During the election of 1932, the Nazis took power not simply with force, but with the votes of the German people.
Adolf Hitler speaks to a crowd, outlining his vision of a fascist Germany and trying to sway voters.Berlin. April 4, 1932.
Bundesarchiv Party representatives stand outside a polling station during the federal election, holding their placards high.Berlin. July 31, 1932.
Bundesarchiv Adolf Hitler salutes his supporters as he drives down the streets of Berlin, celebrating his intention to run in the German presidential election.February 1932
Bundesarchiv The National Socialist German Workers' Party headquarters courts voters by passing out balloons with tiny swastikas.Berlin. 1932.
Bundesarchiv Hitler's paramilitary "Brownshirts" sit down with a farmer and his wife and try to persuade them to vote Nazi.Mecklenburger, Germany. June 21, 1932.
Bundesarchiv A crowd of supporters swarm around Hitler's car.Weimar, Germany. October 1930.
Bundesarchiv Two men put up a poster calling on people to vote for Hitler in the presidential election.Mecklenburg, Germany. June 21, 1932.
Bundesarchiv Hitler and his Sturmabteilung paramilitary group lead a massive rally of supporters.The Sturmabteilung, today often called the "Brownshirts," would serve as hired thugs for the Nazi Party, keeping their rallies safe and disrupting the rallies of other parties.
Nuremberg, Germany. Circa 1928.
Wikimedia Commons Joseph Goebbels addresses a massive crowd that has come out to support the Nazi Party.Berlin. 1932.
Bundesarchiv A couple look over the campaign signs that have taken over a street post, including a small swastika up in the corner.Berlin. July 31, 1932.
Bundesarchiv Earlier in Hitler's political career, a crowd of people fill a Munich beer hall to hear him speak.1925.
Bundesarchiv Joseph Goebbels, the Nazi head of propaganda, waves at Hitler as he passes by in his car.Weimar, Germany. October 1930.
Bundesarchiv Adolf Hitler and Nazi Party representatives pose together for a photograph while planning their election campaign.Munich. December 1930.
Bundesarchiv The massive crowd of supporters that came out to see the Nazi Party leaders speak, seen from above.Berlin. April 4, 1932.
Bundesarchiv A man steps out of the polling station, having cast his vote. Behind him, a man holds up a poster with Hitler's face.Berlin. March 13, 1932.
Bundesarchiv Voters cast their ballots at Potsdamer Platz, where a sign asking people to vote for Hitler hangs above the entrance.Berlin. March 1932.
Bundesarchiv A truck drives by, covered in propaganda calling on the people to keep Paul von Hindenburg as President of Germany — and keep the fascists out.Berlin. March 1932.
Bundesarchiv Chancellor Heinrich Brüning speaks to a crowd, urging them to vote for Paul von Hindenburg and keep Hitler out of power.Berlin. March 1932.
Bundesarchiv Hitler prepares to make a speech.Berlin. January 1932.
Bundesarchiv A truck for President Paul von Hindenburg drives down the streets, warning the people that a vote for Hitler is a vote for "eternal discord."Berlin. April 1932.
Bundesarchiv Crowds come out to cast their ballots in the first round of the presidential election.Hitler lost this election — but he didn't stay out of power for long. As soon as it was over, he started campaigning for the federal election, after which his party would come into power a mere four months later.
Berlin. March 13, 1932.
Bundesarchiv As the final votes are cast in the presidential election, supporters of each candidate make one last bid to sway the voters.Berlin. April 10, 1932.
Bundesarchiv Chancellor Heinrich Brüning steps out of the polling station after casting his vote against Hitler.Brüning's vote would help keep Hitler from winning the presidency for the moment — but Hitler would take his spot as chancellor, instead, shortly after.
Berlin. April 10, 1932.
Bundesarchiv The Nazi Party lost the presidential election, but they didn't give up. The federal election — and Hitler's shot at becoming chancellor — was just around the corner.Here, Joseph Goebbels addresses a massive crowd of supporters, urging them to cast their vote for fascism. One of the signs promises that voting for fascism will give them a "voice."
Berlin, Germany. April 7, 1932.
Bundesarchiv Joseph Goebbels yells into his microphone, addressing his crowd of supporters.Berlin. July 1932.
Bundesarchiv A campaign truck urges voters to cast their ballots for the DNVP: the German National People's Party.A vote for the DNVP would prove little different from a vote for the Nazi Party. The two parties would form a coalition after the election, with Hitler in charge.
Berlin. 1932.
Bundesarchiv The German National People's Party in an earlier election, drives through the streets with an anti-semitic poster on their truck.Reichstagswahl, Germany. 1930.
Bundesarchiv Germany's Communist Party, the KPD, deck out their campaign office with signs warning of the dangers of voting for Hitler.After Hitler came into power, he would get his revenge. He blamed the Reichstag fire on the KPD and purged them with executions during the "Night of the Long Knives" in 1934.
Berlin. 1932
Bundesarchiv The Democratic Parties, united under a single banner, drive through the streets of Germany trying to rally the people to keep the fascists and the communists out.Reichstagswahl, Germany. August 1930.
Bundesarchiv The "Brownshirts" keep people in line at a Nazi Party rally.Berlin. April 1931.
Bundesarchiv Adolf Hitler salutes his Sturmabteilung.Brunswick, Germany. April 1932.
Bundesarchiv The RFB, the Communist Party's equivalent to the Sturmabteilung, patrol the streets looking for Nazis to fight.Berlin. June 5, 1927.
Bundesarchiv The "Brownshirts" throw a parade, making a show of force to intimidate and sway voters toward Hitler.Spandau, Germany. 1932.
Bundesarchiv Political parties set up shop outside of a restaurant, trying to sway the customers' votes.Berlin. 1932.
Bundesarchiv Kurt von Schleicher, the new Chancellor of Germany, takes one last look at the placards before casting his vote.Hitler would win the election, which, traditionally, would make him the obvious choice to replace Schleicher as chancellor. President Hindenburg, however, kept Schleicher as Chancellor of Germany for a few months longer. The decision infuriated the Nazi Party and their supporters who, somewhat ironically, saw Hindenburg's move as undemocratic. Soon after, Schleicher was pressured into stepping down and letting Hitler take his spot.
Berlin. March 5, 1933.
Bundesarchiv A woman casts her vote in the election that would ultimately give power to the Nazis.Brunswick, Germany. 1932.
Bundesarchiv A man steps out of the polling station after casting his vote.Berlin. 1932.
Bundesarchiv Nazi supporters march in celebration after hearing that Hitler has been appointed Chancellor of Germany.Berlin. January 30, 1933.
Bundesarchiv Newly-appointed Chancellor Adolf Hitler, at the window of the Chancellery, waves at his supporters.Berlin. January 30, 1933.
Bundesarchiv The Nazi Party, now in charge, campaign to consolidate their power into a complete dictatorship.The sign reads, "One vote, one Fuhrer, one yes."
Berlin. November 1933.
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How Hitler And The Nazi Party Convinced Germany To Vote For Fascism View GalleryAdolf Hitler and the Nazi Party didn't simply take Germany by force. They were voted in.
While it's easy to forget or misunderstand this, during the 1932 federal elections, nearly 14 million Germans voted for Hitler, the Nazis, and fascism.
It's a dark, dirty secret of history that we don't like to acknowledge, but the rise of German fascism began with a democratic election. People came out in droves and cast their votes to give the Reichstag to the Nazis — and they really believed that they were making the right choice.
The Nazi Party succeeded by played into the country's worries. At the end of World War I, the country was crippled. They'd been forced to sign the Treaty of Versailles, including its War Guilt Clause, which put the full blame for the war squarely on Germany's shoulders — along with its expenses.
With so much debt to pay off, German money became practically worthless. Five years after the war ended, it took 4.2 trillion German marks to equal the value of one American dollar. People's life savings were so worthless that they burned them as kindling.
The Nazi Party fed upon this desperation. They promised to tear up the Treaty of Versailles, refuse to pay their debts, and take back the land that had been taken from them after the war. The Nazis were angrier and more militant than any other party out there — and as life got harder, that started to appeal to the Germans.
Then, in 1924, a war profiteering and corruption scandal in the German government between former Chancellor Gustav Bauer and the Jewish Barmat brothers merchants brought on a whole new wave of anti-Semitism and distrust in the government.
Hitler's rage-filled ideas of racial superiority then started to seem more palatable to the people of Germany. Slowly, the fascist, racist Nazi Party seemed, to some people, like a solution to the country's problems.
By July 31, 1932, the people were angry. They were full of distrust and racial hatred, and they made their voices heard by going out to the polls and voting for the Nazi Party.
It took a fire in the Reichstag, the death of a president, and a night of executions to make the Nazis' power absolute – but that power originated with the will of the people. Democracy died and fascism rose because the people voted for it.
After this look at the Hitler election of 1932, check out these pictures of the Nazi propaganda machine and life in Nazi Germany.
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