The Industrielleneingabe (English: Industrial petition) was a petition signed by 19 representatives of industry, finance, and agriculture on November 19, 1932 that requested for German President Paul von Hindenburg to make Adolf Hitler the German Chancellor.

There had already been two similar attempts to assist the Nazi Party in gaining control of the government: a petition by the Wirtschaftspolitischen Vereinigung Frankfurt (Frankfurt Socio-economic Union) on July 27, 1931 and a declaration by 51 professors published in July 1932 in the Völkischer Beobachter.

The idea for the Industrielleneingabe had emerged at the end of October 1932 in the Freundeskreis der Wirtschaft ("Keppler circle"; Keppler-Kreis) and was supported by Heinrich Himmler, who worked as a liaison to the Brown House. The drafting of the letter was aided especially by Hjalmar Schacht, who was the only member of the Keppler-Kreis with any significant political experience. The Industrielleneingabe was first published in 1956 in the Zeitschrift für Geschichtswissenschaft and has been used as evidence to support the idea that big business played a central role in the rise of the Nazi Party.[1]

Signatures

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The sixteen initial signatories were:[2]

Signatures of the following personalities were submitted afterwards:

Whether Engelbert Beckmann, the president of the Westphalian Land Association, signed in any form is controversial. Historians Eberhard Czichon[3] and Reinhard Kühnl[4] list him as a signer. According to Gerhard Schulz, his signature was never seen by Hindenburg.[5] Henry A. Turner speaks only of 19 signatures.[6]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Eingabe führender Persönlichkeiten des Landes an Reichspräsident von Hindenburg für die Berufung Adolf Hitlers zum Kanzler 19.11.1932". NS-Archiv. Retrieved 10 January 2018.
  2. ^ Gerhard Schulz, Von Brüning zu Hitler. Der Wandel des politischen Systems in Deutschland 1930-1933 (=Zwischen Demokratie und Diktatur, Bd. 3), de Gruyter, Berlin, New York 1992, S. 1019
  3. ^ Czichon, Eberhard. Wer verhalf Hitler zur Macht?. Cologne 1967, p. 71
  4. ^ Kühnl, Reinhard. Der Deutsche Faschismus in Quellen und Dokumenten, Pahl-Rugenstein, Cologne 1977, p. 162
  5. ^ Schulz, Gerhard. Von Brüning zu Hitler. Der Wandel des politischen Systems in Deutschland 1930–1933 (=Zwischen Demokratie und Diktatur, Bd. 3., de Gruyter, Berlin, New York 1992, S. 1019 f.
  6. ^ Turner, Henry A. Die Großunternehmer und der Aufstieg Hitlers, Siedler Verlag Berlin 1985, p. 365