This article is misleading because it omits his political career before 1945. Even the German version of the article is misleading -- it's much much longer. Schlange-Schöningen was a member of the DNVP, an anti-democrat, and an antisemite (for one vicious example among many, see Winfried Steffani, Die Untersuchungsausschüsse des Preussischen Landtages zur Zeit der Weimarer Republik: Ein Beitrag zur Entwicklung, Funktion und politischen Bedeutung parlamentarischer Untersuchungsausschüsse (Dusseldorf: Droste, 1960), 171, fn. 1). He left the DNVP for a variety of reasons to found his own small party, acting to prop up Bruening's government by becoming a minister in both cabinets. He wasn't a minor actor. After 1945, he helped found the CDU and played a key role in bi- and trizonal governance, which is why he was seen as a potential rival to Adenauer. Adenauer sent him to London to become ambassador as a method of removing S-S from the domestic political stage. What gets lost in this article isn't simply context, it's that S-S was a typical conservative who helped bury German democracy (yes, Bruening's government was antidemocratic because it ruled against parliament and by decree). The fact that he had no truck with the Nazis doesn't mitigate the harm he did -- or his rather crude antisemitism. Integrating his interwar record makes clear once again that West German democracy was created by men who had previously worked hard against democratic institutions and whose racism didn't disqualify them from sensitive positions. Jzatlin (talk) 22:09, 12 July 2023 (UTC)Reply
