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Franz Von Papen (Collaborator) By Ally Doyle Franz von Papen was born on October 29, 1879 in Werl, Germany and died at the age of 89 on May 2, 1969. He was a German man who was born into a wealthy Roman Catholic family. Von Papen had always been in the role of a political figure but started out in the military. When he started out in politics and as Chancellor of Germany he was in favor of a “camarilla,” which is a group of courtiers who surround a king or ruler. This was exactly the position von Papen was in, Hitler was the ruler and von Papen was a member of the courtiers. This is also the position of a collaborator because he was among the signing of the laws and abolishing of the rights yet he never did plan to make the “perfect human race” by killing millions and millions of people, as Hitler did. Von Papen had the characteristics of a collaborator by always supporting the Nazis’ party and Hitler. He and others were the ones to convince [|Paul von Hindenburg] that Hitler should be Chancellor and himself as vice-chancellor. Also, von Papen was the only member of the government who was empowered to sign any laws. He personally signed a law supporting special courts to enforce new laws which constricted rights. He then personally signed the Amnesty Decree of 21. In addition he helped weaken Weimar Republic to make the Third Reich (Third Empire) the new power. All of his actions were in favor of Hitler, pushing him to the top of power. So von Papen was carrying out Hitler’s new laws as a collaborator would. As a collaborator and assister of Hitler and the Nazis’ party Franz von Papen was accused of crime of war charges. His charges included Count 1 and Count 2. The counts were statements that determined whether the defendant is guilty or not. Count 1 was the scheme to wage aggressive war: this count included the crimes committed before the war began, and showing a plan to commit crimes during the war. Count 2 was waging aggressive war or “crimes against peace.” Count 2 included the planning, preparation, launch, and waging of wars of aggression, which were also wars in violation of international treaties and agreements. Franz von Papen did take parts in mischievous behavior, supporting Hitler, but he never did have plans to disrupt the peace or plan anything that did fit into Count 1 or 2. Due to the lack of evidence that stated he was part of the plans to wage war, he was acquitted. Since Franz von Papen was accused of war crimes his impact on the Holocaust was there. He didn’t exactly kill or send anyone to death camps yet he was in favor of Hitler which meant he approved of his horrific behavior. Overall the impact of his contributions concluded in Hitler becoming Chancellor and a few laws becoming part of the new government. I think it is clear that Franz von Papen was a collaborator, always maintaining a support for Hitler and carrying out any actions that had to be done though never completing a task that was morally wrong. "[|Franz von Papen]." __The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition__. 2008. //Encyclopedia.com.// 8 May. 2009 <[|http://www.encyclopedia.com]>. Duffy, Michael. "Who's Who: Franz von Papen." __FirstWorldWar.com__. 2009. 8 May 2009 . "Spartacus Educational." Spartacus Educational. 8 May 2009 . "Franz von Papen ." __Nazi Conspiracy & Aggression__. The Nizkor Project. 8 May 2009 .