Word: papen
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Dates: during 1940-1949
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...Mexican revolution. He kept the German War Ministry informed on just how the revolutionists blew up railway trains-"by burying dynamite beneath the line itself. . . . Infernal machines, so far as I know, have not been employed." But they were employed in the U.S., almost as soon as Papen opened his large office at No. 60 Wall Street...
Most important gentleman friend was probably German-American Dr. Walter T. Scheele, president of New Jersey Agricultural Chemical Co. He showed young Attaché von Papen how to destroy ships at sea by means of incendiaries made out of a short piece of two-inch lead pipe. These were manufactured aboard the S.S. Friedrich der Grosse (then lying off Hoboken), smuggled aboard freighters by German agents and longshoremen, and went off at sea. They sank some 40 ships in a few months. When he was finally driven out of the U.S., the British stopped Papen at Falmouth...
When Chancellor Heinrich Bruening first used these almost dictatorial powers, Soldier-Diplomat von Papen "looked on fascinated." The former bombster dreamed of becoming chancellor and restoring the Junkers to power...
There were four steps in Papen's plan: 1) to win over Hindenburg; 2) to eliminate Bruening; 3) to eliminate the Reichswehr's "political general," Schleicher; 4) to eliminate Adolf Hitler...
Step No. 1 was easiest. "Papen had the advantage of speaking the same language as the President. They also shared the same Junker ideal of life. They discussed their estates, they went shooting together, and spoke of the Kaiser as His Imperial Majesty. It was a well-known fact that nobody could make the Field Marshal laugh as heartily and as often as Fraenzchen." To Hindenburg, he was soon "a mixture of aide-de-camp, foster son and confidential adviser...