Crumbling Reich: A Weimar Republic Game (Gameplay Thread)

[NewYorkExpress]

Von Papen

I encourage all of Germany to support Chancellor Von Schiechler in this trying hour.

However, I have a request of the new Chancellor. Sack Herr Hugenberg from your cabinet. He is at at fault for the failure of the passage of the constitutional convention, because he unnecessarily rigged the vote in the referendum. Do this and you will have the support of the German people. 

[GoTfan]

Braun makes first address as SPD Chair

"There will be no cooperation with any government so long as Hugenberg remains in the cabinet. Herr Hugenberg decided in advance what the results of the referendum would be, as Herr Stegerwald has said. It was done out of a desire to increase his own power, from a man terrified of criticism.

There will be no cooperation with any government Herr Hugenberg is in by the SPD. There will be no more compromise. No more backing down. Our goodwill has been taken for granted, and we have run out.

Gemenseim vorwarts!" (forwards together!)

[Devout Centrist]

Chancellor von Schleicher must call elections immediately. There is no excuse for delay or dithering. The people of Deutschland demand to have their voices heard.

[NewYorkExpress]

Von Papen

While I am no friend of Herr Thalmann or anyone in the KPD, I agree with them on this. Chancellor Schumacher must call elections immediately.

In addition, given President Von Hindenburg's failing health, I call on the Reichstag, to pass a constitutional amendment or other legislation calling for an immediate special election in the event of the death of the President of the Reich.

[RGM2609]

Once again the enemies of the people and of the Monarchy are ganging up against the legitimate government. They will not succeed and the result of the referendum will be applied, whether they like it or not!

[NewYorkExpress]

Von Papen

Herr Hugenberg, I supported the referendum and the monarchy. However, your actions in rigging the vote, when it clearly was not needed, have cost us the chance to get the monarchy. And you have the gall to name me an enemy of the monarchy? You can rot at the bottom of the Rhine, Herr Hugenberg.

[Devout Centrist]

Statement from Ernst Thalmann

Herr von Papen has finally let the mask slip! The disgraced ex-Chancellor admits his and Herr Hugenberg's complicity in mass voter fraud. The KPD is calling for Alfred Hugenberg to be stripped of all government offices and titles immediately.

In addition, we are calling for a full and total investigation into voter fraud committed during the referendum. If evidence of mass voter fraud is found, Herr von Papen and Herr Hugenberg must be tried for treason against the German People.

[NewYorkExpress]

Von Papen

What on earth makes you think I would have approved of a plan to rig the referendum on the monarchy? I most certainly did not approve of Herr Hugenberg's actions, and had I known what he was up to, I would have put a stop to them.

I am willing to testify in court, that I had no knowledge of Herr Hugenberg's ballot rigging, nor would I have supported it.

I like winning elections the honest way, Herr Thalmann.

[Devout Centrist]

When it comes to mass voter fraud, we have just one question: What did the Chancellor know and when did he know it?

[NewYorkExpress]

Von Papen

I knew nothing about any voter fraud going being committed by Herr Hugenberg. Why do you think I've been calling for Chancellor Von Schleichler to sack him and call for new elections.

If I do get elected President, I will commit to using my Article 48 powers to ban Hugenberg's DNVP party, as his actions have undermined Germany's Government for the final time.

[GoTfan]

Braun speaks in the Reichstag

How can we hold that all men are created equal when here before me stands, stinking, the moral carcass of ther Vice-Chancellor? Proof that some men are indeed inferior, endowed by their maker with dim wits, impermeable to reason, and with cold, pallid slime in their veins instead of hot red blood? You are more reptile than man, Alfred. So low in fact that the foot of man in incapable of crushing you!

The results of such a referendum were decided in advance by the Vice Chancellor, whose preference for ignoring the law is well-known. This is a man who engaged in industrial espionage againsty his competitors in 1913, and then didn't even bother denying it. This is a man who in 1899, called for the Polish people to be annhilated. This is a man who purposely created a monopoly in the media specifically to push his message and the lie that he stands for the common German. He stands for non other than the wealthy and monied interests.

Rest assured, when the SPD comes to power, we WILL be opening an anti-trust investigation of Herr Hugenberg's monopoly."

[NewYorkExpress]

Von Papen

You know, in America, they have something called Freedom of the press. They don't really have that here, because people like Herr Hugenberg have control of media establishments, and are allowed to serve in the Government.

Herr Hugenberg, you must choose. Your Government position, or your media empire? Which will it be?

[RGM2609]

To ensure the protection of the President from Bolsheviks, thousands of Der AK.Stalhelm members have been assigned to Neudeck

[NewYorkExpress]

Von Papen

Herr Vice Chancellor, why on earth are you sending troops to protect Hindenburg?  The reason we are worried about him dying soon is because of his health, which has been failing for years, not because of a Communist plot to kill him!

You are lucky, that I am not Chancellor anymore, or I would put a stop to your blatant attempt to seize power.

As it is, if the Communists were interested in overthrowing the government, need I remind you, Herr Vice Chancellor, that you and I, because we are conservatives, would be among the first people shot?

[RGM2609]

Herr von Papen,

It would seem as if your fall from power has taken away your remaining sanity too! You may not care about the safety of our President, but I do! Your arguments are stupid, as the President is the only one able to call for a Constitutional Convention and appoint a Chancellor! It is obvious why he would be a prime target for the Bolsheviks, as they want chaos in our country that they can profit from, as well as stopping the Monarchist movement!

[NewYorkExpress]

Von Papen

Herr Vice Chancellor, just as I would ask you to do if I were still Chancellor, show me, and the German People, the evidence of a Communist Coup.

Remember, we had all sorts of evidence for the Nazi's putsch, back in January. Can you produce any to show me the Communists are planning the same thing?

[RGM2609]

Herr von Papen,

The reports both you and I received for a long time show significant arming among the Bolsheviks and that is only even more confirmed by the riots. If you try to convince anyone that the KPD is a peaceful, democratic party, good luck, but you may just make a fool of yourself!

[NewYorkExpress]

Von Papen

Here's the thing Herr Vice Chancellor. That by itself, doesn't indicate a putsch is imminent. Usually the Wehrmacht can suss things out by having spies within most militias in Germany, and that's especially true for the Communists, whom they oppose. Have you tried asking them if they think a putsch is imminent?

After all, the Nazi's putsch leaked out weeks before it actually happened.

[RGM2609]

Herr von Papen,

Of course I did. Your dementia may not allow you to recall that classified information like this can not be disclosed in public, but the results of the report are worrying, to say the least. And they lead me to decide the large raise in Presidential protection.

[NewYorkExpress]

Von Papen

Herr Vice Chancellor, your accusation of me having dementia is completely unfounded, and beneath the positions you hold.


Herr Thalmann, you right now need to lay down your arms, and abandon whatever nascent plan you have to overthrow the Government. We do not need a second putsch in a year.

[Devout Centrist]

I would remind the ex-Chancellor that the KPD is defending the German people from mass voter fraud and treason committed by Herr Hugenberg.

We have no interest in violence because our Republican system works! We are on the cusp of deposing the Interior Minister and uncovering his dastardly plot to crush the democratic will of the German people! I hope Herr von Papen will join us in calling for a vote of no confidence in Herr Hugenberg. His disgraceful leadership of the Interior Minister has humiliated Deutschland for far too long.

[GoTfan]

Braun in the Reichstag

"I hereby issue a motion for a vote of no confidence in Herr Hugenberg as Vice-Chancellor and Interior Minister.

If you possess an ounce of integrity sir, you will resign and allow Dr Goerdeler to assume your place."

[NewYorkExpress]

Von Papen

I agree with Herr Thalmann on a vote of no confidence in Herr Hugenberg. It's a shame that, since I'm technically not a member of the Reichstag, I cannot vote for it.

[RGM2609]

Alfred Hugenberg blasted former Chancellor von Papen as a traitor to the national cause thanks to his new found symphaties and alliance with the Communists, and claims he will not allow them to destroy the German spirit or the Monarchist movement.

[KaiserDave]

The Reich



Wikimedia Commons

SHOCK: von Schleicher SACKED, Hugenberg IN


In a shock the nation, there was a disturbance out of Neudeck in East Prussia. The country estate of the popular Reich President and Field Marshal Hindenburg is usually quiet. Even during the Nazi coup, the only action in the town was a few drunken Nazis quickly shot outside the estate's walls.

But yesterday the sounds of soldier's boots breaking dead leaves on the ground was broken by a disturbance. Details are scant, but onlookers report troop transport trucks marked with the Reich Police emblem and several grizzled men with army helmets approached the estate in the late afternoon bearing rifles and carrying machine guns. Events that occurred on the property are not yet public, but listeners reported to reporters that a few gunshots were heard, as well as the inaudible shouting of military men.

Later in the day trucks of soldiers left the property. Nothing more was detected. However, this morning a decree from the Reich President has turned the nation on its head.

The decree announced that Chancellor von Schleicher, who was still assembling a cabinet was "with a view of course to his long service to the Reich, kindly dismissed effective immediately." It further declared that "in the interest of security and continuing stability, Alfred Hugenberg is appointed Chancellor of the German Reich effective upon my signature." The decree, signed by the President was published first by the main DNVP newspapers, and then by the wider press.

In the immediate aftermath, protestors again took the streets. Crowds of leftists, liberals, and all those opposed to the notorious ultra-nationalist marched into the streets, declaring that a coup was occurring. Despite the lack of evidence, prominent leftists said that Hugenberg had overthrown the new government by force and made himself Chancellor. The national flag was waved yet again, and effigies of the new Chancellor burned in the streets. Nobody can say what will happen now.