By 1928 Hitler had outlined his ideas in Mein Kampf, had decided that the route to power lay via elections rather than armed uprisings, had begun to make links with industrialists such as Hugenburg, and had already started to use propaganda. Despite all this, in the Reichstag elections of that year, the National Socialist Party won only twelve seats. Hitler was still regarded as a joke, a ‘beer hall bore’. Something was clearly missing. What was missing was any great desire on the part of the German people for radical change. Before the Depression most people were happy with the way things were. Stresseman introduced the Renten Mark after hyperinflation and Germany was getting back on its feet. There was lingering resentment over the way Germany had been treated after the war but most people were happy to be in work and getting on with their lives. However, this relative prosperity and stability was fragile and was shattered for ever by the Wall Street crash of 1929.
Germany was hit badly as American banks called in their loans to Germany negotiated under the Dawes plan of 1924. Many German companies, struggling for cash and suffering because of the downturn in world trade, had to close down causing mass unemployment. By 1932, 6 million Germans (1 in 3 of all workers) were out of work. Under the social security system unemployment pay only lasted 6 moths and after that people were faced with real poverty, homelessness and despair. Ordinary German men and women were suffering terribly and in their despair, believing they had been let down by the established political parties, became more ready to listen to and believe the messages of extreme parties such as the Communists and the Nazis.
This was the moment Hitler had been waiting for- the propaganda machine was cranked up to exploit the economic crisis. Hitler told the German people that the problems of the depression were not their fault. He blamed the Jews, the Allies and the Weimar democrats for Germanys problems. He promised different things to different people. To businessmen he promised that he would control the trade unions and deal with the Communists. To the unemployed he promised that he would provide “work and bread.” He offered strong leadership and easy solutions. To a nation on its knees, he offered the prospect of dignity and greatness again. It was an intoxicating cocktail, the German people were told that their problems were not their own fault but rather the fault of evil Jews and foreigners determined to deny Germany its rightful place in the world, and that Germany could be prosperous and great again, all that was required was Hitler’s leadership.
A despairing people were eager to take this message onboard and support for Hitler and the Nazis rose steadily after 1929. From 12 seats in 1928, the Nazis rose to 107 in 1930 and 230 in July 1932.
Hitler could sill have been denied power if the established ‘moderate’ parties had been fully aware of the threat and combined to keep him out. Unfortunately, this did not happen. The Weimar government seemed unable to deal with the economic crisis. The biggest single party, the Social Democrats, made the mistake of refusing to serve in government (because of their refusal to agree to a reduction in unemployment pay) and this meant that coalitions became even more difficult to organise and maintain. This increased the impression that the Weimar constitution was unable to cope with the pressure of the economic crisis and in this situation President Hindenburg began to allow Chancellor Bruning to use his emergency powers on a regular basis to bypass the Reichstag. One could make an argument that democracy had effectively ended in 1932 before the Nazis came to power.
This was the background to Hindenburg’s decision to appoint Hitler as Chancellor. The existing political system seemed to be in disarray- support for moderate parties was falling, that of the Nazis and the Communists rising, and effective government under the existing constitution seemed to be impossible. At this point von Papen and Hindenburg made the fatal error of believing they could use Hitler and his mass support to further their own ends. Both von Papen and Hindenburg looked down on Hitler and believed Hitler was so desperate for power that they would be able to control him. Effectively, they believed they could use Hitler as a front man and with his large support they would be able to maintain control and implement the reforms to the constitution they believed necessary. Hitler agreed to von Papen’s offer, and became Chancellor of a coalition government of which only three of twelve ministers were Nazis. Hitler had come to power by using the processes of democracy- not only had he achieved electoral success by playing on the fears of the German people and by offering them hope but he had also played the established politicians at their own game by agreeing to the coalition on his own terms. It would soon become evident that for Hitler, democracy was just a means to an end.
To sum up one could argue that Hitler came to power because he played on the weaknesses of others. He gained popularity by seeming to offer a way out of their economic woes to the German people, and he became chancellor by seeming to offer industrialists and politicians like von Papen and Hindenburg a means of keeping the Communists out and maintaining their own hold on power. However, for all his undoubted propaganda and political skills, he would not have had this opportunity if Germany had not been plunged into economic depression by the knock-on effects of the Wall Street crash.