While Hilter himself wasn't ever elected to the post he assumed, his party most certainly was. To say now that the German citizens didn't back the NSDAP party is disingenuous, to say the least since that party won the most votes and tied with the other "nationalist" type parties was surely reflecting the mood and thought of the German populace. (italics are from the Time article) Banned in Berlin on election day this week was the flag of Germany: black, red & gold. When a Prussian Deputy tried to fly his country's flag. Berlin police made him take it down. The Deputy's country—the German Republic—was dying if not dead. Meanwhile out of the ballot box another Germany was being reborn. Its flag— black, white & red—the onetime Imperial Hohenzollern colors, flew in every street, floated majestically from Government buildings and was flaunted everywhere by shouting, cheering throngs. Goosestepping as smartly as when they were members of Germany's Imperial Army, and with several Hohenzollern Princes in their ranks, 20,000 Stahlhelmers paraded down Unter den Linden. Strangely enough, no monarchical restoration loomed. Chancellor Adolf Hitler had merely gone to the German people under borrowed colors, had won a thundering cataclysmic victory with catchwords as loose as his slogan: "Rebirth or Bolshevism!" Not dazzled by a promised "new deal" (for Chancellor Hitler made no specific election pledges whatsoever), Germans, hoping that somehow he will bring back "the good old times." turned out in such numbers on the brilliant, balmy Election Sunday that 88% of the electorate cast ballots—an all-time record. Stay-at-homes got no peace from the Government radio which sternly commanded every few minutes: "Do your duty! Get out and vote! Cast your ballot for the Government parties! Do it now!" The Returns. (March 13th, 1933 Time magazine) From two elections the same day (No. 1 for the German Reichstag; No. 2 for the Diet of Prussia, which governs nearly two-thirds of the Reich) Germans received these significant returns : The Reichstag New (seats)-- Former (seats)--Change(of seats) *NationaI Socialists 288 (44.17%) 196 (33.67%) +92 Nationalists 52 (8 %) 54 (9.2%) -2 Socialists 120 (18.4%) 121 (20.7%) -1 Communists 81 (12,5%) 100 (17.1%) -19 † Catholic Centrists 73 (11.2%) 70 (12 %) + 3 Bavarian Populists 20 (3%) 20 ( 3.4%) Splinter Parties 18 ( 2.8%) 23 (4% ) -9 The New Prussian Diet National Socialists 44.6% Nationalists 9 % Socialists 16.9% Catholic Centrists 14.4% Communists 13.45 Splinter Parties 1.7% Thus the Government parties won a clear majority in both Diet and Reichstag. Moreover, if the Communist votes are nullified by Government decree (see below), Chancellor Hitler's Nazis by themselves will have absolute majorities, can tell Dr. Hugenberg and Vice-Chancellor Franz von Papen to go to the devil. See: GERMANY: National Revolution! - TIME Read all pages for a decent recollection of what was known as well as suspected at the time.
Banned in Berlin on election day this week was the flag of Germany: black, red & gold. Shows what I know. I always thought that was the post-war German flag, didn't know it dated from the 1830s. Flag of Germany - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia I'd assumed the pre-swastika flag was red, white black stripes. Oops , red face time.
Adolf Hitler is named chancellor of Germany 30th January 1933 With... "On January 30, 1933, President Paul von Hindenburg names Adolf Hitler, leader or führer of the National Socialist German Workers Party (or Nazi Party), as chancellor of Germany. The year 1932 had seen Hitler’s meteoric rise to prominence in Germany, spurred largely by the German people’s frustration with dismal economic conditions and the still-festering wounds inflicted by defeat in the Great War and the harsh peace terms of the Versailles treaty. A charismatic speaker, Hitler channeled popular discontent with the post-war Weimar government into support for his fledgling Nazi party. In an election held in July 1932, the Nazis won 230 governmental seats; together with the Communists, the next largest party, they made up over half of the Reichstag. Hindenburg, intimidated by Hitler’s growing popularity and the thuggish nature of his cadre of supporters, the SA (or Brownshirts), initially refused to make him chancellor. Instead, he appointed General Kurt von Schleicher, who attempted to steal Hitler’s thunder by negotiating with a dissident Nazi faction led by Gregor Strasser. At the next round of elections in November, the Nazis lost ground—but the Communists gained it, a paradoxical effect of Schleicher’s efforts that made right-wing forces in Germany even more determined to get Hitler into power. In a series of complicated negotiations, ex-Chancellor Franz von Papen, backed by prominent German businessmen and the conservative German National People’s Party (DNVP), convinced Hindenburg to appoint Hitler as chancellor, with the understanding that von Papen as vice-chancellor and other non-Nazis in key government positions would contain and temper Hitler’s more brutal tendencies." etc...
https://podbay.fm/p/real-dictators/e/1646179260 Real Dictators is the award-winning podcast hosted by Paul McGann that explores the hidden lives of history’s tyrants. SHOW NOTES As Hitler-mania sweeps the land, the Nazis win an election landslide. But Hitler finds himself shut out by the Prussian elite, at least until he can grind them into submission. Finally, the unthinkable happens. Adolf Hitler becomes Chancellor of Germany. A Noiser production, written & produced by Jeff Dawson.
