Hitler Becomes Chancellor

Hitler Becomes Chancellor

• July 1932:
• Reichstag elections of 1932 - Nazis were the largest party with 230 seats
• Hitler demanded to be chancellor
• Hindenburg refused and and kept the current chancellor, Franz von Papen
• Hindenburg used his emergency powers to pass measures von Papen hoped would solve Germany's economic problems
• Von Papen had no support in the Reichstag and another election was called
• 
• Caption: Adolf Hitler (1889-1945)

Steps Forward

• November 1932:
• Nazis came out as the largest party, although their share of the vote fell
• Hitler regarded the election as a disaster
• They lost 2 million votes and 38 seats in the Reichstag
• Also the Nazi Party began to run out of funding
• December 1932:
• Hindenburg refuses to make Hitler chancellor again
• Appoints his own adviser, Kurt von Schleicher, as the new chancellor
• Von Schleicher is forced to resign within a month
• Proportional representation meant no single political group could provide strong rule
• Hindenburg was ruling the country under his emergency powers, under the support of army leaders and rich industrialists
• Germany needed a chancellor who had the support of the Reichstag

The Day Arrives

• 
• January 1933:
• Hindenburg and von Papen met with industrialists, army leaders and politicians in secret
• On January 30, to the surprise of everyone, they offered Hitler the post of chancellor
• With only a few Nazis in cabinet and von Papen as vice-chancellor, they were confident they could limit Hitler's influence and demands
• Hindenburg and von Papen were wrong to believe they could control Hitler