Biographical article on von Papen, including his early political career, his role in Hitler's rise in 1933, diplomatic work, and awards from Hitler

INTERNATIONAL BIOGRAPHICAL ARCHIVES [Internationales Biographisches Archiv]
26. 10. 44.
FRANZ von PAPEN (German Statesman)
Franz von Papen was born in Werl, Westphalia on 29 October 1879. He went through the officer's course and was appointed Lieutenant in the 5 Lancer Regiment, Düsseldorf, on 15 March 1898. After attending the Military Academy, he was transferred to the 1st Uhlan Guards Regiment in the spring of 1911 and attached to the General Headquarters Staff, where he was promoted to Captain on 22 March 1913. Shortly afterwards he was appointed Military Attache at the Embassy in Washington and was ordered to the Embassy in Mexico. After the outbreak of World War, he was instructed to create the greatest difficulties to American munition transports. As a result of a complaint made by the American Secretary of State, Mr. Lansing, von Papen was finally recalled to Germany in the late autumn of 1915. His luggage was seized on the return journey contrary
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to international law and a number of documents confiscated from which, it was attempted to prove him guilty of sabotage.
Von Papen was then appointed officer on the General Staff with the 4th Guards Infantry Division on the Somme and other sectors on the Western Front as well as Battalion Commander and he was promoted to Major on 16 September 1917.
Later he became General Staff Officer to the 4 Turkish Army under Liman von Sanders. The rumors which appeared in the press during the election propaganda in 1932, that in 1917 Papen arrested General Liman, when the latter was ill, and undertook on his own the seizure of Jerusalem, have been described as fully untrue by Papen in a letter written to the Marshal's widow.
After the collapse he took to politics. Being a Catholic, he joined the Center Party [Zemtrum] and was a deputy in the Prussian Parliament [Landtag] from 1921 to 1928 where, on the extreme right wing of the Center, he used to upset the party leader. Owing to this he got himself into increasing opposition to the leaders of the party who struck his name off the list of candidates for the Prussian Parliament elections on 24 April 1932. Nevertheless, as one of the main shareholders of the "Germania," he succeeded in switching the paper's ideology more and more to the right. .
At this moment the Bruening Cabinet resigned and he was appointed to form the new cabinet. Kaas who was at that time Head of the Center Party, was not willing to give his consent to it. But at a special wish of the President of the Reich, von Hindenburg, and after leaving the Center Party and after resigning the presidency of the Supervision Board of the "Germania" on 1 June 1932, he formed the new Cabinet in the beginning of June 1932, which caused immediately a strong opposition of the Center Party. The NSDAP also soon went into opposition to the "Baron's Government," so that the new cabinet had actually only the support of the German Nationals and a part of the People's Party [Volkspartei]. In spite of that it was a favorable condition for Adolf Hitler's seizure of power. One of the first of Papen's official actions was the removal of the Braun-Severing Prussian Government and the union of the ruling power of the Reich and Prussia in his hand, in Prussia as Reich-Com-missar (20/7/1932). Von Papen was also the first German Chancellor, who on 28 June 1932 at a conference in Lausanne, where the German political debts were practically buried, had the courage to oppose the discrimination of Germany. The Reichstag elections of 31 July which were the result of von Papen's disband-
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ment of the Reichstag on 4 June, strengthened enormously the NSDAP so that von Papen offered to the leader of the now strongest party his participation in the Government as ViceChancellor. Adolf Hitler rejected this offer on 13 August.
The new Reichstag which assembled on 30 August was disbanded by the 12 September. The new elections brought about a considerable loss to the NSDAP but did not strengthen the Government Parties so that Papen's Government retired on 17 November 1932, after unsuccessful negotiations with the party leaders. After the new Government had been formed, by the Reichswehrminister, von Schleicher, the President of the Reich wrote to the retiring Reich Chancellor a farewell letter expressing his special acknowledgment (press of 5 December 1932).
The meeting with Hitler which took place in the beginning of January 1933 in the house of the banker, Baron von Schroeder, in Cologne is due to his initiative although von Schroeder was the mediator. Both von Papen and Hitler made later public statements about this meeting (press of 6 January 1933). After the rapid downfall of von Schleicher on 28 January 1933, the Hitler-von Papen-Hugenberg-Seldte cabinet was formed on 30 January 1933 as a Government of national solidarity. In this cabinet von Papen held the office of Vice-Chancellor and Reich Commissar for Prussia. This Government issued on 1 February, a proclamation to the German people. In the election of 5 March 1933 von Papen was elected as a candidate of the "Kampfbund Schwarz-Weiss-Rot" and later in the election of 12 November 1933 as a candidate of the Joint-List. After the nomination of provincial Governors [Reichstatthalter] Papen left by his own request the appointment as Reich Comiuissar for Prussia on 11 April 1933. But as Vice-Chancellor he was still at the Fuehrer's disposal for special tasks. Thanks to his repeated visits to Rome, he prepared, for instance, the Concordat between Germany and the Roman press. The concordat was signed on 8 July 1933.
Owing to the decision of the Cabinet on 15 November 1933, a new task was given to von Papen, namely he was appointed Saar Plenipotentiary of the Reich Government. A strong emphasis of his union with Hitler induced Hitler to write to von Papen on 27 July 1934 on the occasion of the planned appointment of von Papen as Minister Extraordinary in Vienna responsible only to the Reich Chancellor. The document of his appointment and the handwritten letter to von Papen bear the last signatures of the Reich President von Hindenburg given by him before his death on 2 August 1934. Before his departure to Vienna, he brought
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the Reich Chancellor the political testament of the late Reich President which had been given to him by the son of the President. The testament was published on 16 August 1934. On the same day, Papen presented his credentials in Vienna. On 14 July 1936 he concluded an agreement between Germany and Austria which seemed to clear the way for a complete elimination of all difficulties. After that the Fuehrer appointed him on 27 July 1936 to Plenipotentiary Minister Extraordinary on a special mission. Then, when the Austrian Chancellor [Bunderkanzler] von Schuschnigg negotiated with the Fuehrer in Obersalzberg about new methods which were to insure a better effectiveness of the agreement of 14 July 1936 and when seemingly a new agreement between the two Governments was reached on 12 February 1938, von Papen was recalled from Vienna in February 1938. After the events of March 1938 which caused Austria's incorporation into the German Reich, von Papen had the satisfaction to be present at the Fuehrer's side when the entry into Vienna took place having just been admitted on 14 February 1938 into the Party in recognition of his valuable collaboration and having received the Golden Party Badge from the Fuehrer. At first, von Papen retired to his estate Wallerfangen in the Saar district but soon the Fuehrer required his services again in that he on the 18 April 1939, appointed von Papen German Ambassador in Ankara. After the conclusion of the German-Russian Non-Aggression Pact at the end of August 1939, the southeast European press wrote that since the beginning of July, von Papen had negotiated with representatives of the Moscow Government and that the negotiations were proving themselves successful. But von Papen did not succeed in preventing Turkey from concluding pacts with England and France which were signed in the summer of 1939. But at the outbreak of war, Turkey remained neutral and owing to her export difficulties concluded with the Reich in February 1942 a Trade Agreement for the exchange of goods to the value of 721 million Turkish pounds.
Even later von Papen managed to induce Turkey to remain quiet, until Turkey, apparently because of the war situation, saw herself induced to break her »relations with the German Reich on 1.8.44. At the same time, the two Russians who had been sentenced to 20 years penal servitude for taking part in the attempt on Papen's life in Ankara on 24.2.42 were released by virtue of a general amnesty decree which was especially issued for that purpose. After his return to the Reich, von Papen was awarded the Knights Cross of the War Merit Order with Swords.
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Von Papen married in 1905 the daughter of the Saar industrialist von Galkan, the proprietor of the pottery works Villeroy & Bock. By this marriage he has four daughters and one son.