On March 22, 1926, the Faculty of Philosophy and the then Faculty of Law at the University of Bonn awarded the honorary degree of Doctor (Doktor der Staatswissenschaften) to Paul von Hindenburg (1847-1934), who had been elected President of the Reich a year earlier. Although the honorary doctorate became obsolete with the death of the honoree, the Faculty of Humanities and today's Faculty of Law and Political Science at the University of Bonn distance themselves from this distinction, especially in light of the current political challenges. More than almost any other person, Hindenburg stands for the authoritarian alternative to republic and democracy in Germany in the first decades of the 20th century. Despite his initially constitutionally loyal actions, Hindenburg, as Reich President in the late phase of the Weimar Republic, played a decisive role in undermining and destroying democracy and the transition to dictatorship. The awarding of the honorary doctorate should not be assessed in isolation from its historical context, especially as, from today's perspective, significant developments for the historical appreciation of Hindenburg as a person only took place after 1926.
Nevertheless, the two faculties also honored Hindenburg, the symbolic figure of the national right, who was skeptical of democracy, alongside being the current President of the Reich in 1926. The critical reappraisal of such honors and the examination of their history remain an important task for the university.