Is there any record of what Hitler thought of the German nobility?
I know he often expressed contempt for the senior military types many of whom were Prussian ‘vons’ (and others whose families had been awarded, but not initially inherited their royal titles), but wonder how he viewed the descendants of the kings, princes, and dukes of the erstwhile German states (neatly listed here).
I suppose I can see him thinking that they might embody the most noble and purest German spirit, unsullied by interbreeding, prevailing as the fittest of the ancient Herrenrasse.
Or, maybe he thought they were mostly weak and pompous fools unworthy of respect.
He didn’t think highly of it. There is, indeed, a passage in Mein Kampf in which he laments the degeneration of nobility as a consequence of generations of inbreeding, but the real reason for his dislike was probably that, to him, they were remnants of a bygone era. The National Socialist society he wanted to build was anti-democratic, but that does not mean it coincided with the strongly conservative views of German nobility, which was predominantly anti-democratic as well. To him, National Socialism was a novel revolutionary movement to respond to the challenges of the 20th century; monarchism and nobility (and also the religious influence to which they were subject and which he wanted National Socialism to stay clear of) were, for him, outdated.
As an aside, in the early years of the National Socialist movement, the dethroned empreror Wilhelm II, who was living in exile in the Netherlands, was hoping that the Nazis could bring down the Weimar Republic and re-instal him as emperor. It became clear, however, that the Nazis had no intention of doing so, and they did not seek to form an alliance with Wilhelm.
Those few moments when Hitler did defer to the old pre-WWI world of nobility and monarchists, most importantly his famous bow to Hindenburg at the Day of Potsdam, were PR ploys to curry favour with those conservative parts of German society who still had monarchist views and who saw Hitler as a parvenu who should not be trusted; they were not expressions of genuine sympathy.
Keep in mind that Hitler saw the Nazi party originally as a worker’s socialist party that was against the wealthy and the high status.
It took some work by people brought in by Göring and such to convince him to shut up with the anti-upper class rhetoric and be nice to them in order to get their money.
As noted, it’s best to think of the Hitler and old upper class as being in parallel political paths. Lots in common, but with different goals and some distrust.
Several old nobles joined the party and many were among the top brass of the military. I think their strategy was 1. Work with Hitler to restore Germany to greatness. 2. Get rid of the Austrian.
The highest ranking former noble to serve in that era was Prince Wilhelm, oldest son of the last crown prince. He died during the invasion of France.
As Wikipedia notes: “Wilhelm was among a number of princes from the former German monarchies who enlisted to serve in the Wehrmacht.” If you were ween’t military minded you might serve in the government instead. But due to mutual distrust the percentage wasn’t that high.
There were some; examples were Krosigk, the Minister of Finance (already holding that office when Hitler took power, and remained in office until the end of the war) and Papen, who had been Chancellor before Hitler took power and was Deputy Chancellor in the first cabinet led by Hitler (Papen initially hoped that, despite being only Deputy on paper, he could be the real strongman in the cabinet and pull the strings from the shadows, but this did not work out). Hitler couldn’t do entirely without them since the civil service bureaucracy and especially the officers’ ranks of the armed forces included many members of the nobility, who couldn’t easily be replaced. But the top echelons, the closest circle of advisors around Hitler, were dominated by old party friends, who were not members of the aristocracy.
It should also be pointed out that the assassination attempt of 20 July 1944, was planned and carried out by a group of conservatively minded officers, many of whom were aristocrats.
Everything you posted is spot on, but I will only add one comment (for the general public, I know that YOU know that): the 20 July plot of 1944 was a heroic endeavor, though a much too late action desperately executed by a part of the cast that had sided with the devil in an illusion to do good for the fatherland against Bolshevism. Bear in mind that the future of the German state after overcoming Hitler and making peace for the aristocratic conspirators looked veeery differently than each of the two states that finally formed in 1949. They certainly weren’t going for a democratic revolution in any way. It should turn out like a classic military coup.
There’s also Baldur von Schirach, who headed the Hitler Youth and later became governor of post-Anschluss Vienna. Schirach came from a famous noble family (though as far as I am aware, he himself did not himself hold any particular aristocratic title).
Heroic actions for sure; they knew what would happen should they fail.
Still, I wonder how much heroism there can be when the cause you’ll die for is most unheroic.
As always, I stand to be corrected, but the July 20th conspirators were not motivated to relieve the vile oppression of Hitler and his regime so much as they were to save the Fatherland, unite with the Allies, and defeat Bolshevism once and for all. And get rid of the madman.
Most probably true, I hinted at that in my post. They, as aristocracy and military, had different goals than other anti-nazi groups and their own well-being in mind, but I’m convinced that at least some of them were personally morally repulsed by the regime’s politics. The open resistance came way too late, they should have made their social influence work against the nazis as early as in the thirties, but fear of communism, Prussian sense of blind obedience and blind nationalism prevented that.