Hindenburg: The Cartoon Titan of the Weimar Republic, 1918-1934

Abstract

Paul von Hindenburg (1847-1934), last president of the Weimar Republic (1925-1934), was one of the most caricatured men of his day. Cartoonists of both the left and the right wing of German politics used aspects of his own carefully constructed public image - the "Hindenburg myth" - both to admire and admonish the president; but in taking an essentially uncritical view of the field-marshal president, even when seeking to subvert this image, Weimar-era cartoonists ultimately failed to destabilize a damaging political discourse that contributed to the stagnation and decline of German democracy. This was despite Weimar Germany being an ideal environment for liberal-democratic caricature.