Talk:Kurt von Hammerstein-Equord

Source of the "four types of officer" quote
I've been trying to find an authoritative source for the "four types of officers" quote, and I can't satisfy myself one exists. Here's what I've found:


 * This quote (in English) is attributed to Rommel, von Moltke the elder (see next point for link), and von Clausewitz.
 * The only version in german I can find is attributed to von Moltke: I can't find a direct link, but go to this page and put the two words "faul" and "dumm" into the "oder nach Textstellen" field, hit "Suche starten" and it's the first result.
 * There appears to be an authoritative source in the english translation of Truppenfuehrung, but I don't have the book.

Echion2 22:21, 29 October 2007 (UTC)

you mean the four types of officers whom he would employ? i was looking at the text of that quote recently. i'm almost certain that it can be attributed k. von h-e. or to col. v.spon. i will take a look and get back to you on this. as i recall, there is no direct reference in Truppenfuhrung (excuse lack of umlaut). i was co-author/editor of the english translation. best wishes, bruce condellbruce (talk) 17:23, 17 April 2008 (UTC)


 * This quote is attributed to von Hammerstein-Equord also in The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase, Saying and Quotation, 2nd ed (2002) on p. 27 with the rejoinder that it's possibly apocryphal. It is dated to c. 1933. 91.153.115.90 (talk) 09:49, 29 June 2008 (UTC)

I'm also trying to track down the original source: Wiki projects that mention the quote include: Possibly that will helps someone find the origin... ? -- Quiddity (talk) 23:17, 26 July 2010 (UTC)
 * wikiquote:Kurt von Hammerstein-Equord - attributes it to the same Condell/Zabecki book that we do here.
 * de:Kurt von Hammerstein-Equord - states it was in this book Hammerstein oder Der Eigensinn (by Hans Magnus Enzensberger) which amazon let's us search inside (for "faul") - the quote does appear on page 77–78 - but I can't decipher the context (1 semester of highschool German doesn't get me very far...). Can anyone help?
 * de:Hanlon’s Razor points to the same Enzensberger book, but the footnote seems to suggest it was something to do with Talleyrand? Again, I'm not sure what exactly it is saying. (however the word "talleyrand" isn't findable in the Enzensberger book (at amazon at least)).

Yup, that book clearly attributes the quote to K-vHE. Thanks for the citation! A friend has ordered the English translation and we'll see what it says. Echion2 (talk) 07:52, 24 November 2010 (UTC)

The English translation book came to my friend and it clearly attributes the quote (with virtually identical English translation) to von Hammerstein-Equord on page 86. I'm going to make the appropriate edits. Echion2 (talk) 10:24, 2 December 2010 (UTC)

I have made the edits. Echion2 (talk) 10:34, 25 January 2011 (UTC)

The first footnote
The first footnote seems quite obvious and imho doesn´t fit into a well-developped encyclopedia entry, does it? Let's try not to treat the readers as if they were a bunch of morons... I'd suggest getting rid of it. If you find it absolutely crucial to explain the notion of "Freiherr", let's just make it a link to a proper article, shall we? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 80.55.28.74 (talk) 01:44, 17 July 2009 (UTC)

Iz der very gut artikel text
A few random examples of weird prose here:

''"General von Witzleben demanded together with the generals Wilhelm von Leeb and Gerd von Rundstedt at General Fritsch, now Chief Command..."

''"In a closed meeting of the peaks of government, party and Reichswehr to another topic Hitler said "studies"..."

''"...relieved of his command on personal orders by Hitler..."

''"...Prof. Dr. Ferdinand Sauerbruch, an esteemed surgeon..."

''"After the reports of his children Hammerstein reported during the meals about forthcoming actions against Jewish and other persecuted people, so those could be warned by his children."

''"First he was a member of the Reichstag (KPD), organizer and redactor."

''"He turned away from the KPD, was mostly arrested since 1933 and was shot 1940 in the KZ Buchenwald."

 "She made the connections to agent Gert Caden to the KPD." 94.191.143.218 (talk) 19:11, 18 January 2019 (UTC)
 * Those, and others, likely are from translation and beside weird prose occasionally result in factual error. Just overhauled the article and hopefully got all of them. ...GELongstreet (talk) 18:27, 21 May 2022 (UTC)