Hindenburg dies before naming Hitler chancellor

[rob]

What if Hindenburg died in office, say in December 1932, before he had named Hitler chancellor. Who would have succeeded him, first as caretaker president, and then who would have run in the new elections for Reichspresident. Obviously Hitler would have run, but could the anti-Nazi parties find a unity candidate who would have stood a chance against him?In the Nov. 1932 elections the Nazi vote actually slipped a bit, and many commentators at the time saw the Nazi flood receding, and I would argue that a Hitler presidential victory, while quite possible, wasn't certain.

[Scott Smith]

Probably Hitler would have been elected with a legitimate majority. he was the favorite but he was never able to beat Hindenburg in an election. The NSDAP, according to seats held in the Reichstag, should have essentially selected the chancellorship long before Hindenburg actually appointed Hitler. But Hindenburg preferred keeping von Papen as Chancellor and making Hitler the Vice Chancellor. However, Hitler knew that partial-power was no-power. Unless Hitler were named Chancellor, the Reichstag, with Hermann Göring on duty, was going to remain obstructionistic.

[Kurt_Steiner]

Perhaps it would have only delayed Hitler's final victory.

[Karri]

Perhaps it would have only delayed Hitler's final victory.

You mean Hitler's final defeat?

Anyways, is there a particular reason why you are diggin up old threads?

[Kurt_Steiner]

Not at all, Karri. Perhaps I have a gravedigger'soul, who knows... Perhaps giving them a chance to return to life. Why not?

I meant final victort in the sense of being the master of Germany. But also you're right. His final defeat, too. IT's curious what words may mean...

Best regards

[wenty]

By the time Hitler became chancellor in January 1933, he had been trying to gain support and come into power for more than 10 years. In my opinion, he would have just gradually slipped lower and lower in the polls because his supporters (and admittedly, he did have quite a few) would get sick of waiting and waiting for anything important to happen. They began to get impatient even way back during the Munich Putsch, which resulted in failure and Hitler's imprisonment anyway.
So my opinion is that Hitler most likely would never have got enough votes for a legitimate position in the Government. Cheers.

[Cantankerous]

If Paul von Hindenburg had collapsed on stage while giving a speech in June 1932, then Hitler would have staged a coup d'etat against the Weimar government a few days later and he would have initiated a series of decrees to grant jobs to unemployed Germans and rebuild German military strength, while ordering a stop to the payment of reparations in April 1933, the disposal of copies of books blacklisted by the Nazis as "un-German" into recycling bins to be used in the production of copies of Mein Kampf or books by Social Darwinists who considered Nordic and Anglo-Saxonic peoples the fittest races of man on earth, and simultaneously banning opposition parties and declaring himself Führer on the 10th anniversary of the Beer Hall Putsch.

[Terry Duncan]

Thread Necromancy from 2004 brought to people by Cantankerous. Topic locked.

Terry