January 1928 = Gregor Strasser appointed

“Organizational Leader” of NSDAP

Gau reforms

Importance of professional branches

Importance of uniforms

Importance of ranks

Reorganizing . . .

June 1929 = Nazis won majority election at Koburg

December 1929 = Nazis won 11% of the vote in Thuringia

Wilhelm Frick elected Interior and Education Minister

February 1930 = Horst Wessel died

1923-1933 = 199 Nazi “martyrs” killed

Local Elections

1928 Reichstag Elections:

12 seats won by Nazis

September 1930 Reichstag elections:

107 seats won by Nazis

Hitler was not serving in the Reichstag

October 1930 = trial of NSDAP army officers

Legally Seizing Power?

July 1931 = bank collapse in Germany

Two days later, NSDStB seizes control of national college student gov’t

Increasing violence between Communists and Nazis

12 Sept. 1931 = Nazis provoke fights with Jews

October 1931 = Harzburg Front coalition

NSDAP, DNVP, and the Stahlhelm

1931 = Political Polarization

1913 = 3%

1923 = 4%

1928 = 6%

1929 = 8.5%

1930 = 14%

1931 = 22%

1932 = 30%!!!

1936 = 7.5%

1939 = 0.5%

Unemployment Stats

1932 = five major elections in Germany

February 1932 = Hitler becomes a German citizen

Announces candidacy for President two days later

18 March 1932 = first round of voting . . .

Hitler gets 30% of the vote . . .

Hindenburg gets 49.6%

Weimar’s Final Year

10 April 1932 results:

Ernst Thälmann (KPD) = 10%

Adolf Hitler (NSDAP) = 37%

Paul von Hindenburg (Independent) = 53%

13 April = Brüning(Catholic Center Party) banned the SA and the SS

Invoked Article 48

Second Round of Presidential Election

Elections in Prussia, Bavaria, Württemberg, Anhalt,

and Hamburg

84% of the electorate

Election results . . .

Prussia = 162 seats won by Nazis

Bavaria = 42 seats won by Nazis

May 1932 = Reichstag suspended after violence

May 1932 = Brüning’s gov’t collapses

New national election

Landtag Elections (24 April)

Hitler flies to 50 cities in 15 days

Nazis win 230 of 608 seats (38%)

SPD only win 133 seats

No coalition gov’t . . .

New Chancellor = Franz von Papen

But now Hitler wants to be Chancellor!

Hindenburg says no . . .

July 1932 Reichstag Election

September 1932 = Communists and Nazis bring a

vote of no confidence to the Reichstag floor

Papen dissolves the Reichstag

New elections!

November 1932 Reichstag Election

November 1932 = Nazis lose votes

From 230 seats to 196 seats

KPD = from 89 to 100 seats

SPD also loses seats

Nazi Reversal

Lippe’s Landtag election

Nazis win big (39% of seats), claim tide has turned

Dismissed Papen seeks revenge on new Chancellor

Chancellor Kurt von Schleicher

Papen smooths Hitler’s path to the Chancellorship

Makes a deal with NSDAP and DNVP

Bleak Winter of 1933?

28 January 1933 = Schleicher resigns

30 January 1933 = Hitler is appointed Chancellor

Frick is appointed Minister of Interior

Hermann Göring is appointed Minister of Prussia

Another election called for March!

Machtergreifung(30 January 1933)

Arsonist burns down Reichstag

Hitler blames the Communists

4000 political operatives arrested

KPD still wins 81 seats . . .

But the NSDAP wins 288 (44%) . . .

Still no majority!!!

Reichstag Fire (27 February 1933)

Economic fears and unemployment

No confidence in democracy

Longing for a strong leader

Polarization of politics

Reorganized NSDAP

Devious behind-the-scenes politicking

Summary