PRESIDENT HINDENBURG.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LIV, Issue 210, 4 August 1934, Page 6

PRESIDENT HINDENBURG.

Most of the leading figures in the great drama of twenty years ago have departed. Now FieldMarshal von Hindenburg, President of Germany, follows Marshals Joffre and Foch, Lord French, Lord Haig, Lord Balfour, Lord Oxford. M. Clemenceau, General Botha, General Cadorha, and others who occupied a high position in the field and in the Council Chamber. With Mr Lloyd George he possibly ranked as the greatest surviving figure of those who crossed the world stage in the dark four years of the Great War. His country and Europe are distinctly the poorer for his passing, for he was the power that kept Germany from horrible internal dissension many times in recent years. Paul Hindenburg was born of a German aristocratic family and joined the army before the formation of the German Empire. His career did not differ materially from those of other officers who rose to command an army corps, and in 1911 he retired a little known personality. The onrush of the Russian forces in East Prussia early in the War caused the Kaiser to summon von Hindenburg to his help. He had made an intensive study of the marshy country in the east and his brilliant strategy, wfilh Ludendorff as his chief of staff, hurled the Russians back in disaster. In 1916, again with Ludendorff, he was given high command in the west, but his famous Hindenburg Line could not hold back the victorious Allied forces as they defeated the Germans opposed to them. Hindenburg directed the retreat of the Germany Army across the Rhine, a striking tribute to his personality from the Republican Government, for he was a confirmed Monarchist. He entered the political field in 1925 when he contested the Presidency against Karl Marx after Herr Ebert’s death. It was a testing time for the great German General, who became the idol of his people as he proved to be their bulwark against Communism and the forces of absolutism led by Hitler. He dared, it was written, the Socialists’ wrath in emergency decrees, he almost exceeded his authority more than once in advising Chancellors _ in the formation of their Ministries, and in spite of all commanded the admiration and respect of all but Communists and extreme Socialists. In 1932 he defeated Hitler in his second election for the Presidency, a notable victory as the Nazis were then commencing their ride on the crest of a wave of popularity that was to make them masters of Germany, though it was felt that Hindenburg would rather have retired to his estate. His high conception of his duty to his country influenced his decision, and it was that same lofty ideal that guided him during these difficult years in Germany’s post-war history. With his passing Hitler becomes President, the Dictator of Germany having secured the passing of a law combining that office with the Chancellorship. The new President has made. his position secure, and the political future of the Reich was never more obscure. Democracy is completely subservient to absolutism, and the Constitution * has been set at defiance in refusing the people the right to elect their President. The uneasiness which has been manifested concerning Germany since the recent revolution has been very greatly increased by Hitler’s coup.