Franz von Papen: biography, interesting facts, photo

One of those to whom fate invariably favored was the German politician and diplomat Franz von Papen. During his long life, he many times found himself on the brink of death, or at least on the threshold of prison. However, every time fortune was pleased to save him from trouble and enable him to live to the advanced years, which he clearly did not deserve.

The youth of the descendant of the Crusaders

He was lucky enough to be born into the family of a large landowner, one of the descendants of an ancient knightly family, whose ancestors rode once through the dusty hills of Palestine. It happened in 1879. As it should be in noble families, the boy was given such a long name that not everyone could pronounce it in one breath - Franz Josef Herman Michael Maria von Papen.

Youth, wealth and a great name - what else is needed for a brilliant career and profitable marriage? Still with a youthful fluff on his cheeks, he was already an officer of the General Staff, and soon did not hesitate to arrange his family affairs, marrying the richest bride in Germany - his daughter and the only heiress of a big tycoon, the owner of Villeroy & Boch, one of the world's leading ceramics producers .

The End of the Military Career

The beginning of the First World War, Franz von Papen, met in the United States as a German military attaché. However, at some point the young diplomat committed a miscalculation and, convicted of espionage, as well as subversive activities, was expelled from the country. Returning to his homeland, he found himself in an active army fighting in Belgium, Alsace, Latoringia and north-east France.

In 1918, Franz von Papen resigned from the army in the rank of lieutenant colonel. Before that, he managed to serve as a representative of the German General Staff in the Turkish army, who tried in Palestine to resist the advancing parts of the British troops. Replenished his track record and very questionable negotiations with the Irish Republicans, who secretly bought weapons from Germany to fight the army of Her Majesty the Queen.

Take-off of political career

Becoming a civilian, von Papen, as a person of his circle, devoted himself to politics, acting as a member of the Prussian Landtag (Zemsky parliament) from the Catholic centrist party. Skilfully maneuvering between different political currents, in 1932 he managed to take over the post of head of government under Hindenburg, but held on for only five months - summed up the almost complete lack of support in the Reichstag.

Saving his position, he tried to create a coalition, attracting to his side the party of National Socialists that had gained by that time. However, Franz von Papen and Hitler could not agree. The possessed Fuhrer was eager for one-sided authority and did not want to share it with anyone. As a result, in early December 1932 the government was dismissed, and its head was temporarily out of work.

The vice-chancellor's mistake

Since birth, giving von Papen wealth and a great name, fate has endowed him with the qualities necessary for successful politics: he was smart, energetic and, importantly, unprincipled. Thanks to this, a year after his forced resignation, Franz von Papen is the vice chancellor of the Third Reich, created by his former political adversary Adolf Hitler.

However, such a dizzying takeoff soon nearly cost him his life. The reason for this was the speech made by von Papen in June 1934. In it, he dared to express support for the business and financial elite of the country, dissatisfied with Hitler's extremism and its socialist rhetoric. It is known that in a totalitarian state any opinion that runs counter to the leader's policy is considered treason and is cruelly punished. In this case, the incumbent vice-chancellor was rescued from his inevitable death by a close friend of Goering.

However, this was not the last such incident in his life. Franz von Papen, whose biography will continue to be full of critical situations, from which he always came out unscathed, is an example of a life story of a true darling of fate.

Ambassador, destined for the slaughter

Avoiding the highest anger for his freethinking, but having lost his former post, in 1934 von Papen was appointed German ambassador to Austria. Trying to do his best to make up his mind, he provided all-round support to various pro-German local nationalist organizations. But instead of gratitude once again was on the verge of death.

The fact is that to capture Austria, which went down in history under the name Anschluss, Hitler needed a plausible excuse. And what could be more appropriate than killing the ambassador? To this end, a plan was drawn up, according to which von Papen intended the role of an innocent victim. To his happiness, in January 1938, two months before the German invasion, the Austrian police searched the headquarters of the local Nazis, and documents appeared in her hands that shed light on this insidious plan. Thus, the descendant of the Crusaders once again miraculously escaped death.

Further misadventures of the diplomat

Next time, fate had the opportunity to save the background of Papen from death during the Second World War, but it did not happen in the army in force. Happily avoiding the front, he spent five years in the position of German ambassador to Turkey. However, far from the front life was fraught with many dangers. This time he was repeatedly tried to "remove" the employees of the Soviet special services, whose duty was to prevent the German ambassador from persuading the Turkish government to take part in the war on the side of Germany. However, even here the luck was on the side of von Papen.

She did not change it even after the Third Reich was defeated by the Allied armies. Arrested by the military administration of the Ninth American Army, and among other Nazis, who was on the Nuremberg dock, he was acquitted. Franz von Papen escaped not only the gallows to which his former friends had gone, but even the prison cell.

The result of a stormy life

True, he had to spend two years of life behind bars. In 1947, in post-war Germany, a commission was created to denazify - cleanse the German society from the consequences of Nazi ideology. To von Papen, she was less lenient than the Nuremberg Trial, and sentenced him to eight years in prison. However, in two years, the lawyers hired by him did their job, and he was at large.

Already in the declining years, Franz von Papen, whose photo is presented in the article, tired of politics, gave himself up to writing memoirs. As a writer, he proved to be very prolific and managed to publish many books before his death, which followed in 1969. In them he invariably tried to justify Germany's policy after Hitler came to power.