Paul von Hindenburg

Born in Posen, Prussia, in 1847, Paul von Hindenburg built a long career in the Prussian and then German army. He became one of Germany’s best-known military leaders during World War I, especially after the 1914 Battle of Tannenberg, and he later served with Erich Ludendorff at the head of Germany’s wartime command.

After the war, Hindenburg returned to public life as a symbol of conservative stability and was elected president of Germany in 1925, then reelected in 1932. During the political and economic crises of the Weimar years, he increasingly relied on presidential emergency powers rather than normal parliamentary government.

That final chapter shapes how he is remembered today. In January 1933, Hindenburg appointed Adolf Hitler as chancellor, a decision made in the hope of controlling him but one that proved disastrous for Germany and Europe. He died in 1934, only months before Hitler merged the offices of president and chancellor into his own dictatorship.