Hindenburg said no, and only repeated his own previous requests. Meanwhile, a group of the country's most influential industrialists, bankers, and business leaders sent a petition to Hindenburg asking him to appoint Hitler as chancellor.
They believed Hitler would be good for business. Hindenburg was in a terrible bind. He called in Papen and Schleicher and asked them what to do. Papen came up with a wild idea. He would be chancellor again and rule only by decree, eliminate the Reichstag altogether, use the Army and police to suppress all political parties and forcibly amend the constitution.
It would be a return to the days of Empire, with the conservative, aristocratic classes ruling. Schleicher objected, much to Papen's surprise. Schleicher said that he, not Papen, should head the government and promised Hindenburg he could get a working majority in the Reichstag by causing a rift among the Nazis.
Schleicher said he could get Gregor Strasser and as many as 60 Nazi deputies to break from Hitler. Hindenburg was dumbfounded and finally turned to Papen and asked him to go ahead and form his government. After Hindenburg left the room, Papen and Schleicher got into a huge shouting match. At a cabinet meeting the next day, Schleicher told Papen that any attempt by him to form a new government would bring the country to chaos. He insisted that the Army would not go along and then produced a Major Ott who backed up his claims.
Schleicher had been at work behind the scenes to sway the Army to his point of view. Papen was in big trouble. He went running to Hindenburg, who, with tears rolling down his cheeks, told Papen there was no alternative at this point except to name Schleicher as the new chancellor. But I am too old and have been through too much to accept the responsibility for a civil war.
Our only hope is to let Schleicher try his luck," President Hindenburg told Papen. There now began an incredible amount of behind-the-scenes political intrigue and backstabbing that would put Hitler in power in only 57 days. To begin with, Schleicher made good on his promise to try to split the Nazis. He held a secret meeting with Gregor Strasser, a Nazi who had been with Hitler from the start, and offered him the vice-chancellorship and control of Prussia.
To Strasser, the offer was quite appealing. The Nazi Party's recent decline, losing millions of votes and now experiencing terrible financial problems, seemed to indicate that Hitler's rigid tactics might not be the best thing for long-term success.
Strasser had also acquired a distaste for the brutal men who now made up Hitler's inner circle. Through Papen, Hitler found out what was going on.
Strasser insisted that Hitler and the Nazis cooperate or at least tolerate the Schleicher government. Hitler sided with them against Strasser. Two days later, Strasser and Hitler met again and wound up getting into a huge shouting match. Strasser accused Hitler of leading the Party to ruin. Hitler accused Strasser of stabbing him in the back. The following day, Strasser wrote a letter to Hitler, resigning all of his duties as a member of the Nazi Party.
Hitler and the Nazi leaders were stunned. One of the founding members and most influential leaders had abandoned them. The Nazi Party seemed to be unraveling. Hitler became depressed, even threatening to shoot himself with a pistol. And I tell you the last is the worst of them all. This is Satan in human form," declared Gregor Strasser in Hitler assigned his trusted aid, Rudolf Hess, to take over Strasser's duties.
Over the Christmas season, Hitler became quite depressed over the failing fortunes of his Party. But the new year brought new intrigue. The big bankers and industrialists who had petitioned Hindenburg on behalf of Hitler still liked the idea of Hitler in power.
And Papen was now out to bring down Schleicher. Papen surprised Hitler by offering to oust Schleicher and install a Papen-Hitler government with himself and Hitler, both equal partners. Hitler liked the idea of ousting Schleicher but insisted that he would have to be the real head of government. He would, however, be willing to work with Papen and his ministers.
Papen gave in and agreed. When Schleicher found out, he went running to Hindenburg, charging Papen with treachery. But Hindenburg had a soft spot for Papen and would not go along.
Schleicher's position was already badly weakened. He was unable to get the government moving because nobody trusted him enough to join him in a working coalition. The German government remained at a standstill with the people and Hindenburg getting more impatient by the day.
Something had to be done. Hindenburg authorized Papen to continue negotiating with Hitler, but to keep it secret from Schleicher. In the small German state of Lippe, local elections were scheduled for January Hitler and the Nazis took this opportunity to make a big impression.
They saturated the place with propaganda and campaigned heavily, hoping to win big and prove they had regained momentum. They received a small increase in votes over their previous election total. But they used their own widely circulated Nazi newspapers to exaggerate the significance and to once again lay claim that Hitler and the Nazis were the wave of the future.
It worked well and even impressed President Hindenburg. On Sunday, January 22, , a secret meeting was held at the home of Joachim von Ribbentrop. Hitler grabbed Oskar and brought him into a private room and worked on him for an hour to convince him that the Nazis had to be taken into the government on his terms.
Oskar emerged from the meeting convinced it was inevitable. The Nazis were to be taken in. Papen then pledged his loyalty to Hitler. Next, Schleicher went to Hindenburg with a proposal — declare a state of emergency to control the Nazis, dissolve the Reichstag, and suspend elections.
Hindenburg said no. He won largely due to his own popularity with the German public and to a lack of cooperation among the Left. During his administration , Hindenburg struggled almost continuously to create and maintain cabinets that could remain in power and effect change. Frustrated by the chaos and impotence of the Weimar government, he often ruled by decree via constitutional articles allowing him authoritarian powers.
By the s, the Weimar government was increasingly challenged from forces on th e R ight. Hindenburg abandoned some of his mor e moderate positions in order t o appease right-wing critics. Hitler demanded the Chancellorship as a result. Hindenburg refused. This rejection humiliated Hitler. When Hitler proceeded to reject the less powerful position of Vice Chancellor, h e received a lecture on his lack of dedication to duty from Hindenburg, who al lowed their exchange to be leaked to the press.
The new chancellor, Kurt von Schleicher, could not create a coalition or a successful government. Despite his distaste for Hitler, Hindenburg made him C hancellor on 30 January, , and gave his Nazi Party two seats in the cabinet.
This measure effectively granted Hitler the same dictatorial powers held by the eighty-five-year-old P resident Hindenburg. We would like to thank Crown Family Philanthropies and the Abe and Ida Cooper Foundation for supporting the ongoing work to create content and resources for the Holocaust Encyclopedia. View the list of all donors. Trending keywords:. Of course, I was ripe for this experience. I was a man of 32, weary with disgust and disillusionment, a wanderer seeking a cause, patriot seeking an outlet for his patriotism.
Karl Ludecke There were simply not enough Germans who believed in democracy and individual freedom to save the Weimar republic. Written by the modern historian S Williams. SA men stop people going into a Jewish shop. After , however, two short-term factors brought Hitler to power:. The Number of unemployed grew; people starved on the streets. In the crisis, people wanted someone to blame, and looked to extreme solutions — Hitler offered them both, and Nazi success in the elections grew.
Germans turned to Nazism because they were desperate. The number of Nazi seats in the Reichstag rose from 12 in to in July In November elections the Nazis again failed to get a majority of seats in the Reichstag. Their share of the vote fell — from seats to only Hitler contemplated suicide. But then he was rescued by Hindenburg. Franz von Papen a friend of Hindenburg was Chancellor, but he could not get enough support in the Reichstag.
Hindenburg and von Papen were having to govern by emergency decree under Article 48 of the Constitution. They offered Hitler the post of vice-Chancellor if he promised to support them.
Hitler refused — he demanded to be made Chancellor. So Von Papen and Hindenburg took a risk. On 30 January Hindenburg made Hitler Chancellor. He thought he could control Hitler — how wrong he was. Number of Unemployed. Draw a graph to show the number of unemployed AND the Nazis' electoral fortunes, —
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