History of germany

Hindenburg and Hitler: 1929-1933

During four years of economic turmoil, as the unemployment figure rises to 4.3 million in September 1931 and more than 6 million in 1932 (and Nazi seats in the Reichstag make comparable gains), Hitler jockeys for position with Germany's political establishment. At the head of the nation isHindenburg, the war veteran who has been elected president of the republic in 1925. He and Hitler are the two most significant figures during the mounting crisis.

Elections in 1930 bring the first indication that the Nazis are now a power to be reckoned with. The campaign is marred by violence from both Nazis and Communists, but it brings the two extremist parties unprecedented success. Nazi representation in the Reichstag rises from 12 to 107, while the Communists win 77 seats 

The success of the Communists helps Hitler in his grassroots campaign, as the man who can save Germany from this Jew-inspired foreign creed. But at the same time his own appeal to the masses causes the political establishment in the centre to close ranks against him. In the next three years a succession of schemes are hatched by Hindenburg and the established politicians to form alliances which will keep Hitler out of power. 

As their various coalitions crumble in disagreement, a more dangerous policy comes under consideration. Perhaps the best way forward may be to smother Hitler's ambitions by giving him a little power within a government controlled by others? 
Hitler himself is adamant in any negotiation. He will only take power if it is legitimately conferred. And he will accept nothing less than the role of chancellor.

Meanwhile his share of the vote continues to rise. When Hindenburg's first term of office as president comes to an end, in March 1932, Hitler stands against him. In the first round he wins 30% of the vote, in the second 36.7%. This is not sufficient to prevent the re-election of the 85-year-old field marshal, but it is more than enough to establish Hitler in the public's mind as a potential leader in waiting. 

Rivalries among the politicians favoured by Hindenburg prompt the second Reichstag election of the year, in July 1932. This time the Nazis achieve another breakthrough, becoming with 230 seats the largest party (the Social Democrats are second, the Communists third). Yet the Nazis cannot find partners to form a ruling coalition - a situation which results in yet another election, in November 1932.

For the first time, in what has been until now a crescendo of success since 1930, the Nazi vote slips (by 2 million). In the circumstances Hitler becomes slightly more willing to compromise in his negotiations with a weary political establishment, though he still demands nothing less than the office of chancellor for himself. 

In January 1933 Hitler comes to an agreement with Franz von Papen, a political amateur who has been appointed chancellor by Hindenburg in June 1932. Papen attempts to persuade Hindenburg that his agreement with Hitler is the safest way out of the present impasse. If Hindenburg will appoint Hitler chancellor and Papen vice-chancellor, Papen will form a cabinet in which, with Hitler's agreement, the Nazis will hold only three out of eleven portfolios. From that position they can do little harm. Hindenburg agrees.

So, on 30 January 1933, the 43-year-old Adolf Hitler becomes chancellor of Germany - legally rather than by revolution, unlike the despised Marxists in Russia. His revolution, at least as ruthless as theirs, is to be put in place after achieving power.

Hitler's revolution: 1933-1934

Hitler moves swiftly to consolidate his hold on power. At his first cabinet meeting, on the day of his appointment as chancellor, he argues that new elections must be held if the coalition fails to command an immediate majority in the Reichstag. He overcomes the qualms of Papen and his colleagues by promising that whatever the result of the election, the present balance within the cabinet will be maintained (the three Nazi members are Hitler, Goering and Wilhelm Frick).

The election is fixed for 5 March 1933. The campaign is one of unprecedented violence. Gangs of Hitler'sBrownshirts are unleashed on the streets to break up the meetings of opposition parties. The police are instructed not to intervene. 

During the election campaign, on the night of February 27, the Reichstag building burns down. Many assume at the time that this was contrived by the Nazis, but it seems probable that it was an isolated act of arson by a mentally disturbed Dutchman, Marinus van der Lubbe. Whatever the precise origin of the fire, it provides Hitler with a heaven-sent opportunity. Proclaiming it as part of a Communist plot to seize control, he passes a decree suspending all rights of the individual and giving the government emergency powers. 

In spite of these circumstances, the Nazis and their coalition allies fail by a narrow margin to win an overall majority within the Reichstag. Steps are immediately taken to remedy this. 
On March 23, at the first session of the newly elected Reichstag (using a a Berlin opera house as a temporary home), the 81 Communist members and about 20 Social Democrats are conspicuous by their absence. They are either in hiding or are already in the hands of Hitler's police.

Even without their hostile votes, Hitler cannot immediately muster the two-thirds majority which he requires for the business scheduled for the day - an 'enabling act' which will give his government the power to pass decrees independently of the Reichstag and without any restriction by the president. 

In the event, with gangs of threatening Brownshirts mustered outside the building, only the Social Democrats have the courage to oppose the Enabling Act. The most significant measure in Hitler's political career is passed by the comfortable margin of 441 to 94. With this constitutional step achieved, he is an elected dictator.

Subsequent decrees, passed with this new authority, tidy up Hitler's mechanism for controlling the nation. In May 1933 trades unions are brought under Nazi control. In July 1933 the Nazi party is declared to be the only legitimate political organization within Germany. In January 1934 the powers of Germany's proudly independent regions, theLänder, are transferred to the central government. 

Meanwhile the apparatus of state is being rapidly equipped to cope with personal dissent. In March 1933 the Nazis establish their firstconcentration camp, organized by Heinrich Himmler at Dachau near Munich. The pattern is soon followed in other parts of the country. By that summer as many as 30,000 Germans are being held without trial in these punitive establishments. 

The two main groups of victims are Communists and Jews, the twin targets of Hitler's long-standing obsession.