Franz von Papen was Chancellor, but he could not get enough support in the Reichstag. Hindenburg and von Papen offered Hitler the post of vice-chancellor if he promised to support them, but he refused. Hitler demanded to be made Chancellor, so they took a risk and on 30 January 1933 became Chancellor. Hindenburg thought he could control Hitler, but he was wrong.
Hitler achieved his dreams through political manoeuvres of powerful German interests. He announced he couldn`t work with Von Papen and the Centre Party. He felt confident to ask for another election, even now he did not have the majority of the votes. Nazis joined with the Nationalist who secured 53 seats so they have 286 seats out of 500. Hitler finally gained control.
In order to change the Constitution he needed a two-thirds majority. Firstly, he banned the Communist party because of its so-called involvement in the Reichstag fire, even if no one knows precisely how the fire began but a Dutch communist, Van der Lubbe, was discovered inside the building. Nazis used the arrest of Van der Lubbe as an excuse to round up an imprison communist leaders, claiming that they had uncovered a plot to seize the g`nment.
Then he bullied and persuaded other members of Reichstag. On 23 March 1933, he forced through the “Enabling Act”, which meant that he could make laws without consulting the members of Reichstag of the president. When Hindenburg died a few months later he combined the posts of the chancellor and president. Hitler`s hold over Germany was complete.
By 1934, there was only one legal party allowed and Hitler was the undisputed leader of that party. Hitler turned against SA, who became too powerful and dangerous for him. A new, powerful organization called SS ensured that all the opposition was crushed. They attacked everyone who opposed Hitler. Many opponents keep quiet only because they were scared of being murdered and if they were the judges simply let the SS go free.
The financial support of wealthy businessmen gave Hitler the money to run his propaganda and election campaigns. Many industrials bankrolled the Nazis as Hjalmar Schacht, the head of the Reichsbank, he organized fund-raising parties for Hitler, Alfred Krupp the owner of Krupp steel firm, also man foreign firms as Henry Ford of ford motors, Union Banking Corporation and others.
Hitler entrusted the task of propaganda to Josef Goebbels, who became the “Minister of Popular Enlightenment and Propaganda”. Goebbels brought all radio stations under his control and censored the press, cinema, theatre, literature and art. Nazi persuaded the German masses to believe that Jews, communists, capitalists and social democrats should be attacked and blame.
The Nazi won their support primarily from the lower middle class and the peasantry. These voters were strongly nationalistic in their politic views and feared that the depression would deprive them of their standard of living. In religion, most of the Nazi`s supporters were Protestants. German Catholics remained firm in their support of the Catholic Center Party. Most of Germany`s industrial workers continued to vote for the Social Democrats, disgruntled industrial workers voted for the Communists. The conservative upper classes generally regarded Hitler as an uneducated demagogue and gutter politician.
Hitler was a brilliant speaker, he was a good organizer and politician. He was a driven, unstable man who believed that he had been called by the God to become dictator of German and rule the world. This kept him going when other people might have given up. His self-belief persuaded other people to believe in him.“He was holding the masses under a hypnotic spell by the sheer force of his beliefs. His words were like whip. When he spoke of the disgrace about German, I felt ready to attack any enemy” Karl Ludecke, follower of Hitler.
“Hitler policies were half-baked, racist, but among the jumble of hysterical ideas Hitler showed a sure sense of how to appeal to the lowest instincts of frightened masses” Tony Howarth historian.
