- Germany, since the last year of the world conflict, has been plunged into an insurrectionary climate due to the hardships of the war, the humiliation of defeat, but also to revolutionary struggles pushed by the communist influence coming from the East.
- In 1923, the economic crisis and hyperinflation accentuated the misery of the people. Germany – offended by the invasion of the Ruhr and the diktat of Versailles – is increasingly receptive to the nationalist, racist and anti-communist discourse of Adolf Hitler, who attempts an abortive putsch in 1923. Nine years later, in 1932, the population propelled him to the second round of the presidential election, narrowly beaten by Hinderburg.
January 30, 1933
Characters
Adolf Hitler
Paul von Hinderburg
Hjalmar Schacht
Franz von Papen
Kurt von Schröder
Kurt von Schleicher
Hugo Stinnes
Hermann Goering
Procedure
For the financier who lifted Germany out of the economic crisis, Hjalmar Schacht, communism remains an imminent danger. So he appealed to the leader of the National Socialist Party (NSDAP), Adolf Hitler, the only one capable of containing him. In this respect, he organized a meeting between the ex-chancellor Franz von Papen and Hitler, at the banker Kurt von Schröder's. Von Papen, noting the rout of the chancellor in function Kurt von Schleicher, promises to support the candidacy of the nationalist leader, on the condition of being elected vice-chancellor and that there are few Nazis in the government. Schröder, like many industrialists like Hugo Stinnes, thinks that the Nazis, in retreat in the last elections, are the best bulwark against the Red Revolution, so they put many means at their disposal.
On January 30, 1933, after many negotiations, President Hinderburg appointed Hitler chancellor. The latter calls for the dissolution of Parliament, to organize new elections, and establishes a dictatorship in all legality. Thus, the Reichstag fire (February 27, 1933) – officially caused by an extreme left-wing Dutchman – enabled Goering to arrest 4,000 communists, increase the power of the police, suspend numerous freedoms by the decree of the "protection of the people and the state" and to prohibit the existence of the Communist Party (KPD). On March 23, Hitler, thanks to the centrists (Zentrum), obtains from the Assembly the decree of empowerment, giving him full powers.
It eliminates, between March and July, the other political parties, including the Social Democratic Party (SPD). From now on, freedom of expression is no more, as evidenced by the terrible auto-da-fé of May 10, 1933, which reduced to ashes thousands of works written by Jews (Zweig, Einstein, Freud, etc.) and many masterpieces. work (Picasso, Dix, Van Gogh, etc.) belonging to a so-called “degenerate” art. He did not hesitate to carry out purges within his own camp (Night of the Long Knives, June 29-30, 1934). On August 2, Hitler took advantage of Hinderburg's death to combine the functions of President and Chancellor and become the Führer.
Consequences
- Hitler's accession to power marked the end of German democracy and the establishment of a dictatorial empire:the III th Reich.
- Hitler will transform Germany into a real war machine in order to march on Europe, which will cause the Second World War.