According to the Nazis’ plan, the “Third Reich” was to be a thousand years old. The first day of the regime’s reign was January 30, 1933. How could this happen? About that writes DW.
Exactly 90 years ago Hitler (Adolf Hitler) came to power in Germany. How could the Germans vote for this? How did the mad “Fuhrer” come to power? Or what happened to the lack of capture? Anyway, Weimar Republic – “democracy without democrats”, as one historian put it, – approached step by step the dictatorship, which led Germany and all of Europe to tragic tragedy.
The Last Days of the Weimar Republic
The Weimar Republic began to slowly emerge from post-war ruin, but the global economic crisis that began in 1929, high unemployment and the burden of reparations, which they paid according to Treaty of Versailles , put the country in serious trouble. In March 1930, unable to agree with parliament on a common financial policy, the old president Paul of Hindenburg (Paul von Hindenburg) appointed the new Reich Chancellor, who no longer relied on the support of the parliamentary majority and depended only on the President himself. The Reichstag had no influence on the appointment of the chancellor and the formation of the government, but could override them. In Chekhara, changing cabinets has become a common occurrence.
In the 1932 elections, the National Socialists won 37% of the vote and became the most powerful faction in the Reichstag Photo: akg-images/picture-alliance
Ultimately, the new Chancellor Heinrich Brüning (Heinrich Brüning) introduced an austerity regime. The dissatisfied became more and more numerous. During the Reichstag elections in September 1930 National Socialist Workers’ Party of Germany (NSDAP) led by Hitler, it was possible to increase the number of seats from 12 to 107, and the Communists from 54 to 77. Thus, right and left extremists together won almost a third place in parliament. Under these conditions, any constructive policy was practically impossible.
The Communists could have stopped the Nazis if they had acted in concert with the Social Democrats, but Moscow categorically forbade them to deal with them: Stalin considered the Social Democrats almost their main enemies. But the Nazis even became allies: in 1932, the Communists led a joint transport strike with them, which paralyzed Berlin.
National Socialist: How legal is the government parish?
In the new elections of 1932, the National Socialists obtained 37% of the vote and became the most powerful faction of Reichstag , even if the absolute majority of them had nothing. Hitler could only gain power from the right-wing elite and sought their support. Ten received it from influential business representatives. Relying on large capital, his own election success, and the riot of stormtroopers the Nazis unleashed on the streets, in August 1932 Hitler turned to Hindenburg with the request to appoint him Reich Chancellor. Hindenburg refuses: he is a “strange corporal” who, according to the president, “could have been Minister of Posts, but not Chancellor”.
Hitler and President Paul von Hindenburg (left). 1933 Photo: dpa/picture alliance
But on January 30, 1933 Hindenburg yielded. However, in Hitler’s first cabinet, apart from the “Fuhrer” himself, the Nazis held only two ministerial posts out of 11. Hindenburg and his advisers hoped to use the brown movement for their own ends. However, these hopes turned out to be illusory. Hitler quickly strengthened his power. Only a few weeks after his appointment as Reich Chancellor, the state of emergency is in fact declared in Germany.
They usually say that the “occupying authorities” are Nazis. By the way, they themselves also preferred this formulation: there was a lot of love from the people, and Hitler came to power in January 1933. After the collapse of the “Third Reich”, this formulation already acquired in Germany a new, apologetic and justifiable tone. Something like: Hitler came to power as a result of the putsch, and the Germans were his helpless victims. Both are lies. On January 30, 1933, Adolf Hitler was proclaimed Reich Chancellor in full accordance with the German constitution at the time. We speak of the power of “transfer”, rather of the power of “transmission”. Hitler was the leader of the most powerful party in the Reichstag – the country’s parliament. But, I note, in an election in 1932, this party did not receive more than 40% of the votes. In November, his rating even reached 33%. So that the wave of “universal love” for the “Führer” does not grow, but fades.
And all or ten became rulers of the country, which ultimately led to disaster – like the whole continent. The entire library already written in the research answers the question: how could such a person legally obtain the highest government position in the land? After all, he openly stated all of his criminal purposes in the book. “Mein Kampf” : I extermination of european jews , and a military campaign in the east. How could such a person lead a nation that considered itself a nation of poets and thinkers? Did the outcome of the First World War, the feeling of national humiliation, play an important role? And what kind of global depression left one in three Germans jobless? Or is it a matter of fear, which even in 1933 managed to attack the Germans with hundreds of units of Hitler’s stormtroopers from SA?
Hitler: Dictatorship for a few months
One thing is clear: the conservative elite of the countries that helped Hitler come to power trusting that he himself would prove his utter, miscalculated incompetence. Nor was the hope of those 60% of Germans who never voted for Hitler’s party realized, nor that he came and went, just like his predecessors, who never occupied the position of chancellor only for a few weeks.
After taking power, Hitler released her only at the end. In just a few months, ten Somalis have established a terror-based dictatorship. Already in February 1933 the new Reichskanzler abolished freedom of the press and freedom of assembly, in March the parliament was de facto deprived of power, in April the federal land government was abolished, in May the free trade unions were was dissolved, and in July all parties were banned except the National Socialist. The boycott of Jewish-owned shops began, Jews were banned from working as doctors, lawyers, journalists, teachers and university professors. And to complete the picture: in the spring of 1933, the first concentration camps for political prisoners were created.
After taking power, Hitler did not release it until the very end Photo: Bayerisches Hauptstaatsarchiv
On August 2, 1934, the President of the Weimar Republic, Paul von Hindenburg, died. The Nazi government decides that of President is combined with of Reich Chancellor. Everything is the same powers of the president Change to Reichskanzleru – “Führer”. The transition to a totalitarian state was complete.
Germans gave up freedom for stability
It all happened in a few months. Moreover, the “Führer” encountered no organized resistance. On the contrary, support for the regime increased when unemployment fell. This is probably the main flaw of the Germans in 1933: they traded civil rights and freedoms for perceived political and economic stability. For this reason, they uncomplainingly accepted the systematic oppression and then the destruction of whole sections of the population. How did the Germans get rid of Hitler on their own? Thus, the collapse of the “Third Reich” on May 8, 1945 was scheduled for January 30, 1933.
What lessons can we draw from what happened in Germany 90 years ago? Most historians are inclined to think that the main ones are two.
First of all, there is no democracy without democrats. It is impossible to introduce democracy. Democracy must be learned again and again.
Second, democracy must be able to protect itself. Tolerance is one of its main virtues. But the limit of tolerance crosses where the very existence of democracy is called into question.
