Hugo Eckener, Ph.D.

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Yes this is THE Dr. Hugo Eckener, the one who went on to great fame as a Zeppelin commander (e.g., the Graf Zeppelin), and as the successor to Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin as head of the Zeppelin Company. He is widely regarded as the person most responsible for the golden age of rigid dirigibles, but in terms of designing safe airships and promoting their use for commercial travel. During the early 1930s, Eckener was one of the most well-known and respected figures in Weimar Republic Germany.

He was a national hero in Germany, openly against Hitler and the Nazis prior to WWII. He had agreed to run against Hitler in the 1932 presidential election until Hindenburg (the person, not the airship) decided to run again. He maintained his anti-Nazi stance, was blacklisted by Hitler, and relieved of most of his power, and would have been arrested in 1933 were it not for Hindenburg's intervention.

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