The Waterbury Democrat., 1931-06-16
Hindenburg Topic
 Of "Yale Review"
British Author and Former DiplOmatist Writes About
 German President in Summer Issue

the politicians, looked to him. Him denburg understood nothing about politics and disliked them. Luden- doff also understood nothing about politics but liked them very much indeed. It was under his influence that decisions were made. They were bad decisions. They included such things as the unrestricted sub- marine warfare, the annexationist program, the treaty of Brest-Lit- ovsk, and the dismissal of Kuhl- mann. Herr von Kuhlmann had had the courage in 1918 to state that the war could not be won by military means alone. He was right. Ludendorff knew he was right. But Ludendorff had him flung from off, flee and replaced by nominee of his own. Germany thereby lost the chance of an honorable peace. But of all these things Hindenberg knew nothing. He merely initialied the telegrams which Ludendorff had drafted.
 And then, in the autumn of 1918, came the crash. Ludendorff escaped to Sweden disguised in civilian clothes, huge tinted spectacles, and passport in the name of Herr Lindstrom. Hindenberg remained. Puzzled but anxious he watched the defeat and disintegration of the Ger man army. Puzzled and distraught he learnt that republic had been proclaimed in Berlin. He advised the emperor, whom he loved, to fly to Holland. He did not join him. He remained behind with what was left of the army. And when the re- public was established he offered it his services. It was his duty. He remained on as commander-in-ch chief until the treaty of Versailles was signed. And then he returned to his little flat in Hannover-an old unhappy man. He remained in re- tirement for six further years, re- fusing to raise hand against the republic, which, however much 1t might conflict with the Wahlstatt traditions, was yet the accepted gov ernment of his country. He re- mained there-honored, aged, and unimportant. Visited on occasions ed by his family and the absurd pic- lures of the Madonna which he had for years been collecting.
 "Then in 1925 came another and even more unexpected summons. President Ebert, the first republican statesman of Germany, died sudden ly. None of the political parties could agree on his successor. The first election was fiasco, and the nation was menaced by renewal of disturbance. The friends of Him. denberg urged him to stand for the presidency. He refused, claiming, and with justice, that he was now too old. They urged him that 1t was his duty to resume his own legend. The old war horse was fired by the use of this watchword. He agreed. He boiled nearly fifteen million votes. And there he remains to-day in his presidential palace, an almost mythical figure, the emblem of the sacred continuity of German tradi- ton.
 "It is in this symbolic character of a racial deity that resides the immense strength of Hindenburg and his legend. His presence has given dignity and balance to the German republic. His very longev- ity invests him with an almost the ocratic prestige. In the vast solidity of their president the German people recognize the embodiment of their triumphs and their sufferings. | IHOSe CliioiSl SySo A"'S SSSAA the greatest victories and the great est defeats of the German armies: they have gazed on the men who fought at Jena, at Sedan, at Tan- nenberg, and at the Marne; they have witnessed that proud day in the Galerie des Glaces, and they have clouded to that bitter morning, almost half century later, when the last of the German emperors took train for Holland; and back in the remote past they have looked up with equal integrity and confi- dence to an old gardener who num- bled stories of Frederick the Great.
 "The German people have nearly every quality, but they lack self confidence. Being romantic by na- ture, they love to creat mythological figures to personify their own vir- tues. Hindenburg is one of those figures. He is not intelligent, and, in fact, his mental processes are as simple as those fo child. He is not interested in politics. and his actions as president have been taken invariably on the advice of others. But his very solidity of structure and outlook, the astound- ing permanence of his very presence, act as tonic upon the neurotic diff fidence of his countrymen. AS his sublime sense of duty and of service responds to all that is finest in the German character"