Crumbling Reich: A Weimar Republic Game (Gameplay Thread)

[Kingpoleon]

Speech of Artur Mahraun
Berlin, printed and distributed throughout the country

My fellow Germans! I weep with all of you. Our country is diplomatically isolated! We are economically weak, with seemingly little prospect for recovery. Blood runs in the streets of our once great country. Over the coming days, I promise you that I will answer these crises head on, with firm policies to regain our grandeur! To restore German greatness and to bring in unprecedented prosperity! With your help, my fellow Germans, we will recover.

But today, I am not releasing my plans for the German economy. Not plans for our national unity. Not plans for diplomacy that will restore our place in the world. Those are coming, I promise you. But today, I must ask a favor of all good Germans. I need your help, and this is not a small favor. It will require you to summon up all your courage and show the world the strength of the German People. Listen, I beg you.

Even now, orders have gone out to my party’s youth wing and to my scouting organizations of young men (and even a few women!) across the country. They are to begin patrolling the streets immediately, and to work with the German police, as well as the federal, regional, and city governments. We will guarantee the safety of every decent person in this country against mobs of radical militants.

I urge all good Germans who hear my voice to do this and to encourage everyone they know to do likewise. Sign up for our youth organization. Work with the police and my new policy of a Zivilwache, as well as civilian police and auxiliary police. I promise you, we can beat these thugs and lowlifes who dare to perpetrate violence on our streets.

Make no mistake: together, we can defeat these militants. Divided, our great nation will fall to them. I am the only candidate running with a serious plan and serious means to halt these attacks that we all despair of when we daily read of them.

[Kingpoleon]

The Actions of Artur Mahraun

In recent days, Artur Mahraun has conducted a series of meetings. He has met with all member parties of the so called Black, Red, and White league barring the DNVP, promising to represent “a Germany for Germans.” He has arranged meetings with Kaiser Wilhelm II, President Hindenburg, and the Interior Minister. While others conduct rallies and release platforms, Mahraun has constructed a team of allies. He has angled for the votes of monarchists, nationalists, liberals, and even Catholics, in what is called “The Broad Coalition”.

Whether this team he is assembling shows he is pushing to become President or Chancellor remains to be seen, but it will be revealed in the coming days.

[Kingpoleon]

Artur Mahraun stands at one end of the room. While it was expected that he might place himself to align with Zentrum and the more moderate members of the Cabinet, he appears to have aligned himself as “Hindenburg’s Minister,” conferring only with President Hindenburg and Minister Groener.

“Mr. President, I need the authority to begin negotiations with foreign countries. Chancellor Von Papen’s lack of a known mandate is why I need the authority to come from you, sir. The interests of the Reichswehr and all of Germany is at stake. I may be able to negotiate a better deal and secure our borders, which is necessary if these steps are to be taken.”

[Kingpoleon]

Artur Mahraun‘s Letter, Distributed to the Members of the Reichstag

My fellow Germans! I stand before you as your closest ally, and surest friend. I stand against all violence and thugs in the streets - people who seek to destroy the very fabric of society. I have spoken at length with Chancellor Von Papen, Minister Hugenberg, Leader Wels, and indeed most leaders privately.

I speak now to Leader Hitler and Leader Thalmann: Call off your gangsters. I have studied the leaders of the Stalhelm (who are not half as bad as others, it must be said), of the SA, of the Red Guards. They are not all bad men, but a handful of radicals and thugs have hijacked many parts of them. Call off your gangsters, gentlemen! Have them work with Jungdo and the police to secure our streets. Call off your gangsters, or I will work with the police and the army to crush them like the criminal thugs they are.

Minister Artur Mahraun

Speech to the Reichstag

“Good day! I am sure in recent months, many of you have begun to take notice of me. I am not a grand orator, like Mr. Wels or even Mr. Hitler. I am not a respected hero, like the great President Hindenburg.” Here Arthur pauses.

“I am not a prince, representing the great glory of Germany. I was not born into a dynasty, nor have I the vast means of both my allies and enemies. I am instead the representative of the average German. My story is that of every German man my age - gone to war for four years, interrupting my education and my work. And to lose at the end of it!

“It is therefore my intention to work for the average German man and woman. I pledge to each and every German listening! I will not restore the old German greatness - I shall build a new grandeur, a new prestige, greater than ever before. A new society we have begun to build, and soon we will be the envy of the world. But it is my full and firm intention to stay in this office for the next three years at least.

“I intend to end the war reparations, to reverse the Horror of Versailles that so destroyed Germany and that haunts us to this day! I intend to end the limits on German armaments, so that our military may be of sufficient size and strength to crush the undesirable oppressor and thug! I promise you a new, reformed, Greater Germany! That is my intention as the foreign minister of this great land and of our great President!”

[Kingpoleon]

I urge all good Germans to support Minister Groener. He is, almost without exception, an ally and friend of the military brass and the average soldier. He has battled thugs and criminals, suppressed the vilest elements of humankind, and stood by good and decent Germans through thick and thin.

Make no mistake: his opponents are quite literally mobsters, funded by those same foreign influences they claim to oppose. I am proud to work with Minister Groener, who has protected our churches and schools against street thugs who would murder men of God and butcher children like they were animals. His opponents are NOT good Germans, but men who wish to tear our country asunder.

[Kingpoleon]

Minister Mahraun Responds

Members of the Reichstag,

I write to disavow any and all such allegations of me “permanently handing over Danzig.” Having reaches out to my contacts at the German Embassy in Poland, I have been notified that several Germans, possibly members of the DNVP or the Nazi parties, have visited Warsaw and informally talked to the government there on behalf of those parties.

Whereas all travel is typically administered and recorded by the Interior Ministry, it is always registered with both the Foreign Ministry and the Interior Ministry, no German individuals disclosed such a trip. At least in documents made available to my Ministry. As such, I am formally calling for one thing.

I ask Minister Hugenberg to allow Foreign Minister officials to look for such records in the Interior Ministry. If there, we will copy them and record them. If not? We will recognize that this was suppressed, either purposely or accidentally, and proceed as such.

Any and all such rumors as this may be merely attempts to discredit me by my enemies. But I warn all of you: playing games with any other minister is one thing. But attempts to undermine German foreign policy abroad, to attack our national standing? This is very close to treason, if not outright so. It undermines the German government both at home and abroad.

Should such rumors spread again, I will formally advise the Justice Ministry to investigate their origin on grounds of: 1) disturbing the peace; 2) undermining the government; 3) sabotage and illegal interference in international negotiations; and 4) if necessary, treason.

[Kingpoleon]

A Statement to the Frankfurter Zeitung

“While we are considering our options for the police reform, I must restate my position: I do support the restoration of the monarchy, in the future, constitutionally, after a referendum, and with international negotiation. Those who support the Weimar Constitution must not support the wild, radical moves of our opponents. Many claim to be monarchists who want to be a dictator with a figurehead Kaiser.

“This is unacceptable. Support for the Constitution, the Kaiser, and President Hindenburg go hand in hand in my book. I encourage all members of the Jungdo and all my supporters to actively defend all three, against whatever attacks they face. Long live President Hindenburg, and long live German democracy!”

[Kingpoleon]

The members of the German State Party will be allowed to vote their conscience, but Minister Mahraun officially votes in favor of the Autobahn Act.

[Kingpoleon]

August 15: Foreign Minister Announces Treaty
Ceremony in Berlin with VP Curtis, Foreign Minister John Simon, the Ambassadors, President Hindenburg, the Chancellor, and Minister Mahraun

Summary:

I. The current amount of reparations paid, roughly 20.5 billion marks, is to be the final amount paid.
II. All further amount required by international treaties are formally forgiven and abolished by the undersigned.
III. This shall only take effect when the German, French, American, and British governments have all signed.

Foreign Minister Mahraun distributes a short statement to the assembled press, while Oskar von Hindenburg prepares to give an address on behalf of the government.

The statement from the Foreign Ministry:

The President’s authority, the Chancellor’s governance, and the Minister’s diplomacy have finally undone the worst overreach of Versailles. This is a day of victory for the German people, the first in a long time. The invisible criminal of reparations, which strangled the German housewife, stole from the worker’s pay, starved the children of Germany, and assaulted our nation’s soul, is no more. This is truly the greatest day for the people of Germany in a decade and a half.

[Kingpoleon]

DVP-DSP Joint List Platform:

Part One: A commitment to a stronger Germany; to restore international prestige; and to again make our nation a major player on the world stage. With the signing of the Berlin Agreement, regular relations with our neighbors have been restored. We support the renewal of ties with the United Kingdom and the United States, the cautious acquaintance with France, and the general acceptance of Germany by the international community. The efforts of Gustav Stresemann succeeded in making Germany a serious player on the world stage before, and we will continue such efforts.

Part Two: A pledge to help the German economy. We fully support infrastructure projects, some of us even one as expansive as the Autobahn. We support high paced railroad development, such as the soon to be released Flying Hamburger. We support canal projects to ensure river driven commerce does not dissipate. We support port expansions to bring maritime trade to German shores. We support wide investments in international development, both to forge new friendships and to bring more money into Germany. We support financing an Office of Technology and Research to innovate the German economy. We support tax cuts on sales, income, and corporations. We support land grants to German farmers, and deregulation of the German farming industry. We support extensive trade agreements that will encourage trade, while protecting manufacturing and farming jobs. Through tax cuts for all Germans, international investment, development of German technology, and public work projects, we are proposing the only serious alternative to the Nazi-KPD proposal of more welfare.

Part Three: To engage with the youth of Germany. We have established neighborhood watches and volunteer groups. Our youth organization has opened soup kitchens, distributed food to the starving, brought murderers to justice, and made clean once bloody streets. They have protected men of God from mobsters, guarded schools, hospitals, and churches from arsonists. To the young people of Germany, we say: you can make a difference! Stand up for your neighbor; do not be silent in the face of Nazi bigotry; do not stay quiet in front of Communist thugs.

Part Four: To make Germany better than ever. We will rebuild Germany’s economy with a four-pronged approach of innovation, infrastructure, tax cuts, and foreign investment. We will establish Germany as a serious player on the world stage through trade deals, diplomacy, and cultural exchange programs. We support an eventual plebiscite to return the Kaiser. We will secure German streets, house the homeless, promote Germany’s interests abroad, and grow the economy, for we can do nothing else.

[Kingpoleon]

There will be an immediate change to the new cabinet. General von Schleicher has been chosen as the Reich's special envoy to the Government of the Republic of China and will assist that government in the interests of Sino-German cooperation.

Herr Mehrun has graciously agreed to reenter the cabinet in his place as Minister without Portfolio.

The President and Chancellor honor me with this appointment. I look forward to working in government with my friends and fellow Cabinet ministers.

[Kingpoleon]

Adolf Hitler response to Wels and Hugenberg

I promised Herr Mahuran that he would remain in the cabinet. That said, I would prefer not see him as Foreign Minister because of his willingness to acknowledge our "war guilt" and his attempts to barter away Danzig, which is German territory. If he is once again made Foreign Minister, I will withdraw the support I have given this government, and reintroduce the vote of no-confidence I have withdrawn.

Herr Hitler’s propaganda campaign against me, depicting me as an agent of Poland, an acknowledger of war guilt, and as giving up Danzig, is insulting and was rejected by the voters, who gave me many more seats. I myself am a native son of Danzig, as he well knows - this is why that campaign failed.

As for my negotiations with Herr Wels, I undertook them on behalf of the Chancellor because I believed I had his confidence. The publicizing of private letters and discussions indicate no wrongdoing on my part or on that of the Chancellor. Nonetheless, his thus far refusal to further negotiate with me is strange. I hope this strike can be resolved peacefully and diplomatically, and I remind both the government and the strikers of the very distasteful alternative.

[Kingpoleon]

By order of the President and Chancellor, Minister Mahraun has left the country with Klausener to go to Rome to negotiate a Concordat. His deputies will abide by the order of the President and go where the government rests.

[Kingpoleon]

Von Schleicher is the only legitimate Chancellor, and allow me to be the first to say: Mr. Chancellor, I offer my confidence in your government without hesitation.