Wilhelm Groener

Wilhelm Groener
As Defence Minister in 1928
Chief of the German General Staff
In office 3 July 1919 – 7 July 1919
Preceded by	Paul von Hindenburg
Succeeded by	Hans von Seeckt
Reich Minister of Transport Weimar Republic
In office 25 June 1920 – 12 August 1923
Chancellor	Konstantin Fehrenbach Joseph Wirth Wilhelm Cuno
Preceded by	Gustav Bauer
Succeeded by	Rudolf Oeser
Reich Minister of Defence Weimar Republic
In office 20 January 1928 – 30 May 1932
Chancellor	Wilhelm Marx Hermann Müller Heinrich Brüning
Preceded by	Otto Gessler
Succeeded by	Kurt von Schleicher
Reich Minister of the Interior Weimar Republic
In office 9 October 1931 – 30 May 1932
Chancellor	Heinrich Brüning
Preceded by	Joseph Wirth
Succeeded by	Wilhelm von Gayl
Personal details
Born	22 November 1867(1867-11-22) Ludwigsburg, Württemberg
Died	3 May 1939(1939-05-03) (aged 71) Potsdam, Germany
Nationality	German
Political party	Independent

Karl Eduard Wilhelm Groener (22 November 1867 – 3 May 1939) was a German soldier and politician.

Biography

He was born in Ludwigsburg in the Kingdom of Württemberg, the son of a regimental paymaster. He entered the Württemberg Army in 1884, and attended the War Academy from 1893 to 1897, whereupon he was appointed to the General Staff (1899). For the next 17 years, he was attached to the railway section, becoming head of it in 1912. In November 1916, he moved into the Prussian War Ministry as deputy war minister and was in charge of war production. In August 1917, Groener served as chief of staff of an army group in Ukraine.

Groener as deputy war minister (1917) (on the left is his wife)

On the resignation of Erich Ludendorff on 29 October 1918, Groener became First Quartermaster General (Deputy Chief of the General Staff) under Field Marshal Paul von Hindenburg. Germany′s military situation was worsening under the onslaught of the enemy, and social unrest and rebellion among both the German armed forces and the civilian population threatened to break out into revolution. In November, Groener advised Kaiser Wilhelm II that he had lost the confidence of the armed forces and recommended abdication to the monarch.

With the Kaiser′s abdication on 9 November 1918 the Marxist Spartacus League had declared a soviet republic in Berlin. Social Democrat leaders Friedrich Ebert (newly-named Chancellor) and Philipp Scheidemann sought to forestall the Communists′ action, and—evidently on the spur of the moment—Scheidemann proclaimed the Republic.

Groener, who was second-in-command of the German Army and who had known Ebert from the soldier′s days in charge of war production, contacted the socialist leader that evening. The two men concluded the so-called Ebert-Groener pact, which was to remain secret for a number of years. For his part of the pact, Ebert agreed to suppress the Bolshevik-led revolution and maintain the defeated Army′s role as one of the pillars of the German state; Groener in turn agreed to throw the weight of the still-considerable Army behind the new government. For this act, Groener earned the enmity of much of the military leadership, much of whom sought the retention of the monarchy.

Groener subsequently oversaw the retreat and demobilisation of the defeated German army after World War I ended with the armistice of 11 November 1918.

After his resignation from the army (30 September 1919) to protest the signing of the Treaty of Versailles, Groener was in and out of retirement during the 1920s. He served as Transportation Minister between 1920 and 1923. He succeeded Otto Geßler as Defence Minister in 1928, a post he held until 1932. In 1931, he also became acting Interior Minister, and favoured the banning of the Nazi storm troopers (SA). When he rose to defend his views of the banning of the SA in the Reichstag, he was violently attacked by Hermann Goering. The defense minister tried to defend himself, but suffering from diabetes and heart trouble, the old man was overwhelmed by abuse from the Nazi benches. Exhausted and humiliated, Groener left the chamber, only to walk into Kurt von Schleicher, who told Groener he must resign as Defense minister. He appealed to President Hindenburg, but Hindenburg claimed he could do nothing about it. On 13 May, Groener resigned, humiliated and ridiculed throughout Germany, and disappeared from public life.

Groener was married twice: Helene Geyer (1864–1926), with one daughter, Dorothea Groener-Geyer {b.1900}, and Ruth Naeher-Glück, with whom he had a son. Groener died in Potsdam-Bornstedt on 3 May 1939.

References

• Eschenburg, Theodor "The Role of the Personality in the Crisis of the Weimar Republic: Hindenburg, Brüning, Groener, Schleicher" pages 3–50 from Republic to Reich The Making Of The Nazi Revolution edited by Hajo Holborn, New York: Pantheon Books, 1972.
• Groener, Wilhelm. Lebenserinnerungen: Jugend-Generalstab-Weltkrieg. Edited by Friedrich Frhr. Hiller von Gaertringen. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck und Ruprecht, 1957.
• Groener-Geyer, Dorothea. General Groener: Soldat und Staatsmann. Frankfurt a. M.: Societäts-Verlag, 1955.
• Haeussler, Helmut H. General William Groener and the Imperial German Arm. Madison: State Historical Society of Wisconsin for Dept. of History, University of Wisconsin, 1962.
• Hürter, Johannes. Wilhelm Groener: Reichswehrminister am Ende der Weimarer Republik (1928-1932). Munich: Oldenbourg, 1993.
• Rakenius, Gerhard W. Wilhelm Groener als Erster Generalquartiermeister: Die Politik der Obersten Heeresleitung 1918/19. Boppard a.R.: Boldt, 1977.
• Stoneman, Mark R. “Wilhelm Groener, Officering, and the Schlieffen Plan.” PhD diss., Georgetown University, 2006. abstract
• Wheeler-Bennett, Sir John. The Nemesis of Power: German Army in Politics, 1918-1945. New York: Palgrave Macmillan Publishing Company, 2005.
•  "Groener, Wilhelm". Encyclopædia Britannica (12th ed.). 1922. 

External links

• Wilhelm Groener Papers at the Seeley G. Mudd Manuscript Library, Princeton University
• General William Groener And The Imperial German Army by Helmut Haeussler at archive.org

Military offices
Preceded by Paul von Hindenburg	Chief of the General Staff 1919	Succeeded by Hans von Seeckt
Political offices
Preceded by Gustav Bauer	Transportation Minister of Germany 1920–1923	Succeeded by Rudolf Oeser
Preceded by Otto Geßler	Defence Minister of Germany 1928–1932	Succeeded by Kurt von Schleicher
Preceded by Joseph Wirth	Interior Minister of Germany 1931–1932	Succeeded by Wilhelm Freiherr von Gayl