Hitler Appointed Chancellor

Setting the scene

By January 1933, Germany was in crisis. The Great Depression had left 6 million unemployed, and the Weimar Republic was paralyzed—no party could form a stable government. The Nazi Party, led by Adolf Hitler, had grown from a fringe group of 27,000 in 1925 to the largest party in the Reichstag, winning 37% of the vote in July 1932. President Paul von Hindenburg, the 85-year-old World War I hero, despised Hitler but was pressured by conservative elites—Franz von Papen, Alfred Hugenberg, and industrialists—who believed they could control Hitler and use his popular support to form a right-wing government.

What happened

On January 30, 1933, Hindenburg appointed Hitler Chancellor of Germany. Hitler formed a coalition cabinet with only three Nazis out of eleven ministers; Papen became Vice Chancellor, believing he could 'box Hitler in.' Hitler immediately called for new elections on March 5. On February 27, the Reichstag building burned—likely set by a Dutch communist, but the Nazis blamed a communist plot. Hitler persuaded Hindenburg to issue the Reichstag Fire Decree, suspending civil liberties. In the March election, Nazis won 44%—not a majority, but enough with coalition partners to pass the Enabling Act on March 23, 1933, which gave Hitler dictatorial powers. By July, all other parties were banned.

Why it still matters

Hitler's appointment as Chancellor led directly to the Third Reich, World War II, and the Holocaust, resulting in 70-85 million deaths. It demonstrated how a democracy could vote itself into dictatorship through legal means. The conservative elites who thought they could control Hitler were purged in the Night of the Long Knives in 1934 or marginalized. Hindenburg died in August 1934, and Hitler merged the presidency and chancellorship, becoming Führer. January 30, 1933, is now seen as the day German democracy died. It remains a cautionary tale about the fragility of democratic institutions and the danger of underestimating extremist movements.

Background

Democratic institutions were quickly dismantled afterward.