Paul von Hindenburg place of burial St. Elisabeth's Church
Death
Hindenburg remained in office until his death at the age of 86 from lung cancer at his home in Neudeck, East Prussia, on 2 August 1934. The day before, Hitler received word that Hindenburg was on his deathbed. He then had the cabinet pass the "Law Concerning the Head of State of the German Reich," which stipulated that upon Hindenburg's death, the office of president would be abolished and its powers merged with those of the chancellor under the title of Führer und Reichskanzler (Leader and Chancellor of the Reich).Two hours after Hindenburg's death, it was announced that as a result of this law, Hitler was now both Germany's head of state and head of government, thereby eliminating the last remedy by which he could be legally dismissed and cementing his status as the absolute dictator of Germany. Publicly, Hitler announced that the presidency was "inseparably united" with Hindenburg, and it would not be appropriate for the title to ever be used again.In truth, Hitler had known as early as April 1934 that Hindenburg would likely not survive the year. He worked feverishly to get the armed forces—the only group in Germany that would be nearly powerful enough to remove him with Hindenburg dead—to support his bid to become head of state after Hindenburg's death. In a meeting aboard the Deutschland on 11 April with Blomberg, army commander Werner von Fritsch and naval commander Erich Raeder, Hitler publicly proposed that he himself succeed Hindenburg. In return for the armed forces' support, he agreed to suppress the SA and promised that the armed forces would be the only bearers of arms in Germany under his watch. Raeder agreed right away, but Fritsch withheld his support until 18 May, when the senior generals unanimously agreed to back Hitler as Hindenburg's successor.According to Günther von Tschirschky und Bögendorff, an interwar German diplomat and associate of Hindenburg who later defected to the United Kingdom, President Paul Von Hindenburg's last will and testament had criticised the Nazis and supported democracy. The defector said that it had also argued for the establishment of a constitutional monarchy with clear separation of powers along with the abolition of all forms of racial and religious discrimination. He alleged that the document had been handed over to Hitler by Hindenburg's Nazi supporting son. A few days after his death the Nazis released their own version of Hindenburg's final "political testament" which was complimentary of Hitler.Hitler had a plebiscite held on 19 August 1934, in which the German people were asked if they approved of Hitler taking the office of Führer. The Ja (Yes) vote amounted to 90% of the vote. This referendum, as well as all efforts to make Hitler Hindenburg's successor, violated the Enabling Act. Although it gave Hitler the right to pass laws that were contrary to the constitution, it stated that the president's powers were to remain "undisturbed", which has long been interpreted to forbid any attempt to tamper with the presidency. The constitution had also previously been amended in 1932 to make the president of the High Court of Justice, not the chancellor, first in the line of succession to the presidency and even then only on an interim basis until fresh elections.
Contrary to Hindenburg's will, he was interred with his wife in a magnificent ceremony at the Tannenberg Memorial. In 1944, as the Soviets approached, Generalleutnant Oskar von Hindenburg moved his parents' remains to western Germany. In January 1945, German troops blew up the memorial. In 1949, Polish authorities razed the site, leaving few traces. His remains were temporarily interred in Thuringia along with the remains of Frederick the Great, Frederick William I, the standards of the Imperial German Army from 1914 to 1918, the files of the Foreign Office, artworks from Prussian state museums, the library of Sanssouci and the Prussian crown jewels. By April 1945, the Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives Section of the United States Army uncovered the remains and transported them to Marburg, where they were interred in St. Elizabeth's Church in Marburg, were they remain to this day. A plaque on his grave only commemorates the victims of war and violence, without mentioning Hindenburg's name.
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