The Washington times., 1934-08-02
NAZ| CH|EFTA|N
NOW HOLDS
FULL SWAY
Germany Mourns as War Lord
Passes Away; Church Bells
Toll Sad Requiem
Continued from Page y

President (he would nave Deen VI
had he lived until his birthday,
october 81 did not regain consci-
business after slipping into q
deeper coma at about 5 q. m. e..
His two daughters, Irmgard
(Frau Won BrockhauSen) and
Anna Marie (F'rau Won Pentz) also
were in the room when he died.
Earlier in the morning the doc
tors had issued a bulletin which
showed the nation that the end
could not be far off. It read:
"The general weakness is In
creasing. A new state Of uncOn-
sciOuSnesS is starting"
Announcement of the Presi-
den's death broke up one Of the
largest death watches in postwar
history. More than 100 newspaper
men gathered about the manor
house rushed to their lines OF COM
municationS to flash the news to
the world.
Hitler Takes Office
Immediately after the announce
ment of the Presidents death
came the radio broadcast from
Berlin telling the nation that Hit
Ter had assumed the Presidents
high office and was retaining his
Own as well.
The watchers spec t ed
whether the President had made
Hitler his political heir in the
deathbed meeting Of the two yes
terday afternoon when Hitler flew
here, and was closeted with Hin
denburg for short time.
President Won Hindenburg had
been progressively weakening
from a chronic weakness for the
past two months. He was
troubled by a condition Of the
prostate gland which led to
bladder and kidney complications
and finally to a toxic condition
in which he lapsed into uncon-
SciousnesS.
In spite of his weakened condi-
ton and the painful treatments
it necesSitated, he had carried
on the affairs Of state almost
up to the end.
Only on Monday he had held
an important interview. .
His death came as the entire
nation was observing the actual
beginning of the Germany's par
ticipation of the war by praying
for the war dead, and Won Hin
denburg, lowering between life
and death, was first in the
nations prayers.
Bells Toll Requiem
Shortly after 9 o'clock the
church bells all were ringing, and
the people knew that on this
day, the nations scroll of
honored dead, contained g. new
name, that Of Reichspresident
Field Marshal Paul Ludwig Hans
Won Beneckendorf und Won Hin
denburg.
He died only about so miles
from the battlefield where he
turned back and almost oblitera-
ted the invading Russian hordes
and saved Germany from defeat
in the early days Of the war,
Tannenberg.
Observers thought that in his
Semi-consciouS hours he again
walked the MaSurian Lake dis
trict which was to be that battle
field, where in 1911, ga years
old, retired because of age and
official diSfavor, he walked and
planned an imaginary battle for
the salvation of the Fatherland.
Perhaps, they thought, he again
fought the battle, giving orders
to the most brilliant chief of
staff that any general ever had
at his command, Ludendorff. But
Field Marshal Ludendorff was
not there at his death. He was
far away in the Bavarian Alps,
an impoverished, embittered old
man, whose perfect loyalty to his
field marshal had been shattered
by politics.
Neither was Field Marshal Won
MackenSen present.
Instead of his marshals and
his generals in those days when
his direction Of the German
armies almost defeated the world,
it was a mere former lance cor
poral who came to see him on
his death bed, and who seized his
power before even the newSpa-
pers had time to announce his
death.
BeSet By Worries
No great captain in history
ever died under such trying con-
ditions. Painful as it was, Ma
poleon's lingering death at st.
Helena was untroubled compared
with that of Won Hindenburg.
Only eight days ago the prob
lem of the murder Of Chancellor
DollfusS of Austria was brought
to him, and Won Hindenburg
knew that Germany would be
blamed for it by the world.
He dispatched a letter Of con-
dolence to President MiklaS Of
Austria, the sincerity of which
no one questioned. It was all he
could do to extricate his country
from its unenviable position.
TREASURY CONDITION