Hitler Sworn In: The Nazi Era Commences
Adolf Hitler was appointed Chancellor of Germany by President Paul von Hindenburg on January 30, 1933, after years of political maneuvering by conservative elites who believed they could control him. Franz von Papen, who brokered the deal, told a colleague, 'We've hired him.' Within eight weeks, the Reichstag fire gave Hitler the pretext to suspend civil liberties. The Enabling Act followed, granting him dictatorial powers without a vote from parliament. Political parties were banned. Trade unions were dissolved. Jews were stripped of citizenship. Hindenburg died in August 1934, and Hitler merged the offices of president and chancellor, becoming Fuhrer. The conservatives who thought they could use Hitler as a puppet discovered too late that they had handed absolute power to a man who had openly published his plans for racial war and territorial conquest in Mein Kampf nine years earlier.
January 30, 1933
93 years ago
Key Figures & Places
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