Hitler’s Appointment as Reich Chancellor
By Sophie Caballero-Pearce, Third Year History
On this day, 92 years ago, President Paul von Hindenburg appointed Adolf Hitler as Reich Chancellor of Germany, the catalyst for Hitler securing dictatorial power over Germany. Whilst the story of Hitler and the Nazi party is well documented, there is one pressing question that most people do not know the answer to: How did Hitler rise to authoritarian power in a democratic country? How did a poor, failed artist become the leader of one of the biggest genocides in history?
Hitler stands next to Hindenburg, shortly after being sworn in as Chancellor. Courtesy of the Wiener Holocaust Library Collections.
Firstly, we need to go back to November 1918 at the end of WWI. After realising that the war could not be won, and with the abdication of Kaiser Wilhelm II just 9 days before, an armistice was signed by Germany and the Allies. In summary, it forced the demilitarisation of Germany and removed German occupation from foreign land. As a result of this armistice, The Treaty of Versailles was signed in 1919 that specified, amongst other terms, that Germany was to accept full responsibility for the war and pay the equivalent of £6.6 billion in reparations, hitting Germany hard alongside their already unstable economy. In today’s money that is around a staggering £25 trillion.
German soldiers and nationalists were angry at these terms as they felt they had been ‘stabbed in the back’ by German leaders. This resulted in workers strking, which compelled the leaders of Germany’s major parties to combine forces as they feared a communist uprising.
The views amongst Germans that they could have won the war if politicians had not signed the armistice resonated deeply with Hitler who had also fought in WWI. Whilst most people protested to show their dismay at the treaty, Hitler fell into an obsession and vowed to help Germany rise from the ashes. Hitler needed a scapegoat to blame for the loss of WWI and chose to pin it on the cowardice of politicians and Jews. Germany at this time was deeply antisemitic so Hitler’s theories spread like wildfire among the German people.
Hitler and Hindenburg, shortly after Hitler was asked to become Chancellor in 1933. From the Bundesarchiv, Bild 183-S38324.
Finding his calling as a talented public speaker, Hitler joined the DAP, the German Workers’ Party, which was small in numbers when Hitler first became a member. However, his powerful speeches quickly catapulted him into becoming the leader of the newly renamed National Socialist German Workers’ Party or NSDAP. What further aided Hitler’s success was the Great Depression in 1929, which he used as leverage to promise the starving and unemployed German people prosperity, economic success, and pride in their nation if they voted the Nazi party into power. Unsurprisingly, these promises saw a spike in votes for the Nazi party. In 2 years they went from having just 3% of the vote to a sizable 18%.
From this increase in popularity, Hitler ran for president in 1932, almost certain that he would win, before losing to the current president and well-respected war hero, Paul von Hindenburg. Yet the election established Hitler as a burgeoning force in German politics, and disagreements within the government led to influential politicians and businessmen, such as the previous Chancellor Franz von Papen, urging Hindenburg to change his mind. After two further parliamentary elections that failed to establish a majority government, Hindenburg agreed to appoint Hitler as Chancellor. On the 30th of January 1933, the Nazi party gained three ministerial positions: Wilhelm Frick as Minister of the Interior, Herman Göring as Minister of the Interior for Prussia and Adolf Hitler as Chancellor of Germany, the first major step in his rise to power.
Edited by Ben Bryant