Franz von Papen quotes

Franz von Papen was a German nobleman, diplomat, and politician who served as Chancellor of Germany during the Weimar Republic. A prominent figure in conservative circles, he played a key role in Adolf Hitler’s rise to power by helping to form the coalition that made Hitler Chancellor. He later became Germany’s ambassador to Austria and Turkey but faced criticism for his involvement in the events leading up to World War II. Here are 16 of his quotes:

It is to be hoped that the leaders of this movement will place the nation above the party.

Franz von Papen

But Hitler didn't strive for the annihilation of the Jews - he stressed that fact in public life and in the newspapers. Hitler merely said at the beginning that Jewish influence was too great, that of all the lawyers in Berlin, eighty percent were Jewish. Hitler thought that a small percentage of the people, the Jews, should not be allowed to control the theater, cinema, radio, et cetera.

Franz von Papen

Allow me to say how manly and humanly great of you I think this is. Your courageous and firm intervention have met with nothing but recognition throughout the entire world. I congratulate you for all you have given anew to the German nation by crushing the intended second revolution.

Franz von Papen

The hope in the hearts of millions of national socialists can be fulfilled only by an authoritarian government.

Franz von Papen

The essence of conservative ideology is its being anchored in the divine order of things.

Franz von Papen

The nation demands a movement which has written upon its banner the internal and external national freedom that it will act as if it were the spiritual, social and political conscience of the nation.

Franz von Papen

Party domination and State leadership are concepts incompatible with one another.

Franz von Papen

The events of the past one and one-half years have gripped the whole German people and affected them deeply. It seems almost like a dream that out of the valley of misery, hopelessness, hate, and fragmentation we have found our way back to a German national community. The horrendous tensions in which we have lived since the August days of 1914 have dissolved, and out of this discord, the German soul has emerged once again, before which the glorious and yet so painful history of our people pass in review, from the sagas of the German heroes to the trenches of Verdun, and even to the street fights of our time.

Franz von Papen

In the interest of the entire nation we decline the claim to power by parties which want to own their followers body and soul, and which want to put themselves, as a party or a movement, over and above the whole nation.

Franz von Papen

We must no longer have a pacific conception of peace. In the Middle Ages it was otherwise. The existence of the individual had no exaggerated importance. Pacifist literature depicts death on the field of battle as an unnatural death because it does not understand the ancient Germanic horror of death on a bed, and arteriosclerosis appears to it more virile than a bullet. Pacifists dwell on the horrors of the war dead as if a peace corpse were more aesthetic. The representatives of the national revolution are men and soldiers who are physically and morally warriors.

Franz von Papen

We decline the claim to power by parties which want to own their followers body and soul, and which want to put themselves over and above the whole nation.

Franz von Papen

It is conceivable that a party might gain the majority in parliament and claims the government for itself.

Franz von Papen

Von Papen, pious agent of an infidel regime, held the stirrup while Hitler vaulted into the saddle, lubricated the Austrian annexation and devoted his diplomatic cunning to the service of Nazi objectives abroad.

Franz von Papen

You are mistaken. We've hired him.

Franz von Papen