Marburg speech

The Marburg speech (die Marburger Rede in German) was an address given by German vice chancellor Franz von Papen at the University of Marburg on June 17, 1934. It is said to be the last speech made publicly, and on a high level, in Germany against Nazism.

Papen, encouraged by President Paul von Hindenburg, spoke out publicly about the excesses of the Nazi regime, whose ascent to power 17 months earlier when Adolf Hitler became chancellor of Germany had been assisted measurably by Papen. The Marburg speech called for an end of the Nazi terror, and to the call for a "second revolution" by the Sturmabteilung (SA – the storm troopers), and a return to dignity and freedom.

The speech was drafted by one of Papen's close advisors, Edgar Julius Jung with additional assistance by Papen secretary Herbert von Bose and by Erich Klausener. It was delivered in the Landgrafenhaus, the 1920s neo-rococo class room building of the university, in the main lecture hall. The hall is still there today, including the original furniture (room 101 of what is now one of the two buildings of the Law School), but there is no plaque or any other information about the Papen speech.

The speech made Hitler furious and propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels attempted to suppress the speech. Angered by the blocking of publication of his speech, Papen insisted he had spoken on behalf of Hindenburg, threatened to submit his resignation from Hitler's cabinet, and promised to advise Hindenburg of the suppression of his speech.

During the Blood purge against Hitler's enemies within the Nazi Party two weeks later, Jung, von Bose, and Klausener were murdered. Papen's office was ransacked and he was himself held under house arrest, but his life was spared. Papen's resignation as vice chancellor was accepted after the purge was over. He continued to serve Nazi Germany as a diplomat until 1944.