Section D: how Hitler became Chancellor 1932-3

Political Developments in 1932

1. March 1932: Hindenburg stood for re-election as President. Hitler stood against him. Hindenburg got 18

million votes and Hitler a respectable 11 million. No-one got over 50% so the election was held again.

2. April 1932: Hindenburg stood for re-election again. This time he got 19 million (just over 50%) and Hitler got

13 million.

3. 30 May 1932: Chancellor Brüning resigned because he lost support in the Reichstag and of the President by

banning the SA and SS and planning to buy up land from large owners and use it to house the unemployed.

4. Hindenburg was now under the influence of a high-ranking army general, von Schleicher. He suggested

Hindenburg’s friend, the wealthy businessman Franz von Papen, would make a good Chancellor. However, he

did not have the support of those in the Reichstag, so that was quite undemocratic.

5. 30 May 1932: von Papen became Chancellor. Hitler agreed to the Nazis join von Papen in a coalition if the ban

on the SA was removed.

6. July 1932: another election led to a very violent election campaign in which 100 people were killed. The Nazis

won 230 seats in the Reichstag, increasing their share of the vote to 30% and becoming the largest party in

the Reichstag.

7. Hitler now had a good reason to demand that Hindenburg made him Chancellor, but Hindenburg hated Hitler

and did not want to do so.

8. Instead, Hindenburg called another election in the hope of getting a different result. In November 1932,

another election led to the Nazi votes falling to 196 seats, but they remained the largest party in the Reichstag.

9. Hindenburg still refused to appoint Hitler, so instead sacked von Papen and made von Schleicher Chancellor

instead. However, von Schleicher had no support in the Reichstag or from the public; the government was

falling apart.

10. Von Papen made a suggestion to Hindenburg: make Hitler Chancellor, but appoint Von Papen as Vice

Chancellor. Hindenburg and von Papen thought they would be able to control Hitler this way.

11. As a result, on 30 January 1933, Hitler was appointed Chancellor of Germany.

The roles of Hindenburg, von Schleicher and von Papen

1. Hindenburg had been around during the time of the Kaiser and preferred that way of governing to the more

democratic style of the Weimar Republic. As a result, he was open to governing through the use of Article 48,

undermining democracy.

2. Von Schleicher was also not committed to democracy and encouraged Hindenburg to behave

undemocratically.

3. Von Papen underestimated Hitler and thought he could control him through the position of Vice Chancellor