3. The March 1933 General Election

When was the March 1933 election?

5th March 1933, just 6 days after the Reichstag Fire

What did Hitler want from the March 1933 General Election?

to give the Nazis a majority in the Reichstag

How did Hitler promote the Nazi’s in this election?

saying that the Reichstag Fire was proof of a serious communist threat in Germany and urged people to vote for the Nazis as the only party capable of dealing with it, this resonated with people because many people had always been strongly opposed to communism

What did the Nazis do to ensure success in the March 1933 General Election?

• Goering began to replace police officers with Nazi supporters and recruited 50,000 SA members as "‘police auxiliaries, making the Nazi’s now in control of the police

• the SA used political violence, causing more than 70 deaths

• thousands of KPD and SPD were arrested and sent to concentration camps

• the SA broke up election meetings by opposition parties

• newspapers which did not support the Nazis were closed

• Hitler secured funds from industrialists to help the Nazis election campaign

• the Nazis issued quantities of propaganda to promote their part and ideals

• the Nazis posted their supporters at polling stations to encourage voters to choose them on election day

What was the result of the March 1933 election?

Hitler did not get quite the result he wanted, while they did become the largest party in the Reichstag but they did not win a majority

What was the seats won distribution in the March 1933 election?

• Nazis: 288 seats

• SPD: 120 seats

• Nationalists: 52 seats

• KPD: 81 seats

• Zentrum: 74 seats

• Other Parties: 32 seats

What would have happened if Hitler had got the result for which he had hoped?

he would have been able to make changes to the Weimar Constitution fairly easily, instead he was going to have to work with other parties to achieve his aims, at least in the short term