Now all we need is a PoD where Army High command actually cares about the facts.
I doubt the Army High command had much to do with these events the problem was the Nazi rise to power was so great in the early 1930s that professional politicians had to pay attention to them. Hindenburg its former head probably delayed Hitler rise for a while, and once Hitler came to power it was Hindenburg who went out to protect Jewish war veterans.
Here is a discussion on this question
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Paul_von_Hindenburg#Hindenburg_Views_of_the_Jews
Hindenburg and Hitler concerning the threatment of Jewish World War I veterans and its interesting to see how Hindenburg seems not to have held anti-semitic feelings, despite the fact that he didnt opposed most anti-Jewish Nazi legislation. This is the source I used:
[1]. Hindenburg shows no hostility to the Jews: "Recently, a whole series of cases has been reported to me in which judges, lawyers, and officials of the Judiciary who are disabled war veterans and whose record in office is flawless, have been forcibly sent on leave, and are later to be dismissed for the sole reason that they are of Jewish descent./ It is quite intolerable for me personally...that Jewish officials who were disabled in the war should suffer such treatment, [especially] as, with the express approval of the government, I addressed a Proclamation to the German people on the day of the national uprising, March 21, in which I bowed in reverence before the dead of the war and remembered in gratitude the bereaved families of the war dead, the disabled, and my old comrades at the front. I am certain, Mr. Chancellor, that you share this human feeling, and request you, most cordially and urgently, to look into this matter yourself, and to see to it that there is some uniform arrangement for all branches of the public service in Germany. As far as my own feelings are concerned, officials, judges, teachers and lawyers who are war invalids, fought at the front, are sons of war dead, or themselves lost sons in the war should remain in their positions unless an individual case gives reason for different treatment. If they were worthy of fighting for Germany and bleeding for Germany, then they must also be considered worthy of continuing to serve the Fatherland in their professions...."
Mistico (
talk) 16:39, 20 October 2012 (UTC)
Mistico, with all due respect I feel that you have misunderstood Hindenburg's view of Jews. It is quite correct that Hindenburg was against anti-Semitic laws being applied to war veterans, but it was only Jewish war veterans that concerned him. Hindenburg's views of the Jews was that it was wrong to discriminate against the "patriotic Jews" who fought for the Fatherland in the World War, but it was quite acceptable to discriminate against the presumably unpatriotic Jews who did not fight in the war. Hindenburg did speak out against attempts to discriminate against Jewish war veterans, but he did not object to signing in anti-Semitic laws in general, and furthermore, the only reason why this situation existed was because it was Hindenburg who appointed Hitler chancellor in the first place. The fact that Hindenburg spoke out against attempts to discriminate against Jewish veterans does not absolve him of his responsibility for Nazi Germany.--
A.S. Brown (
talk) 20:19, 9 November 2016 (UTC)
Hindenburg was far less anti-semitic than people like Ludendorff, Mackensen or Wilhelm II himself. This article from the Jewish press upon his death I think shows it: "Despite this official move, however, Jews of Germany still found comfort in the fact that Hindenburg had on several occasions assured them that he would tolerate no infringement of their rights./ On August 13, 1932, von Hindenburg sent to the Central Union of German Citizens of the Jewish Faith a message in which he expressed disapproval of the limitation of Jewish rights and also of all anti-Jewish attacks. His message was in reply to a white book submitted to him by the Central Union setting out the facts regarding Nazi terroristic methods practiced against the Jews./ The Hitlerites, as well as General von Ludendorf protested von Hindenburg’s statement and later Nazi deputies in the Reichstag unleashed a vicious attack on “Der Alte,” denouncing him and describing him as “the Jewish candidate.” In their campaign against him they even went so far as to allege that he was of Jewish origin./ During the last presidential elections, in 1932, all the Jewish organizations in Germany supported the candidacy of von Hindenburg./ When the Hitler Government came into power, the Jewish organizations publicly re-affirmed their faith in the aged president of the Reich./ Taking this promise at its face value, Jewish leaders expressed the opinion that Hitler would not have free rein at the helm of the Reich, but that he would be held in close check by Hindenburg and his conservative protege, Franz von Papen, who was named Vice Chancellor."
[2]Mistico (
talk) 19:07, 2 January 2019 (UTC)