Democracy Meltdown: How Hitler Got Elected

Ever wonder how democracies truly fail? When do elections go bad? Today, an example that many of you are familiar with…

In 1930, economically depressed Germany was whalloped by the Great Depression. The Social Democrats and other traditional political parties of the centre and right had no answer to the nation’s woes, and in the elections of September 1930, a new political Party called the National Socialists rose from relative obscurity to win 18.3% of the vote, making them the second largest political party in Germany. They were led by a vegetarian socialist known as Adolf Hitler.

President Paul von Hindenberg remained in power, but Hitler had broad public appeal, finding support in farmers, war veterans, and the middle-class who had been hard-hit by both the inflation of the 1920s and the unemployment of the Depression. The Social Democrats found their power base in the urban working classes.

But Nazi power grew. In the 1932 elections, the Nazis became the largest party along with the communists. Both were unable to come to a compromise agreement with the other parties to form a government, and new elections were called. The Nazis lost seats in the parliament, but remained the largest party. Hindenberg, who remained a lame-duck president, eventually appointed Hitler Chancellor of a coalition government cobbled together after the elections.

When the parliament was set on fire (and the communists were blamed for it), the Reichstag Fire Decree suspended civil liberties. In the following elections in March 1933, the Nazis received 43.9% of the vote, negotiated a coalition with the several other smaller parties, forming a Nazi cabinet and keeping Hindenberg as president. The Enabling Act, passed by the parliament after Nazi paramilitaries physically expelled the Communist deputies, gave Hitler legal dictatorial authority. Under the Enabling Act the Nazi cabinet could pass legislation itself, bypassing the Reichstag, but only measures submitted by the Chancellor (Hitler). The Enabling Act was to lapse after four years or upon the installation of a new government and was dutifully renewed every four years.

Using the Enabling Act, Hitler’s government soon banned all other political parties. Labor unions were put under Nazi control. Hitler ordered every member of the military to swear a personal oath of allegiance to him. When President Hindenburg died on August 2, 1934, Hitler’s cabinet passed a law combining the offices of president and chancellor, with Hitler holding both offices. This consolidation was approved by 90% of the electorate in mid-August 1934. And from there, a decade of darkness that ravaged the globe began.