Sidelined
The National Socialists came to power in January 1933. An arrest of Eckener in 1933 was intended but blocked by Hindenburg. Hitler met Eckener only one time, in July 1933, but the two barely spoke.
Eckener did not make any secret of his dislike of the Nazis and the disastrous events he foresaw. He criticised the regime frequently, and refused to allow the Nazis to use the large hangars at Frankfurt for a rally. Eventually the Nazis declared Eckener to be persona non grata and his name was no longer allowed to appear in print.
During his many years as manager of airship operations, Eckener always made safety his absolute priority. With Eckener's management, the Zeppelin company had a perfect safety record with no passenger ever sustaining a serious injury on any of the more than 1 million air miles that the rigid airships flew, until the Hindenburg disaster of 1937.
During the 1930s, the Nazi government nationalized the Zeppelin operation under the name Deutsche Zeppelin-Reederei GmbH (DZR). The Nazis sidelined Eckener in favour of men who were more compliant with their wishes. In their haste to please the Nazi regime, these newly promoted airshipmen did not always obey Eckener's safety procedures. For example, the maiden voyage of the Hindenburg nearly resulted in disaster when Captain Ernst Lehmann brought the ship out in strong winds in order to undertake a Nazi propaganda flight. The ship was damaged, and there was an argument between Eckener and Lehman and Eckener and the Nazi propaganda ministry.
Hugo Eckener was in Graz, Austria when he heard news of the Hindenburg disaster of 6 May 1937. In the official inquiry he concluded that a static spark ignited leaking hydrogen in the aft section of the ship. The leak would have been caused by a sharp turn, which he believed caused a wire to break and rip a gas cell.
After the destruction of the Hindenburg, the nearly-completed LZ-130 Graf Zeppelin was redesigned as a helium-filled ship, although, owing to geo-political considerations, the American helium was not available. Thus the ship never began commercial service. However, with the command of Captain Albert Sammt, the ship performed a number of controversial espionage flights over Great Britain.
Eckener, however, had by this time little influence on the Zeppelin Company. He survived World War II despite his disagreements with the Nazis. Post war, he was involved with a plan by the Goodyear Zeppelin Corporation to build large rigid airships. However this did not happen.
In 1945, Johannes Weyl and Eckener co-found the Südkurier regional newspaper and Eckener started writing for German-French co-operation.
In November 1945 Eckener was confronted with the charge of collaboration with Nazi Germany. In 1947 the French occupying powers fined him 100,000 German Reichsmarks. Many personalities lobbied for Eckener's rehabilitation. The judgement was rejected in July 1948 and Eckener was rehabilitated.
Eckener's home town of Flensburg had a Danish-oriented majority in its council since 1945, with a goal of Danish unification. Eckener remained active in local politics campaigning for a German majority in Flensburg, while at the same time, during a "thundering" one hour speech in 1951, warning against small-mindedness in border concerns.
Eckener died in Friedrichshafen on 14 August 1954 just after his 86th birthday.
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