German Statesman and diplomat, born in Werl (in Westphalia) to an ancient Westphalian Catholic family of nobles
Before the Nazi Rise to Power
Von Papen sat in the Prussian parliament from 1920-1928 and again from 1930-1932, and he played an active part in German national life. He played a decisive role in the fall of Chancellor Heinrich Bruening's Zentrum Government. After withdrawing from the party, he was Prime Minister (from June 1 to November 17, 1932) of a right-wing Government without party affiliation that depended solely on the authority of President Paul von Hindenburg and on the initiative of army officer and Statesman Kurt von Schleicher. His leanings toward openly authoritarian direction of the State were revealed principally in his anti-democratic emergency regulations, published on June 14 and September 4 and 5, 1932. They reached a climax with the dissolution of the Reichstag (parliament) on September 12.
Providing an Opening for the Persecution of Jews
The Nazis gained from von Papen's decision to repeal the June 15 ban on the SA (Sturmabteilung; Storm Troopers), and from the appointment of Wilhelm von Gayl as Minister of the Interior. Von Gayl wished to make the citizenship of people of an "inferior culture" dependent on a minimum permanent residence of twenty years in Germany. One of his officials, Hans Globke, ordered the police under his command not to allow Jews to change their names in cases when it was clear that the purpose was to "mask the Jewish origin" of the petitioner. Paving the Way to Hitler's Rise to Power. After the fall of von Papen's government, Kurt von Schleicher, who had initially helped him come to power and then played a decisive role in his fall, became Chancellor. The embittered von Papen opposed Schleicher's attrition tactics against the Nazis, and on January 4, 1933, he met with Adolf Hitler for a decisive talk, reaching a general agreement with him and thereby paving the way for Hitler's rise to power. On January 30, Hitler became chancellor, with von Papen as his deputy. It rapidly became clear that von Papen's hope of becoming actual ruler was unrealistic, but as Hitler's deputy he bore much of the responsibility for the "political clean up" that was immediately instituted. Von Papen was soon pushed aside. In a speech in Marburg on June 17, 1934, he carefully dissociated himself from certain aspects of the regime. Two weeks later, in the purge connected with the Roehm affair (June 30, 1934), he lost his position in the government, and the man who had written the Marburg speech was put to death.
Toward the Annexation of Austria
From 1934-1938, von Papen was ambassador to Austria and paved the way for its annexation. Between 1939-1944 he was ambassador in Ankara, failing in his efforts to persuade Turkey to join the war on the side of Germany, but managing to influence his World War I comrades-in-arms to maintain neutrality almost until the end of World War II.
The Nuremberg Trial and Its Aftermath
In April 1945, von Papen was arrested by the Allies. He was one of the accused at the Nuremberg Trial, but was acquitted since his participation in sponsoring the war of aggression could not be proved; in 1949, a de-Nazification court sentenced him to twelve years in a labour camp. However, since he had already spent some years in prison, he was released immediately after an appeal. Von Papen wrote "Memoirs" (New York, 1953) and "Vom Scheitern einer Demokratie, 1930-1933" ("The Failure of a Democracy, 1930-1933"; 1968).
