Nazi Victory Marches: Hitler Gains Power After German Election

The Nazi Party won 43.9 percent of the vote in the Reichstag elections of March 5, 1933, their best result ever but still short of a majority. Hitler, who had been chancellor for barely five weeks, had used the Reichstag fire four days earlier to declare a state of emergency and suspend civil liberties, allowing the SA brownshirts to terrorize opposition voters and shut down Communist Party offices. Despite this intimidation, the Social Democrats held 18.3 percent and the Communists retained 12.3 percent. The election result did not give Hitler the two-thirds majority needed to amend the constitution, so he turned to the Enabling Act on March 23, pressuring and threatening the remaining parties into granting him dictatorial powers. Only the Social Democrats voted against it. Within months, all other parties were banned, independent trade unions dissolved, and the Gestapo was operational. The March 5 election was the last competitive multi-party vote in Germany until 1949.