this juncture and I imagine the SA are going to have some say in things, even if a negative one

Best Regards
Grey Wolf
Click to expand...

I think you're right Grey Wolf, although I think in this that Roehm will have more of a say than Goering- but like you say, could be positive or negative! I've yet to decide.

Thanks for the subscriptions everyone! Glad to see people like the look of it.
 

SteveW

The week running up to the election on 13th March was one of the oddest and most brutal seen in German electoral history, even by the standards of such a tumultuous time. Although the SPD and Zentrum talked of running candidates now that Hitler was dead, certain senior figures such as Gustav Noske of the SPD warned against underestimating the Nazi threat, and so no plan got off the ground. The DNVP candidate Theodor Duesterberg, leader of the paramilitary Stahlhelm, was losing ground fast due to the Nazis unearthing his Jewish background and making a lot of noise about it in far-right circles. [1]

But the big story was the outright fighting in the streets, on a scale not seen for a long time. Nazis and Communists openly fought in the street, not just the SA and Rotfrontkaempferbund but ordinary members too. In one bizarre incident in Munich, there were even battles with Bavarian nationalists and, in Stuttgart, a surreal incident where the Rotfrontkaempferbund were set upon by Zentrum members. There was an air of chaos in the streets, which merely played into the hands of the incumbent.

Chancellor Bruening watched with a strong sense of satisfaction. He could see the Nazi threat receding before his eyes (or so he believed), and this meant that he could have a go at holding in his own in the face of the other threat to his programme: Hindenburg himself. But it would need time and luck.

Within the NSDAP, the internal tensions continued. On the right, Goering was the master and the Wilhelmine types rallied to him quickly. On the radical wing, Strasser and Roehm were already stamping their authority and gathering the SA to them. And then in the middle were all manner of pragmatists and opportunists, who coalesced around Wilhelm Frick. All for now professed loyalty to Goering, but most experts (or whatever a Kremlinologist of Nazis might be called!) refused to believe that anything other than a civil war in the party would break out after the election.

[1] This happened IOTL.
 

SteveW

The first round of the presidential election took place on 13th March 1932 amidst continuing street violence, which almost certainly contributed to the NSDAP retreating in the poll.

And it proved to be both the first and final round. Hindenburg got just over half of the vote and therefore was declared president outright. The Nazi vote was strong but not as strong as had been expected, and the also-rans offered little challenge:

Paul von Hindenburg (independent)- 51%
Hermann Goering (NSDAP)- 26.1%
Ernst Thaelmann (KPD)- 13.1%
Theodor Duesterberg (DNVP)- 9.8%

It is widely believed by historians that Duesterberg's vote was higher than expected due to Hitler's death, and that he would have done even worse had Hitler been alive.

The camarilla around Hindenburg were unsurprisingly delighted and wanted to press home the advantage. Kurt von Schleicher and Hindenburg's son Oskar in particular were keen to see a move against Chancellor Bruening and a move against the Nazis simultaneously.

To this end, Schleicher send out feelers to the left wing of the NSDAP, and specifically to Gregor Strasser. Strasser was due to be expelled at an extraordinary party conference convened for after the election by Goering, who was seeking a decisive move to remove his potential enemies within the party. Strasser, whose brother Otto had been expelled in 1930, was not the only figure in the firing line: Paul Giesler and a number of SA mid-ranking officials were also expelled, although Ernst Roehm was not touched, presumably as he would be difficult to remove at the time.

When Strasser was finally expelled at the conference in Bielefeld on 14th April 1932, Schleicher summoned him the next day to a meeting. When Strasser arrived, he was surprised to find the writer Edgar Julius Jung, Minister of Defence Wilhelm Groener and Oskar von Hindenburg. Schleicher made Strasser an offer- if he would form a new party, funds would be found for him. Whilst Hindenburg Junior felt somewhat sceptical about Strasser (believing him to be 'some kind of Bolshevik'), he recognised that Strasser's position was strong enough to sap the NSDAP but too weak to challenge the established conservative parties.

Strasser almost immediately agreed to the plan and had his brother Otto (who led his own micro-party, the Black Front or KGRNS) and Paul Giesler summoned to the meeting. Both men agreed to the plan, and that the KGRNS would merge into the new party.

And thus Schleicher had sown the seeds of a new, semi-puppet party whose existence would prove to be game-changing. Within a month, the SRP (Sozialistische Reichspartei, or Socialist Reich Party) would be up and running- and would be swallowing up disillusioned fascists and SA men who were unwilling to work under Goering's increasingly national conservative stance.
 

Kelenas

Interesting, splitting the NSDAP like that. Though I'm curious how things will develop after Hindenburg's death; IIRC only one or two years away.

- Kelenas
 

Blackfox5

I like it. Goering has a good chance of shoring up the traditional conservatives. The radical revolutionaries leaving for the Strasser brothers will hurt in the short term, but they will also take away much of the Nazi image of thuggery. A return to the Harzburder Front and alliance with the DNVP might replace any loss to the new party. Goering might be in a good position to replace Hindenburg when he dies, or even become Chancellor later in 1932. The Strasserite "National Bolshevik" party is likely to be of limited appeal, but might compete very well against the KPD. Goebbels might defect to the new part, but Himmler is likely to stay on.
 

SteveW

Blackfox5 said:
I like it. Goering has a good chance of shoring up the traditional conservatives. The radical revolutionaries leaving for the Strasser brothers will hurt in the short term, but they will also take away much of the Nazi image of thuggery. A return to the Harzburder Front and alliance with the DNVP might replace any loss to the new party. Goering might be in a good position to replace Hindenburg when he dies, or even become Chancellor later in 1932. The Strasserite "National Bolshevik" party is likely to be of limited appeal, but might compete very well against the KPD. Goebbels might defect to the new part, but Himmler is likely to stay on.
Click to expand...

Pretty much what I've been thinking! (although Goebbels has died in this, in the crash)

I think that two of the most overlooked points of the era were that a) Goering was more of an old-school Wilhelmine Imperialist and that b) splitter parties were everywhere and had an impact. For example, the CNBL split off from the DNVP and made it into the Reichstag.

Thanks to everyone else who has commented so far, it's appreciated that you guys enjoy it, and please do feel free to criticise where you feel appropriate- it's a good way of learning new historical facts!
 

SteveW

General Election

Schleicher and Hindenburg decided that now was the time to press home the advantage- well, Schleicher did, as the president was slipping in and out of lucidity. Hindenburg dissolved the Reichstag in late June for a snap legislative election to be held on 31st July 1932, and at the camarilla's behest forced Chancellor Bruening from office.

The campaign was even more vicious than the presidential election. Mass violence broke out in a number of towns and cities. Whilst in most cases the SA left the SRP men alone (or had even joined them), it turned ugly in some places, notably in Bavaria. Then of course the Rotkaempferbund, SPD-supporting workers and a hotchpotch of Rightists involved themselves in fighting too.

Gains for the NSDAP were predicted compared to the 1930 election, and otherwise most commentators were unsure. But most agreed that stable government was highly unlikely.

When the votes were counted, the new political landscape looked like this:
SPD- 145 (+12)
NSDAP- 160 (+ 53)
KPD- 94 (+ 17)
Zentrum- 77 (+9)
DNVP-41 (no change)
DVP- 10 (- 20)
SRP- 24 (+24)
DStP-4 (-16)
BVP- 25 (+6)
CSVD (Protestant party)- 10 (-4)
DHP (German Hanoverian Party)- 10 (+10)
WP-3 (-20)
DBP (Farmers)- 2 (-4)
CNBL (Farmers)- 1 (-18)

Yet again, the results were a disaster. Anti-democratic parties held nearly half of the vote, and the democratic parties were utterly splintered.

Hindenburg's choice to replace Bruening, Franz von Papen, had no support beyond the DNVP. And so, to Hindenburg's chagrin, the Reichstag refused him support, particularly his former colleagues in Zentrum.

Hindenburg hated most Social Democrats, but the camarilla knew that there was no choice but to appoint one. But who?

Only one man could fit the bill. He had been outspoken in his support for the Great War, and had nearly been given emergency powers by Hindenburg on a prior occasion. He was on the right of the SPD, and was widely respected.

Thus, on 12th August 1932, at the head of a SPD/Zentrum/DNVP/DVP Grand Coalition, the second in German history after that of Hermann Mueller and given confidence and supply by all other democratic parties, the new Chancellor Carl Severing was appointed by Hindenburg as the new Chancellor of Germany.
 
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