gustav stresemann died of a stroke in october 1929 at the age of 51. his massive gravesite is in berlin's luisenstadt cemetery at südstern in kreuzberg, and includes work by the german sculptor hugo lederer. stresemann's sudden and premature death, as well as the death of his "pragmatic moderate" french counterpart aristide briand in 1932, and the assassination of briand's successor louis barthou in 1934, left a vacuum in european statesmanship that further tilted the slippery slope towards world war ii.