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A new German Weimar Republic relaced the Imperial German Government at the end of World War I. The Allies refused to negotiate with the German military. Thus the Armistace (1918) and resulting Versailles Treaty (1919) were signed by republican officials. This allowed right-wing politicans after the War to claim that the German Army was not defeated, but stabbed in the back. The Republic from the beginning had major problem. It inherited a civil service from Imperial Germany that was strongly monacharist in loyalty and suspicious of parlimentary democracy. The officer corps of the Army took a oath of loyalty to the Reoublic, but in fact was deeply suspicious of the Weimar regime and from the onset set out to evade the restrictions of the Versailles Treaty--in oart explaining how the NAZIs were able to so quickly rearm after seizing power. Popular support for the Weimar Republic was impaired by first the public shock at the Versailles Treaty and then the ruinous inflation. In fact the Republic was headquarters in Weimar rather than Berlin because the Army remamed the Reichwehr could not guarantee security in Berlin. Gradually the Republic began to gain some credibility. Competent fiscal management, the Dawes Plan, and the Locarno Agreements had by 1925 considerably improved the economic situation in Germany.
Germany's defeat in World War I staggered the Germany people. They had sych faith in the Army. At the beginning of 1918 victory looked assured. The Russians were knoicked out of the War and forced to sign the humiliating Breast-Litovsk Treaty which made Germany dominant in the East and allowed for the creation of a German protectorate in the vast Ukraine (March 1918). It also enabled the Germans Army to focus on the Western Front. Ludendorff's massive offensive nearly achieved victory (July). Yet only months later the German Army was decisely defeated and forced to sign an Armistace (November). After 4 years of terrible sacrifice, the German people were hirrified and bewildered at the outcome.
The last Imperial Chancelor was Prince Max von Baden. He had been chosen by the Kaiser, Hindenberg and Ludendorff because they thought he might be able to appleal to President Wilson. It was Prince Max who engineered the removal of Ludendorff and promissed the Allies reforns. Wilsom was, however, adament. The Allies would not deal with the Kaiser and the German military. Wilson informed Prince Max without as change of government, America would ask "not for peace negotiations, but surrender" (October 23). Prince Max tried to convince Kaiser Wilhelm to abdicated, but he refused. Finally he acted on his own and announced the Kaisrs abdication (November 9). Prince Max then himself resuged and turned the Government over to Friedrich Ebert, head of the Social Democrats--the largest party in the Reichstag. Ebert had lost two sons in the War, but was not a revolutinary. He wanted Wilhelm's abdication, but was not commited to an end to the monarchy. News of these developments brought crowds into the streets. They marched down Unter den Linden demanding "peace and bread". They carried flags and banners and tore the Imperial cockade from soldiers' caps. Social Democratic leader Philipp Scheidemann announced the creation of a democrati republic from a Reichstag balcony. Afterwards Ebert who did not want to that far privately chided him. A detachment of sailors seized the Kaiser's palace. And from that palace Spartacist leader Karl Liebknecht proclaimed a German Soviet Republic. (The Spartacists were radical Socialists who would become the German Communist Party-KPD.) Wilhelm asked the Army to restore order, but was told the Army could no longer guarantee his security. Early the next morning, Wilhelm left Berlin aboard his private train for exile in the Netherlnds (November 10).
Allied offensives on the Western Front cracked the German front forcing them back toward Germany. The German Navy mutined. Riots broke out in Germany cities. The General staff informed the Kaiser that they could no longer guarantee his saftey. He abdicated and fled to the neutral Netherlands. A German Government was hastily formed and asked for an armistice based on President Wilson's 14 Points. After determining that the request came from a civilian German Government and not the Kaiser or German military, the Allies accepted the German offer. The gun fell silent after 4 years of vicious fighting at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month (November 11, 1918). There had been over 8.5 million soldiers killed and 21.2 million wounded. A new German Weimar Republic relaced the Imperial German Government at the end of World War I. The Allies refused to negotiate with the German military. Thus the Armistace (1918) and resulting Versailles Treaty (1919) were signed by republican officials. This allowed right-wing politicans after the War to claim that the German Army was not defeated, but stabbed in the back.
The people of Berlin formally honored the soldiers home from the front a month fter the Armidstice (December 10, 1918). The soldiers marched through the Bradenburg Gate in the hear of the city. Only this time Germany had been defeated. The German peole did not yet fully comprehend the extent of the defeat. All along Unter den Linden the people of Berlin cheered as if the Army had brough home yet another resounding victory. On the reviewing stand were both officials of the new German Republic and the Army. General Scheuch, the Minister of War spoke. Inexplicetly President Friedrich exlaimed, "You have not been beaten on the battlefield." Of course they had been and only the Armistice prevented the Allies from crossing the Rhine and occupying Germany. The German people had paid such a staggering price that few could conceive that Germany had actually been defeated militarily. Slowly fed by right-wing politicans, the myth of the "November Criminals" began to take root, that Germany had been sold out by Socialists and Jews.
Following the abdication of the Kaiser a new government had to be organized to replace the Imperial Government. A Conference of German States met to discuss a new constitution in the Reichs Chancellery (November 25). The real decesions were made by the Workers' and Soldiers' Council which met in Berlin. At first only local Berlin representatives met, but they were soon joined by representatoves from the rest of Germany. The opening session included 450 representatives (December 16). The Socialists dominated the session. A cabinent called the Council of the People's Representatives was formed by the majority Socialists (Ebert, Scheidemann, and Landsberg) and Indepdents (Haase, Dittmann, and Barth). The Socialist proposed "peace, security, and order". The Independents wanted a "social republic" dominated by the workers--essentially a Bolshecick style Soviet republic. This confirmed the split in the labor movement that had developed during the War. Radical Socialists like Karl Liebknecht had voted against war credits at the very beginning of the War. The Socialists secured 400 votes for a constitutinal national assembly (December 19). The Independents walked out, determining to take their struggle to the streets.
Freikorps units were organized in Germany after Wotld War I, mostly from disilusioned right-wing veterans as well as some youths who had been too young to participate in the War. The veterans had made huge sactifices during the war and did not understand how Germany with its martial heritage could have lost the War. They were outraged with the Versaillers Peace Treaty which transferred former German/Austrian territory to neigboring coutries, including the newly crrated countries of Poland and Czechoslovakia. The new German Republic faced many problems after World war I. It was set up at Weimar because the Socilists who dominated the Republic did not think it could be defended in Berlin. One of the problems was the luke warm support from the Germany Army. The Republic faced attacks from Communists wjo tried to seise control. Another problem were areas of Germany whose future were to be decided by plebesite. This was a special problem in the Eat where the new Polish Republic wanted to expand its territory. Polish military units attempted to seize territory. The Allies did not permit the German Army to intervene. The Freikorps were used to both defeat Comminist uprisings and to fight the Poles. Many Freikorps members were hostile to the Weimar Republic, but willing to fight Communists and Poles. The most prominant Freikorps unit was Brigade Ehrhardt. It was the Freikorps that suppressed the Bavarian Communists Many Freikorps members gravitated to right-wing parties like the NAZIs. Quite a few NAZI luninaries served in the Freikorps, including Seep Dietrich, Hans Frank, Heinrich Himmler, Reinhard Heydrich, and others. Many lesser known Freikorps members gravitated to the the SA. Thus the Freikorps is seen by many as the origin of the Sturmabteilungen (SA)--The NAZI stormtroopers. They certainly played an important role, but the more direct origin was in the right-wing political parties that formed in Germany following the War.
The Kaiser had been deposed without bloodshed. The birth of the Republic resulted in intense fighting throughout Berlin. A batalion of sailors had occupied the Kaiser's palace in a show of force to protect the Govern,ent formed when the Kaiser was forced out (November 9). They proceeded to loot the palace of its valuables. The Government eventually ordred them out of the palace. They demanded back pay and proceeded to seize the Chancellery, arresting SD officials, including Berlin's Military Commnder Otto Wels. Prsident Ebert appealed to the Supreme Military Headquaters. Ludendorff's successor General Grňner responded. A minor military scirmish dislodged the sailors (December 25). The radical Socialists (indeendents and Spartacists) were apauled that the Government would use the old Imeprial Army to attack the rebolutionary sailors who had helped overthrow the Kaiser. They called Ebert and the SD "murderers. The action thus shatered the frayed unity of the Socialists. The Government began to replace Independents in the cabinent and lesser offices. This came to a boil when they fired Berlin Chief of Police Emil Eichhorn. The Independents and Communists (Spartcists) went into the streets to drive Ebert and the SD from power (January 5). The Soviet Emnassy supported them with srms and money. The Soviet Ambassador was a friend of Leon Trotsky and committed ton world revolution. The Communists demanded a Soviet-dstyled dictatorship of the proletariat. Ebert agan had to ask the Army for support. SD leader Gustav Noske organized the Government's resonse. He approved the formation of Freikorps. These were units outside the military command composed of veterans and firner officers. Fighting waged for 7 days (January 6-12). It became kniwn as "bloody Spartacus week". Eventually the Government gained the upper hand. Both rmy units ad the Freikorps took savge rvenge, executing many Spasracits who atte,pted to surrender. And a few days after the fighting ended, soldiers clubbed Rosa Luxemburg to death. Liebknecht was also murdered. Both were Spartacists, but had opposed the uprising and had wanted to contest the upcoming elections.ighting was not confined to Berlin. Violence occurred in Ruhr cities, Leipzig, Hamburg, and Bremen and fkred gain in Berlin. Noske again ordered the Freikorps to move against the Comminists and they acted with considerable brutality. Thi poisoned the relationship betwee the SD and Communists and is one reason why the Left was unable to unite in the future to successfully resist the NAZIs.
The Republic held its first election (January 19). It was a historic elkection not only because of the fall of the monarchy, but because women voted for the first time. Everyone over 20 years of age was eligible to vote and about haslf did so, The result was a stunning victory for democracy. The SD emerged as the dominant party with 11.5 million votes and 163 seats. The Center and Democrats who also did well were suporters of the Republic. These three parties gained three-quarters of the votest cast. The Germans were clearly prepared to embrace democracy. The Allies were not, however, prepared to embrace the Germans. Lloyd George, Clemanceau, and Orlando demanded harsh policies including burdensome retributions. Wilson was more willing to seek a moderate peace, but in the end gave into his colleagues, in part to secure their support for the League of Nations and his commitment to national self-determination. The principle of national self-determination of course sounds morally uplifting. It also mean that there would no matter how the boundaries were drawn, ethnic minorities in the new states ad this included German minorities in the surounding countries.
Historians criticise the Allies for the harsh terms that they imposed upon the Germans and the critiscm certainly is in part true, especially the economic retributions. History is not, however, that simple. The part of the Versailles treaty that the ultra nationalists found most offensive was the loss of territory and creation of new states out of former German and Austrian territory--especially Czechoslovakia and Poland. There was also territory lost to Lithuania, Denmark, Italy, and France. Thus nationalistic resentment would have festered in Germany even if the Allies had been more willing to embrace the new German Republic.
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The murder of Sparticists Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht in Berlin after the Sparticist uprising were the first notable political murders in Germany. Thet were, however, only the beginning. Kurt Eisner, a journalist, had become Bavarian primeminister after the ovrthrow of the monarchy (November 7, 1918). He proved to be an honest, but inept politican. When elections were held for the Diet, Eisner and his party won only three seats (January 12, 1919). The conservative Bavarian People's Party dominated the election and won 66 seats. Eisener set out to for the opening of the Lantag to resign and was shot by a nationaslist officer, Count Arco-Valley (Febrary 21). The population of Munich was outraged. A Worker-Soldier Peasant Central Committee was formed and proclaimed a state of seige. The Diet was not allowed to convene for several weeks, but finally met (March 17). They chose SD Johannes Hoffman minister president. Then new of a Communist Government seizing power in Hungary reached Munich (March 21). Local Communists decided this was the time to strike. What followed was the bloodiest episode in post-War Germany. The Communits Government was initially led by of all people, a romantic poet, Ernst Toller. Within only a week more hard core Soviet influenced Communists led by a young sailor, Rudolf Egelhofer, had control of the Governent. He set in motion a lawless period of seizing bank deposits, looting homes, and confiscating private assetts. Hoffman set up in Bamberg and urged the population to resist the Communists and requested military intervention from Berlin. The Communists turned back an Army column at Dachau north of Munich. Hoffman also requested Freikorps. The Freikorps were only minimally disciplined and committed terrible attricities as they moved toward Munich. One notable incdent was murdering 52 Russian POWs. The Comminists retailiated by shooting hostages, members of nationlis, anti-Semetic Thule Society. The Army and Freikorps finally fought their way into Munich from several directions on May Day (May 1). Mamy Communists who attempted to surrender were shot. The "liberators" aldso shot many civilians suspcted of sympathizing with the Communists. The episode profoundly affected Bavarian politics. Bavaria during the Imperial period had been much more liberal than Russia. The brief period of Communist control turned Bavaria to the right, creating strong anti-Communist feeling and because there were many Jews among the Communists, intensified anti-Semetic feeling.
The Republic from the beginning had major problem. It inherited a civil service from Imperial Germany that was strongly monacharist in loyalty and suspicious of parlimentary democracy. The officer corps of the Army took a oath of loyalty to the Reoublic, but in fact was deeply suspicious of the Weimar regime and from the onset set out to evade the restrictions of the Versailles Treaty--in part explaining how the NAZIs were able to so quickly rearm after seizing power. The Republic was headquarters in Weimar rather than Berlin because the Army remamed the Reichwehr could not guarantee security in Berlin.
The Versailles Peace Treaty ending World War I was signed on June 28, 1919, about 7 months after the Armistice stopping the fighting on November 11, 1918. It was one of the mos important treaties of the 20th century. It had a huge impact on the international status of Germany, impacting the country territorially, militarily, and economically. Germany was made a pariah country and largely blamed for the start of the War. Of major significance, the Germany being published was the Germany of the Weimar Republic and not Imperial Germany as the Kaiser had abdicated. As a result, the domestic German opposition to the changes, including the territorial changes, came to be directed at the Weimar Republic and not the Imperial Government that had conducted the War. The NAZIs and other right-wing groups were to saddle democratic politicians with the "shame of Versailles". Germany under the terms of the Treaty suffered many consequences. The navy and merchant marine was lost. The battleships had to be turned over the the Allies. The battleships ships in fact steamed into the British naval base at Scappa Flow. The German captains, however, rather than turning them over to the British, scuttled them. Germany lost her African and Pacific colonies. Along with territorial losses in Europe were important natural resources. The German Army was reduced to virtual impotence. And the country was saddled with immense retributions. A critical element in the treaty was the principle of national self determination promoted by President Wilson. This resulted in the creation of a large number of small, weak states in Eastern Europe. It must be said that the the Versailles Treaty was not as onerous as the Treaty of Breast-Litovsk (1918) imposed on the Russians. Still it was undeniably harsh. Many historians see it at the first step toward World War II. Popular support for the Weimar Republic was impaired by first the public shock at the Versailles Treaty.
The image of the Republic was devestated by the ruinous inflation which followed the War. In particular the German middle class was devestated by the infkation. With mny this permanately affected how they viewed the Republic.
Gradually the Republic began to gain some credibility. Competent fiscal management, the Dawes Plan, and the Locarno Agreements had by 1925 considerably improved the economic situation in Germany.
Germany was devestated by its defeat in World War I. Agricultural production was impaired and there was wide-spread food shortages, even starvation. The monarchy which had been at the center of German political life was abolished. The War had also humiliated the Germany Army, perhaps the most respected national institution. Democratic politicans formed a governent, but had forced to accept the Versailles Peace Treaty that was very unpopular with the German people (1919). The most important party was the Social Democrats (SDP), but they were far short of a majority in the Reichstag. Radicals on the right and left fought in the street. Middle class Germans were terrified that the Communists might succeed in seizing power as in Russia. The Catholic Party was also Important as was the Nationsalist Party. There were also a number of small xhnephobic right-wing parties with varying platforms except for a mutual opposition to the Versailles Treaty and democratic government.
The Germany Army after the War was still largely royalist. The Allies had refused to deal with the Army and demanded the abolition of the monarchy. The Army's defeat left it no choice to acceot these demands, but the Army was essentially hostile to the Weimar Republic government. Hitler easily convinced some of his Army colleagues to join the Party. The most imprtant was Captain Ernst Roehm. These new recruits, especially Roehm were of considerable importance to the fledgling party. Roehm had access to funds that the Army used for political purposes. These were the first substantial contrubutions to the GWP.
The NAZIs won 32 seats in the elections of May 1924. They had even less success in elections held in December 1924. The NAZIs won only 14 seats in the Reichstag compared with the the 131 won by the obtained by Social Democrats (SD) or Socialists. The Communists (DKP) won 45 seats.
Field Marshal Hindenburg was elected president after President Freidrich Ebert died (1925). Hindbenburg was supported by the conservatives (naionalists, the Army Prussian Junkers, and others) and defeated the SDP and center parties. The German presidency was aelatively weak office. The Government was run by the Reich Chancrellor supported by a majority coalition in the Reichstag. With the rise of the NAZIs, however, the Reichstag became deadlocked. This thus increased the importance of the presidency and Hindenburg himself gave the post great prestige.
Economic conditions had improved considerably. In the prosperous economic climate even the monarchist People's Party joined in a coalition with the three main republican parties. The NAZIs were still unable to muster muct political success in 1928. They won only 12 Reichstag seats. The Party was, however, growing and were very well organized. Membership stood at 108,000 in 1928.
The Depression played an important role in the NAZI sizure of power and in the image that Hitler built in Germany once he seized power. Tragically for Germany, the most serious period of the depression followed the New York Stock Market crash (1929) through Hitler's seizure of power (1933). The impact that the Depression had on Germany folded neatly into Hitler's political drive for power. Apparent economic improvements in Germany were an important element in Hitler's real popularity after seizing power. The view of the Hitler and the NAZIs in Europe was substantially different in Europe during the 1930s before Hitler launched World War II than it is today. It should be remembered that until Kristallnacht (November 1938) that NAZI actions against the Jews were not greatly different fom how Blacks were treated in the American South. In fact many NAZI racial laws were based on laws enacted against Blacks by Southern state legislatures. There were prominent Americans (Lindberg, Ford, and others) before World War II who were impressed with the NAZIs. Hitler was seen by many as the most dynamic leader in Europe. One reason for this was that NAZI policies essentially ended the depression by 1935. Many Germans had turned to the NAZIs in the earlt 1930s because of the Depression. The NAZIs expanded German labor programs, creating a National Labor Service must like the American CCC. The NAZIs seized control of the economy. German industrialists benefitted and soon learned that it was very dangerous to defy the Government. It might be argued that Germany under the NAZIs had the most controlled economy in Europe. Their major project was the construction of the Autobauns. The massive new armaments program was a major factor in putting Germans back to work. The German GNP was back to pre-Depression levels by 1935. NAZI policies made sure there was no longer wide-spread unemployment and destitution in Germany. The German people, however, wre not better off. The benefits of the expanding economy was not brought to them in terms of more consumer goods, but rather a rearmed military. Many Germans, however, were convinced that they were better off. This was in part due to declinging product standards. It was also a result if the effectiveness of NAZI propaganda which emphasized the increased international respect with which Germany had achieved. [Hanby]
Gustav Stresemann died (October 1at about the same time of the Wall Street Stock Market crash which brought on the Great Deression. Stresemann had been a modrating influence in the monarchist oriented German People's Party. As a member of the governimng coalition, he had helped to negotiate a reduction in reparations payments, ended international controls on the German economy, and terminated an end to the occupation of the Rhineland (the Young Plan). The diplomatic ranging, however, had enflamed German public opinion. With the death of Stresemann, the German People's Party vered right, adopting a much more strident foreign policy. [Gilbert-Large, p. 255-56.]
The NAZIs during the 1920s were a small right-wing party with political influence. It was founded after the War, one of a number of right-wing parties. Hitler was recruited by the Army to spy on the Party and proceeded to take it over. The NAZIs from the beginning were a right-wing nationalist party, Hitler added a much stronger racial element. The failire of the Beer Hall Putch (1923) convinced him that he would have to seize power through the ploitical process. Hitler was a persuasive speaker and he gathered a group of supporters with organizational and political skills. He also attrscteed the support of right-wing industrialists who prtovided financial support. Even so, his support was limited to the right-wing fringe. It was the Deression that changed the political dynamic that enavled him to attrat the support of a much broader cross section of German voters.
With the German People's Party moving to the right and out of Government, the governing coalition was weakened at the same time the NAZIs and Communists were growingbin strength. When the Government moved to reduce unemployment payments, the socialists balked. They wanted to maintain the payments, but require employers to increase contributions. The big industriaists saw lawing off workers as a way of breaking the power of the unions. They certainly did not want to increase payments to the unemployed. The Government fell (March 1930). This left a weakened Government unable to adopt needed programs to address the Depression.
With the fall of the governing coalition, Hindenberg appointed Heinrich Brüning as Germany's next Chancellor. Brüning was from the Center Party. He was an ardent Catholic and unlike the soicialists, admired the mikitary. This of course explained his appointment. Brüning was a financial expert and believed in thecestablished doctines of the day, esoecially balanced budgets. He was determined to reduce unemployment payments. When the socialists refused to go along, he sought support in the right with only moderate success. After the Reichstag rejected his proposals, he began to rule through emergency decrees, a precedent Hitler and the NAZIs were to use.
The elections of 1930 were a disaster for Germany. In the middle of the building economic crisis, the German electorate reached out to the political extremes, both the left and right. It was the showing of the NAZIs that stunned Germany. Brüning had thought that right-wing parties he could work with (like the German People's Part or the German Natioanlist Part) would take delegates away from the socialists. It was the NAZIs, however, who gained power. While not achieving a majority, the NAZIs increased their number of searts in the Reichstag from 15 to 107. This made the NAZIs the largest party in Germany and meant that Germany was essentially ungovernable. From the day of this election, the central question in German politics was wehther or not the NAZIs would form a government.
Brüning At this timec could have formed a government with the socialists. This he adamently refused to do. Instead he ruled by emergency decree. There were provisions for this in the Constitution (paragraph 48). No one had expected, however, that a chancellor would use the provision to rule for any extended period of time. And a government could be dismissed by a majority vote of the Reichstag. The socialists, fearing that the fall of the Government might result in a NAZI Government refused to votecagainst the Government. By absatining, the moderates could narrowly prevent the NAZIs and Coomunists from voting out the Government. Brüning believed thatvhis emergency rule could demonstrate the need for a more authoritarian system. [Gilbert-Large, p. 257.] Brüning did not, however, gain in popularity. An aborted custom's union with Austria and the specter of Brüning and other German officials going hat in hand to Paris and London asking for finacial concessions undermined his standing among the political right which he had hoped to build. After the presidebntial elections of 1932, Hindenburg dismissed him.
Hitler throughout Hindenburg's presidency used the Brown Shirts (SA) to commit continual acts of political violence to destabalize the German political sitution and tarnish the image of the Weimar Republic amomg Germans. The Communists persued the same course, refusing to form an alliance with the Socialists and other moderate political parties. With the onset of the Depression (1929), the NAZIs became the single most important political party in Germany, although still a minority party. Hitler aimed at displacing Hidenberg as president (1932). He conducted one of the first modern political campaigns. He effecitively used the radio and criss crossed Germany by air--giving the image of a youthful, dynamic leader to lead Germany out of its economiv and political crisis. Of course the political crisis was largely created by the NAZI Brown shirts. Hidenburg honored the terms of the Constitution, Hindenburg had never concealed the fact that he was a monarchist at heart. Her surrounded himself with advisers who began to see the instability of Weimar as an opportunity of reserecting the monarchy. The Kaiser was across the border in the Netherlands and had quite a number of sons. The NAZIs toyed with the Hohenzollerns, but the Kaiser himself would have nothing to do with them.
The NAZI's after the July 1932 election were the largest German political party, but did not have a majority in the Reichstag. Hidenburg dismissed Brüning and the result was political instability in the Reichstag. President Hindenburg refused to appoint Hitler Chancellor and instead turned to Papen. The political situatation remained unstable. The newly elected Reichstag in September voted no confidence in the Papen government. The November 1932 Reichstag election results were: NAZI Party 196 seats, Social Democrats 121 seats, The Communist Party 100 seats, and the Centre Party 70 seats. The NAZIs lost a few seats, but continued to be the largest party in the Reichstag. Hitler continued to demand to be appointed Chancellor, Hindenburg refused saying that he said he did not trust Hitler to rule democratically. Hindenburg preferred Papen, but the Army objected. Hindenberg turned to General Kurt von Schleicher who lasted 57 days. Finally Hidenberg, running out of options, turned to Hitler whom he appointed January 30, 1933. Hidenberg attempted to control Hitler by placing Papen as vice-chancellor and surrounding Hitler with moderate ministers who supported Papen. Hitler by carefully selecting his cabinent posts was within days gaining control. To be sure of success, however, he needed a mahority in the Reichstag. He insisted on a new election. In the middle of the elections the Reichstag went up in flames on Februarry 27, 1933. A Dutch Communist was blamed. Historins still debate who was responsible. Many blamed the NAZIs, but it appears that neither they or the Communist Party was responsible. Hitler took full advantage of the situation and claimed that the fire was a Communist plot, and persuaded Hindenberg to sign an emergency Law for the Protection of the People and State. The law suspended people's rights and allowed the Nazis to arrest many Communists and others. This was the key legal document allowing Hitler and the NAZIs to seize power. Historians use different terms to describe the NAZI victory. Some suggest that Hitler was elected. In fact the NAZIs never gained a majority in as German election, even the tainted 1933 election. The description of seizing power seems more correct.
Davidson, Eugene. The Unmaking of Adolf Hitler (Univesity of Missouri: Columbia, 1996), 519p.
Gilbert, Felix with Duncan Clay Large. The End of the European Era, 1890 to the Present (Norton: New York, 1991), 598p.
Hanby, Alonzo. For the Survival of Democracy.
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