The Hitler Conspirator by Eberhard Schmidt

Author:Eberhard Schmidt
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Pen & Sword Books
Published: 2017-04-28T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 9

In the Service of the Hohenzollerns

As early as January 1940, while Plettenberg was serving on the staff of the 23rd Division which was guarding the German western border against a potential attack by French troops, General von Dommes, the general agent of the house of Hohenzollern, attempted to recruit Plettenberg as his successor. Prince Wolrad von Schaumburg-Lippe received a personal letter from the Crown Prince in which the latter asked him to release Plettenberg for the soon-to-be-vacant position:

… after he has completed the great tasks which you have given him regarding your estate, I still hope that a way will be found to fulfil my wish to see Plettenberg at the head of my administration.

Now I have asked Plettenberg to take on as a side job a consulting supervision over the enterprises of the court chamber while we have no president for the court chamber – the position will remain vacant for now. Plettenberg wants to oblige, provided he has your permission.

Prince Wolrad felt unable to agree to the Crown Prince’s request given the extremely difficult position his estate had been in since the hyper-inflation and the abolition of entails, and particularly in the middle of a war. He replied:

I write this to you only to show you that my administration is a difficult task for which special skill is required. Therefore it took me roughly a year to find a gentleman of whom I could expect that he is the right man. Among the many gentlemen applying for the post I did not find one I really considered capable to fill it with its multifaceted demands. It is now particularly pleasant for me that apart from his efficiency, Plettenberg is a born Bückeburgian, known to me from childhood and in addition a regimental comrade from the world war to whom I feel bound in friendship.

Plettenberg himself – after learning of the exchange of letters between the Crown Prince and Prince Wolrad – answers the honourable request negatively. Shortly after he communicated his reasons to Dommes:

I have told His Imperial Highness that because of the upcoming war I could not accept the offer, nor the one from the Reich Forestry Office here on the instigation of Prince Schaumburg-Lippe. It would seem wrong to me to practically miss this event which in all probability will really decide the fate of the fatherland. Thus I must remain a soldier for now. As long as the war lasts or as long as I am fit enough to participate in it as an active soldier, the question of my future occupation moves actually somewhat into the background, because there is no guarantee if afterwards I will still be here or able to take on such work.

Also, Plettenberg added that at that critical time he could not ‘betray’ his current employer, Prince Schaumburg-Lippe. However, he was not adverse in principle to taking up the new challenge posed by an administration of such size at some point in the future. After his death in June 1941, the estate of Emperor Wilhelm II was estimated at 70 to 80 million Reichsmarks.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.