Paul Ludwig Hans Anton von Beneckendorff and von Hindenburg was born in Posen on October 2, 1847.

As the son of an officer, he joined the Prussian army after leaving school and fought as a lieutenant in the German War of 1866. After the Franco-Prussian War of 1870/71, he took part in the coronation of Wilhelm I as German Emperor in the Palace of Versailles as a representative of his guard regiment. After a successful career in the Prussian military, which promoted him to general in 1897, he retired in 1911.

Due to the outbreak of the First World War, he was reinstated and created the myth of his invincibility with his victory at the Battle of Tannenberg. After taking over the Supreme Army Command with Major General Erich Ludendorff in August 1916, he gained more and more political influence and transformed the German Reich from an empire to a military dictatorship. However, his retirement after the end of the war only lasted six years. In the political turmoil of the Weimar Republic, he was elected Reich President on April 26, 1925, succeeding Friedrich Ebert. He held this office until his death on February 28, 1934. In his function as the first man of the state, he visited Wiesbaden on July 20, 1930 and signed the city's Golden Book.