AHC: Bundeskanzler Erwin Rommel

Starting no earlier than the 1st of July, 1944, you have to create a series of events that lead to Erwin Rommel being elected Chancellor of the German Federal Republic, before 1970.
 
How rigorous was the post-war de-Nazification process? I'm pretty sure they barred a lot of former Nazis from political office, and Rommel was certainly a member of the party.
 
Had the Western allies viewed the Soviets as particularly belligerent, they might be more optimistic about having someone like Rommel "elected" to lead an anti-Soviet Germany. Maybe Operation Downfall follows through, Soviets take a surprising amount of Japan to occupy. Greece goes red and Yugoslavia allows itself to be closer aligned with Moscow.

As a result, de-Nazification is relaxed to an extent, mostly to former military men who were more than glad to blame Hitler for everything. Light rightist elements take hold and a "neutral" figure, Rommel, is chosen to be the face of a pro-West nationalist Germany. Of course, his death must be avoided, which could be rather simple to achieve.
 
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