WI: Crown Prince Wilhelm ran for and won the German Presidency in 1932?

So a little background first. Crown Prince Wilhelm was the eldest son of Kaiser Wilhelm II. In 1918 he, along with his father, fled into exile in the Netherlands at the end of the first World War. He returned to Germany in 1923 and joined several right-wing political movements Stahlhelm and later the Harzburger Front. In 1932 the Crown Prince wished to run for Reichspräsident against both Reichspräsident Paul von Hindenburg and Adolf Hitler but the idea was vetoed by his father (who threatened to disinherit him). So lets say the Crown Prince disregarded his father's threats and ran for President. To make it more interesting lets say he wins. What is the long-term and short-term effects of this scenario? Would this stave off Hitlers rise to power? What kind of President would the Crown Prince be? Would this be a possible step towards a Monarchist restoration in Germany?
 
Could he possibly win? Would German voters not link him with the monarchy that brought them into WWI. Hindenburg (though victories) and Hitler (though trashing Versailles) had some appeal. What can the Crown Prince offer?
 

NoMommsen

Donor
Beside that I have not the slightiest idea how a Crown Prince ticket could win
and
since the Crown Prince himself was quite a dumb dunderhead

the people backing him or better 'steering' him would play the game, not him. Therefore the effects of this scenario would be determinated by them.
Who do you have in mind ?
 
Napoleon I was, and is, remembered well in France. Kaiser Wilhelm couldn't and can't say the same.

Napoleon III*

And well, according to this scenario Wilhelm III got elected , so that is mean the enought people like him to accept him as their leader
 
Napoleon III*

And well, according to this scenario Wilhelm III got elected , so that is mean the enought people like him to accept him as their leader

No, I meant the original. The point being that they remembered the old empire well, whereas the Germans didn't like what happened with their previous Kaiser.
 
No, I meant the original. The point being that they remembered the old empire well, whereas the Germans didn't like what happened with their previous Kaiser.

Well, this I don't know, Wilhelm II was extremely popular for giving worker's rights (before the war), Wilhelm III could use the same speech as his father, promissing a strong and populist germany, or not, I'm no specialist in this subject....
 
How would he win? He's got nothing.

Not the victories of Hindenburg, instead he's got Verdun tacked to his name. He can't get the monarchists, he won't get the backing of the Weimar parties and he won't get the Nazis either. IF he had his fathers permission and Hindenburg would have backed him he might have had a chance but not like this.
 

NoMommsen

Donor
How would he win? He's got nothing.

Not the victories of Hindenburg, instead he's got Verdun tacked to his name. He can't get the monarchists, he won't get the backing of the Weimar parties and he won't get the Nazis either. IF he had his fathers permission and Hindenburg would have backed him he might have had a chance but not like this.
Not even then.
Hindenbugs win was to a great (if not the greatest) part due to SPD voter following their party leader advice. But it was a damn bitter pill to swallow for them. No way they would have done this for Crown Prince, symbol of what they almost hated the most (beside Hitler maybe).
 
Not even then.
Hindenbugs win was to a great (if not the greatest) part due to SPD voter following their party leader advice. But it was a damn bitter pill to swallow for them. No way they would have done this for Crown Prince, symbol of what they almost hated the most (beside Hitler maybe).

So they hand the election to Hitler? I mean, I can see it but I didn't want to rule out the possibility of them hating Hitler just enough to swallow even this pill.
 
It's quite a reach, for the reasons mentioned above. I'd say Hindenburg was the only "Empire" figure who could win. It takes (or has taken) a pretty rare situation for a former Royal to get elected. Napoleon III isn't quite the example to argue for Crown Prince William, and Norodom Sihanouk and Simeon Sakskoburggotski are in a very distant future.
 
From what I've read, the idea was to have the Crown Prince run as a candidate of unity for the nationalists (and I'm guessing the Conservatives as well) to rally around, with both Hindenburg and Hitler dropping out. There was also a suggestion of a power-sharing agreement between the Prince and Hitler, with the former as President and the later as Chancellor. Apparently Hitler was on board with the idea. As for Hindenburg, he might be persuaded to support the Prince if he thinks the later has a chance of winning.

As for the Kaiser himself, would the Monarchists really listen to him or would they play realpolitik in this situation? I mean legally he can't do jack sh*t, not the least formally disinherit the Crown Prince on his on. I just have a hard time believing that the Monarchists, if they saw an opening towards a restoration, would listen to their exiled, unpopular former Sovereign who would never have a chance to regain the throne.
 
Wilhelm's "No" was enough for Hindenburg to drop his plan of having Adolf Friedrich zu Mecklenburg run as his successor for President. Hindenburg had even gone so far as to coordinate this with the Wittelsbachers to avoid problems there, but the Ex-Kaiser's veto caused him to drop the idea. And setting the precedent of a son successfully rebelling against his father would be unlikely to be something the circle around Hindenburg would want to set.
 
OK, didn't realize the Kaiser had that much influence left. So what if Wilhelm II is convinced that a Hohenzollern Prince-President would be a good thing and gives his tentative approval (or at least withholds a veto)?
 
OK, didn't realize the Kaiser had that much influence left. So what if Wilhelm II is convinced that a Hohenzollern Prince-President would be a good thing and gives his tentative approval (or at least withholds a veto)?


Or how about if Hindenburg dies in 1932, so isn't making the decision. Would Wilhelm II's objections carry the same weight with whoever was standing in?
 
The former Kaiser Wilhelm II was the head of the Royal family so what he said carried a great deal of weight in it> The former Kaiser couldn't stand Hitler and objected to the Nazi's politics
 
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