Franz von Papen

Papen, Franz von (1879–1969), German diplomat and politician. Lacking support as chancellor (1932), he resigned and helped engineer the appointment of Hitler. He was Hitler's vice-chancellor (1933–34) and as German minister to Austria (1934–38) paved the way for German annexation of Austria. Acquitted of war crimes by the Nuremberg tribunal (1946), he was convicted by a German “denazification court” (1947), but its sentence was rescinded.