Gertrude Wilhelmina von Hindenburg ( German: Gertrud Wilhelmine von Hindenburg , nee von Sperling ); December 4, 1860 , Magdeburg - May 14, 1921 , Hanover ) - German noblewoman and philanthropist . Wife of Paul von Hindenburg , commander of the armed forces of Germany in the First World War .
Biography
Gertrude von Hindenburg was born into the family of the Prussian Major General Oscar von Sperling and his wife Paulina von Klass. Gertrude's older brother is the infantry general Kurt von Sperling .
Gertrude von Sperling met Paul von Hindenburg in the middle of the 1870s in Stettin , where he was a member of the General Staff of the Second Army Corps. They married on September 24, 1879 in Stettin after Hindenburg received the rank of captain in 1878 and thereby created the material conditions for marriage. Four children were born in the Hindenburg family: daughter Irmengard Paulina (1880-1948), stillborn son without a name (1881), son Oscar (1883-1960) and daughter Annamaria (1891-1978).
In his autobiography, which was released in 1920, Paul von Hindenburg described Gertrude as a loving wife who devotedly and tirelessly shared joys and sorrows with him, all cares and deeds and became for him his best friend and comrade. [1] Despite the fact that, according to relatives of Gertrude, von Hindenburg primarily lived as a family and sought to protect her husband from any inconvenience and worries, [2] many noted her delicate mind. She was considered a witty, educated woman and was more well-read than her husband. [3] She was keenly interested in theater, music, and painting and corresponded with many celebrities of her time, for example, Walther Rathenau , whom she shortly before her death urged to assume the post of Minister of Foreign Affairs . [four]
From the sources it also follows that Gertrude von Hindenburg was a living, kind and temperamental person and ideally complemented her closed, unflappable and phlegmatic spouse. [3] In addition, she was credited with religiosity and monarchical views. [five]
After the wedding, Mrs. Hindenburg accompanied her husband to his places of service in Stettin, Karlsruhe , Berlin and Magdeburg. After Hindenburg retired in 1911, the Hindenburg moved to Hanover. When Hindenburg returned to service in the First World War and occupy the highest command posts, Gertrude took up charity work. She took care of the wounded and established a foundation for the moral support of German youth. After the war, Gertrude lived with her husband in Hanover, where in 1921 she died of cancer. She was buried in Hanover, but in 1927 her remains were exhumed at the request of her husband and reburied in the park of his estate Noydek. Paul von Hindenburg’s desire to be buried there next to his wife was not destined to be realized. At Hitler’s direction, the ashes of Gertrude von Hindenburg were again exhumed and placed with the remains of her husband in the Tannenberg Memorial . In anticipation of the advance of the Red Army, the coffins of the Hindenburgs were transported to West Germany . In August 1946, the remains of the Hindenburgs found their last resting place in the Church of St. Elizabeth in Marburg .
Notes
- ↑ Paul von Hindenburg: Aus Meinem Leben, 1920, p. 51.
- ↑ Helene von Hindenburg und Nostitz: Hindenburg at Home , 1931, p. 83.
- ↑ 1 2 Hans-Otto Meissner: Junge Jahre im Reichspräsidentenpalais , 1988, p. 217.
- ↑ Harmut Pogge von Strandmann: Walther Rathenau. Tagebuch 1907-1922 , Düsseldorf 1967, p. nineteen.
- ↑ Emil Lengyel: The Cauldron Boils , 1932, p. 55.
Literature
- Ludwig Hoppe: Das Herz des Hauses Hindenburg. Dem Gedächtnis einer edlen Deutschen Frau 1928.