Braun, Magnus Freiherr von

(1878-1972)

   bureaucrat; Agriculture Minister under Franz von Papen* and Kurt von Schleicher.* Born to a Junker* home in Upper Silesia,* he acquired an East Prussian estate and became a Regierungspräsident in 1919; however, he lost his post after supporting the Kapp* Putsch. He joined the Reichsl ndbund,* the DNVP, and Potsdam s Ein-wohnerwehr.

   Via an intrigue between Schleicher and Eberhard von Kalckreuth, a member of the Reichsl ndbund presidium, Braun was named Osthilfe* Commissioner and Agriculture Minister in Papen s cabinet before the collapse of Heinrich Bruning's* government. Asked by Papen in late May 1932 to help form "a cabinet of gentlemen, he joined Wilhelm Freiherr von Gayl* and Paul Freiherr von Eltz-Rubenach—former members of the Potsdam Einwohnerwehr—in Pa-pen s "Cabinet of Barons.

   Despite such social homogeneity, economic policy spawned conflict when Braun s agrarian strategies, demanding high tariffs and generous state support, clashed with the free-trade bias of Economics Minister Hermann Warmbold.* When the dispute escalated into a topic of public debate, Ludwig Kaas* asked President Hindenburg* in November 1932 not to reappoint Papen; the advice reflected poorly on the Chancellor and his feuding ministers.

   Notwithstanding his friendship with Papen, Braun also opposed his reappoint-ment, fearing that a Papen government might spark civil war. Remarkably, Braun and Warmbold managed to establish a pretense of cooperation in Schlei-cher s cabinet; indeed, Braun was among Schleicher s few supporters. But when Braun and the Chancellor restored Bruning's plan to settle nonaristocrats on bankrupt Junker estates, the Reichsl ndbund accused both of "agrarian Bolshe-vism. Ever vigilant in his support of the nobility, Hindenburg threatened to dismiss the cabinet unless it redressed the Junkers grievances. Since Braun had in fact supplied vast sums to the estate owners, he was charged with corruption when Schleicher s cabinet collapsed. No serious consequences ensued from the charge.

   REFERENCES:Bracher, Auflosung; Dorpalen, Hindenburg; Eyck, History of the Weimar Republic, vol. 2.