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Alfred Hugenberg | |
|---|---|
 Hugenberg in 1933 | |
| Reich Minister of Economics | |
| In office 30 January 1933 – 29 June 1933 | |
| President | Paul von Hindenburg |
| Chancellor | Adolf Hitler |
| Preceded by | Hermann Warmbold |
| Succeeded by | Kurt Schmitt |
| Reich Minister for Food and Agriculture | |
| In office 30 January 1933 – 29 June 1933 | |
| President | Paul von Hindenburg |
| Chancellor | Adolf Hitler |
| Preceded by | Magnus von Braun |
| Succeeded by | Richard Walther Darré |
| Chairman of the German National People's Party | |
| In office 21 October 1928 – 27 June 1933 | |
| Preceded by | Kuno von Westarp |
| Succeeded by | Party abolished |
| Member of the Reichstag | |
| In office 1920–1945 | |
| Constituency | Westphalia North |
| Member of the German National Assembly | |
| In office 6 February 1919 – 21 May 1920 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Alfred Ernst Christian Alexander Hugenberg 19 June 1865 Hanover, Kingdom of Hanover |
| Died | 12 March 1951 (aged 85) Kükenbruch, West Germany |
| Political party | Independent (1933–1951) |
| Other political affiliations | German National People's Party (1918–1933) German Fatherland Party (1917–1918) |
| Spouse | Gertrud Adickes (1900–1951) |
| Alma mater | Göttingen, Heidelberg, Berlin, Strassburg |
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| Conservatism in Germany |
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Alfred Ernst Christian Alexander Hugenberg (19 June 1865 – 12 March 1951) was an influential German businessman and politician. An important figure in nationalist politics in Germany during the first three decades of the twentieth century, Hugenberg became the country's leading media proprietor during the 1920s. As leader of the German National People's Party, he played a part in helping Adolf Hitler become chancellor of Germany and served in his first cabinet in 1933, hoping to control Hitler and use him as his tool. The plan failed, and by the end of 1933 Hugenberg had been pushed to the sidelines. Although he continued to serve as a guest member of the Reichstag until 1945, he wielded no political influence.[1] Following World War II, he was interned by the British in 1946 and classified as "exonerated" in 1951 after undergoing denazification.
Hugenberg's fundamental political and philosophical principles can be traced back to his youth. His university studies and early work organizing agricultural societies led him to view the independent farmer or small businessman as the ideal German. He believed in social Darwinism, despised communism, socialism and trade unions, and was in general skeptical of big business and finance. He thought that Germany needed an authoritarian government – ideally a monarchy – and strongly supported nationalism and imperialism in the belief that Germany could be secure only as a great power. The fall of the Hohenzollern monarchy at the end of World War I came as a tremendous shock, and from that point until the establishment of the Nazi state in 1933 he focused on bringing down the parliamentary government of the Weimar Republic.[2]
Hugenberg earned degrees in both economics and law. In 1891, at the age of twenty-six, he co-founded the nationalist organization that later became the Pan-German League. He worked in the Prussian civil service and in private business before joining the Krupp steel works where he was chairman of the board of directors from 1909 until 1918. His work there led to seats on other supervisory boards and trade associations.[3] During World War I, Hugenberg was an annexationist who wanted the Empire to expand to the east through German settlements. He blamed Germany's defeat on Jews and socialists who had supposedly stabbed the Germany army in the back.[4]
After the war, Hugenberg left Krupp to concentrate on politics and building up the media empire that he had started in 1916 when he bought the Scherl publishing house. That purchase was followed by the news agency Telegraphen-Union, numerous newspapers and in 1927 a controlling interest in the Universum-Film-AG (Ufa), a major film producer.[3] Hugenberg's media outlets provided stiff and sometimes dominating competition to older liberal media companies such as Ullstein and Mosse (both of which were owned by Jews).
As a representative of the German National People's Party (DNVP), Hugenberg was a member of the Weimar National Assembly from 1919–20 and then of the German Reichstag until 1945. For many years he provided the majority of the DNVP's funds, and his influence dominated the right-wing press in Germany.[3] As the most influential voice in the DNVP's pan-German bloc, he opposed the Dawes Plan, which attempted to resolve the issues surrounding Germany's reparations payments, in the belief that a return to the economic chaos of hyperinflation would bring down the Republic. Hugenberg became chairman of the DNVP after the party's substantial losses in the 1928 Reichstag elections. He obtained "dictatorial" leadership powers and tried to transform the party into a "Hugenberg movement". He also shifted emphasis to the extra-parliamentary sphere with the aim of forcing the replacement of parliamentary government by an authoritarian regime.[2] His radicalism caused the DNVP to split, with many key industrialists leaving the party.[5]
Hugenberg's first tentative media support of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party came following the failed Beer Hall Putsch in 1923. The relationship deepened in 1929 when the DNVP and Nazis joined forces in an unsuccessful bid to stop the Young Plan, a second attempt to resolve the reparations issue. The two parties were also part of the short-lived Harzburg Front of 1931 that was formed to create a united front against the government of Chancellor Heinrich Brüning. Both efforts at cooperation benefited the Nazis more than the DNVP. The Nazis gained the most from the radicalization of the middle classes, and the moderate elements in the DNVP continued to move away from the party.[2]
By early 1933 Hugenberg realized that his attempt to ally with the Nazis had failed and that they presented a danger to the state and society. He nevertheless became minister of Economics and of Food and Agriculture in the Hitler cabinet. He became increasingly isolated in the cabinet and failed in his attempt to become "economic dictator". He was forced out of the cabinet after five months, on the same day that the DNVP voted to disband. After that he no longer had any political influence and over time also had to cede his media holdings to the Nazis.[2]
After World War II he was interned by the British. He died in 1951.
- ^ "Alfred Hugenberg | German political leader". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 28 September 2020.
- ^ a b c d Hoepke, Klaus-Peter (1974). "Hugenberg, Alfred". Neue Deutsche Biographie 10 (in German). pp. 10–13 [Online-Version]. Retrieved 24 September 2023.
- ^ a b c Wichmann, Manfred (14 September 2014). "Alfred Hugenberg 1865–1951: Wirtschaftsführer, Politiker" [Alfred Hugenberg 1865–1951: Business Leader, Politician]. Deutsches Historisches Museum (in German). Retrieved 24 September 2023.
- ^ Leopold 1977, p. 11.
- ^ Leopold 1977, p. 163.