Due to the machinations of Franz von Papen [a former Chancellor], the good offices of the son of Reichspresident Paul von Hindenburg, and the backing of the German right under Hugenburg, Adolf Hitler is offered, and accepts, the Chancellorship of Germany.
Hitler's Chancellorship is the culmination of a year of frenetic activity by Hitler and the NSDAP. Appearing poised to take a majority in the Reichstag in 1932, Hitler had seen the percentage of NSDAP deputies actually drop in elections. The party appeared vulnerable, but Hitler gambled big on local elections in one of the small German states, Lippe, campaigned relentlessly, and spent heavily, winning the tiny state, and appearing to be on a roll.
At the same time, Franz von Papen, having lost the Chancellorship to Gen. Kurt von Schleicher through intrigue, used his relationship with Pres. Hindenburg and his son to talk up Hitler and create dissension for Schleicher, who was forced to rule by decree. Secret negotiations led to Hitler being offered the Chancellorship, with the Nazis limited to three cabinet posts, and Hugenburg and Papen thinking they were in charge.
Yet withinsix months, Hitler had broken the unions, Goering was running the Gestapo, Himmler was well on his way to being Chief of the German police, and Germany was being ruled under the Enabling Act. Within a year, Hitler would combine the office of Chancellor and President after Hindenburg's death, and the German Armed Forces would swear an oath of allegiance to Hitler personally.
And it all started on January 30th, 1933.
