ABSTRACT
The 1928 elections brought to power the so-called “Grand Coalition” consisting of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) together with a number of middle-class parties. Within two years this much heralded coalition, which had been elected with such high expectations, had collapsed and Hitler would emerge out of a labyrinth of power struggles to form a government. As Dick Geary has reminded us, the massive transformation in the fortunes of the NSDAP in such a short period of time suggests that the Nazis’ success was not simply a consequence of the Party’s propaganda and Hitler’s charisma, “but also depended upon the climate within which Weimar politicians operated” (Geary 1993: 12). In January 1933, von Schleicher’s government, which had attempted to conciliate both Centre and Leftist interests within the Weimar system, was unable to secure a majority in the Reichstag and resigned. On 30 January, the President, Field Marshal Hindenburg, accepted a cabinet with Hitler as Chancellor, von Papen (the former Chancellor and leader of the Catholic Centre Party) as Vice-Chancellor and nationalists including Nazis in other posts. Hitler did not owe his appointment as Chancellor to a victory at a national election. Instead, in Alan Bullock’s phrase, he was “jobbed into office by a backstairs intrigue”.
