Political testament
A political testament is the term used to describe fundamental statements made by political leaders in situations of extreme political and health threats, usually in writing. It is mostly about justifying one's own path as well as trying to shape the time after one's own death with recommendations and dispositions.
The well-known princely political testaments of the 17th and 18th centuries include that of Cardinal Richelieu , that of the Prussian King Friedrich Wilhelm I from 1722 and that of Frederick II from 1752. Some princely political testaments can be explicit with theirs Regulations are viewed as preliminary stages of the later state constitutions .
Well known is the political will of the terminally ill Vladimir Ilyich Lenin from December 1922 to January 1923 with his futile warning against General Secretary Josef Stalin .
Reich President Paul von Hindenburg (he appointed Adolf Hitler Chancellor in January 1933 ) died on August 2, 1934 and left a political will (dated May 11, 1934: "The German people and their chancellor!"). His son Oskar presented it to Hitler for publication after Hindenburg's death; Hitler did not publish it, however.
The political testament of Adolf Hitler is regarded as an extreme example of unrealistic rhetoric of justification.
The Hungarian Prime Minister Imre Nagy , who was imprisoned after the 1956 popular uprising and later executed , left a political will.
literature
- Josef Kallbrunner : Maria Theresa's political testament , Vienna 1952.
- Imre Nagy: Political Testament , Munich 1959.
- The political testament of Frederick the Great . In: Microsoft Encarta .