How Did Hitler Become Chancellor?

• July 1932, After the Reichstag elections - Nazis were the largest single party but still not majority party

  • 230 seats in the Riechstag
  • Hitler demanded the post of Chancellor from the president
  • Hindenburg was suspicious of Hilter and refused - allowed current Chancellor (Franz von Papen to carry on)
  • Hindenburg used his emergency powers to pass that von Papen thought would help solve the unemployment problem but von papen had no support in the Reichstag so another election was called
• November 1932 - Nazis came out as the largest party again but their share of the vote fell

  • Hitler regarded the election as a disaster - had lost more than 2 million votes along with 38 seats
  • Signs of Hitler slowly losing popularity
  • Nazis started to run out of funds
  • Hitler is said to have threatened suicide
• December 1932 - Hindenburg refused to appoint Hitler as chancellor

  • chose Kurt von Shcleicher
  • Within a month, Von schleicher was forced to resign
  • Weimar systen of government was not working - system of balance and proportional representation meant that no political group was able to provide strong rule and Hindenburg ran the country using his emergency powers
  • Hindenburg had already overthrown the principles of democracy by using emergency powers and if he wanted to rescue democracy, he needed a chancellor who had support in the Reichstag
• January 1933 - Hindenburg and von Papen met secretly wiht industrialists, army leaders and politicians (1)

  • 30th January - offered Hitler the post of chancellor with only a few Nazis in the Cabinet and Von Papen as Vie Chancellor
  • Confident they could limit Hitler’s influence and resist his extremist demands
  • Policies would be made by the cabinet which was filled with conservatives and Hitler would be there to get support in the Reichstag for those policies and control the comunists
• January 1933 - Hindenburg and von Papen met secretly wiht industrialists, army leaders and politicians (2)

  • Hitler ended up as chancellor through a behind the scenes deal by some German aristocrats
  • Hindenburg and von papen were wrong into thinking they could contro Hitler
• Hitler used the SA and SS intimidated the Reichstag into passing the Enabling Act which allowed him to make laws without consulting the Reichstag - SPD voted against him
• After the elections, the communists had been banned

  • Catholic Centre Party decided to cooperate with the Nazis rather than be treated like the Communists - able to retain control of catholic school
• After the elections, the communists had been banned

  • Catholic Centre Party decided to cooperate with the Nazis rather than be treated like the Communists - able to retain control of catholic school
• Enabling Act made Hitler a virtual dictator

  • for the next 4 years, Hitler could pass any law he wants
  • nothing President Hindenburg or anyone else could do
• Hitler still wasn’t secure after gaining the enabling act

  • saw how the Civil Service, the judiciary, the amry and other important groups had undermined the Weimar Republic
  • not yet strong enough to remove his opponents so he set a clever policy that mixed force, concessions and compromise
• Within a year, any opponents of the Nazis had either left Germany or have been taken to special concentration camps run by the SS

  • other political parties were banned