Eastern Aid

The intention was that the agricultural estates there, which were suffering financially for a number of reasons, would be able to restructure and reduce their heavy debt loads.

The political power of the large estate owners (Junkers) led to them reaping the greatest benefits from the program.

A considerable number of Junkers were found out to have wasted the money on what were considered to be luxury items, such as cars and vacations.

It came to light that the Hindenburg family's highly indebted estate in East Prussia at Neudeck (owned by the president's brother) had been clandestinely bought in 1927 by a number of industrialists and given to the president as a gift, seemingly in exchange for political influence,[2] and that the property had been registered in Hindenburg's son's name, apparently to evade estate taxes.

[3] After the donation of a further 5,000 acres (20 km2) to this property, and after the Nazis came to power, the matter ceased to command attention in the censored press of the Third Reich.