(5 of 8)
"Precious Dead." The Goebbels-managed Government farewell to Hindenburg began with an oration by Chancellor Hitler to the Reichstag in the fir-decorated Kroll Opera House: "The precious dead . . . now wanders above us ... as the Eternal Protector." That night soldiers and Storm Troopers with flaming torches lined the country road from Neudeck to Tannenberg over which Old Paul's remains were sped by horse-drawn gun carriage, then motor gun carriage, then horses again for the stately arrival. One hundred special trains brought distinguished German males to Tannenberg. With no wailing of women but a final oration by Adolf Hitler the mighty dead was carried into the Field Marshal's Tower and sealed in a vault not far from the common grave of Tannenberg's Twenty Unknown Soldiers.
To keep the German people's minds as much as possible off the Hitler coup, every newspaper was crammed with biographies and anecdotes of Hindenburg. German editors well said that he gave three lives for the Fatherland:
Life No. 1. The von Beneckendorffs have been German soldier-aristocrats for more than 600 years. Old Paul's great-grandfather received from, his great-uncle (a von Hindenburg) certain landed estates only on condition that he add the then comparatively undistinguished name "von Hindenburg" to his own illustrious patronym. Thus it came about that the future President, born in 1847 at Posen in what is now the Polish corridor, bore the name Paul Ludwig Hans Anton von Beneckendorff und von Hindenburg.
His nursemaid, fiercely imbued with the family spirit of Prussian militarism, used to make Little Paul stop crying by bellowing at him, SILENCE IN THE RANKS! To enter the Imperial cadet corps was not for him the choice of a career but eine Selbstuerstandlichkeit ("the only thing to do"). In the Austro-Prussian war of 1866, when he received the bullet that lay on his death sheet last week. Lieut, von Hindenburg fought with such distinction that old King Wilhelm I of Prussia awarded him a decoration usually reserved for officers of much higher rank, the Red Eagle With Swords. Four years later he fought in the Franco-Prussian war and was chosen to represent his regiment in the Palace of Versailles when Prince Bismarck proclaimed the creation of the German Empire.
Promotion in the long spell of peace which followed was slow. He married a staff officer's daughter and was 46 before he became a colonel. In 1903 he had plodded up to the summit of a German officer's hopes in peace time, command of an army corps. Seven years later his first life "ended." According to legend he had committed the indiscretion of too great frankness in the presence of Kaiser Wilhelm II.
The All Highest had been commanding an army against Hindenburg at maneuvers. As usual he had "won" and was boasting of his prowess. General von Hindenburg said nothing until commanded by the Emperor to give his opinion. "In a real war, Sire," he said, "I would have captured your army and marched to Berlin." Snapped the infuriated Kaiser: "Your 64 years and gallstones will be received as acceptable reasons if you make application for retirement!"