(edit: I mucked up the title, it should be Wenn alle Untreu Werden so Bleiben wir doch treu)
Just casting around for ideas here for an alternate history - is it conceivably possible, in the 20's 30's or 40's to restore the German Emperor? What would be needed? Effects? Please do not give me over much, as I am just looking for inspiration.
One POD could be Hitler dying on the front in WW1. In fact, isnt' someone working on that timeline possibility?
Anyway, with Hitler out of the picture, there is still a strong NSDAP or equivalent, but it is more "left" wing than IOTL ... run by the Strassers and Ernst Roehm. Such a group might even make common cause with the Communists (even Hitler's NSDAP sometimes did).
The Weimar Republic is still discredited even without Hitler. In 1932, with the economy in a shambles and complete lack of confidence in Republican institutions, the NSDAP and Communists would be strong contenders to take over. However, without Hitler trying to reach out to the industrialists and conservatives as he did, one could see the Prussian reactionaries imposing a military dictatorship to ward off radicalism (the Reichswehr was small but very effective and could have rolled over the huge but unruly Brownshirts). Perhaps after the death of President Hindenburg the Junkers and allies would reinstitute the Hohenzollern monarchy, but perhaps not with Wilhelm II.
It would be an unpleasant authoritarian state with likely less freedom than in the old Kaiserreich. The Reichstag would be a toothless debating society if it met at all. The unions would be either crushed or drastically curtailed. Business, industry and commerce would do well. Large landholders would be cosseted by the government.
I think we would see some military rebuilding in defiance of Versailles, and even possibly a similar reoccupation of the Rhineland. There would also be some revanchist noises made against Poland.
But such a regime would probably allow a little freedom in the press, would leave the churches alone. I think the Jews would be left alone as well, as long as they "recognized their place" and quietly accepted the restored monarchy.
And this regime would be more cautious than Hitler's regime regarding the possibility of a war with the allied powers over Poland.
I also wonder if there would be continuing unrest with the Communists and radical NSDAPers being forced underground. There would have to be a sizeable secret police.