Evening star., 1934-08-11
BY CYRIL A. PLAYER.


BY CYRIL A. PLAYER.
Youth and childhood. These sur
rounded him in the years of private
life. II was in these days that Paul
Won Hindenburg began his crusade to
enlist the children of Germany in the
cause Of the future But he was, after
all. only wounded old man, wither-
ing away, as II seemed, on the dry
stalk OF a dead past. He kept his flag
flying in the hearts of the children
and never struck it in his own. But
he was lonely old man, from whom
everything seemed to slip away &.
leaving him there.
Finally, on May IA. 1921. his wife
died. He loved her very dearly. II
was the only romance Of his life.
They understood each other. He be-
came clustered in the vast Hanover
house, pondering all that had van
ished. Friends saw him seldom. To
one of the dearest Of them. he wrote:
The death of my dear wife has made
me so desolate."
Refused to Lose Courage.
What of Tannenberg the Ma
surian Lakes the Siegfried line
the Ancre retreat . 2 Well, he
finds himself desolate. The loss ard
pain about the Fatherland." he re-
sumeS, turning his grief away from
his own breast, ARE almost too much
for me. but dare not and will not
lose courage"
So passed four years.
The death of Friedrich Ebert served
TO unloose all the elements whose un-
easiness had been so difhcult to re-
strain sufficiently for any government
to function. The first election for q
successor was inconclusive. and the
Left tried to focus all similar minded
groups behind wilhelm Marx of the
Catholic center.
The Nationalists took alarm and
cast around for the strongest figure
they could find, until their eyes rested
speculatively on Hanover and an idea
was conceived that seemed the height
OF recklessness-Hindenburgl The
field marshal was then in his 18th
year: he never had concealed the fact
that party politics were foreign to
him and he unsympathetic toward
them: his career and education had
prevented him from acquiring a great
knowledge of European politics; he
had never, except in the course OF
war. set foot outside the German
frontiers; there were many Germans
who suspected that he might pave the
way for restoration Of the monarchy.
World Reaction Problem.
There was also to be considered,
with misgiving, the effect on the
world If the German nation should
choose for President the man who re-
manned the embodiment Of Germanys
war.
And, then, would he be q candi-
date? The question was put, and an
swered with a grllh and formidable
moi"
1t IVES Admiral Won TirpitZ, he OF
the forked whiskers, in a natty blue
suit, who went to Hanover. where the
two veterans of strange fortunes
looked searchingly into each others
face "Oh, blessed Hindenburg," Tir-
pitZ had calculated a decade earlier,
in 1915, help us soon, for we are in
sore need of It'll" And so, vitalized by
the magic word duty" the touch
stone of his whole life, Hindenburg
consented. And when the word
reached the cabinet in Berlin the min
isters sat in silence, uneasy, won-
dering.
He was elected not as the hero Of
Tanneberg alone, but as a force of
character; q rock, sturdy and great,
to which q nation might cling while
the storms lashed the waves higher
and higher. His. presidency, both
terms, could be told in one sentence
his own formula, There must be
orderl" at all cost, and by whatever
means. There must be no civil war.
Germany must have peace, and he
went to the grave still with the unful-
filled vision of a recreated nation,
possibly in his own image, simple and
scrupulous.
Learns Job Of, Presidency.
When he entered the presidency he
knew nothing whatever except that
word, "duty." He never had read the
constitution, but then he called for q
copy. He told his advisers to ex-
plain everything to him, and, morn
ing after morning, listened patiently
to the amazing grist of detail a pres
ident must aSsiInilate, and asked
questions and made grave notes of
the answers. Untiringly he learned
this strangest of jobs, while Chancel-
lor Luther and his foreign minister,
Stresemann, pushed forward on the
road to world amity. Hindenburg at
first distrusted Stresemann, probably
from lingering resentment over the
peace and suspicion of sudden friend
ships abroad. In the end he came to
respect him and, when that great
German died his chief mourner,
afoot, was the aged president.
He liked Bruening, but was aghast
at the utter failure of the Germtn
parliamentary system to compose it
self for permanent policy. Gradually,
too, ne turned more and more to his
old PrusSian friends, process ac-
celerated when a group of them
brought about the gift of the ances-
tral Neudeck home - unfortunately
arranged as gift to the son, Oskar,
with a view to evading inheritance
tax.
Suspicious Aroused.
Slowly he became suspicious Of the
tendency OF the compromises Bruen-
ing constantly sought for the main
tenance Of government; even DEGREES
(under article 48), could not eliminate
elections. and the old gentleman and
all under him were faithful to the