Is it true Adolf Hitler was elected democratically? And if so what were the Germans thinking of?

I love the good ol' U.S.A.!!

Yup! He used Democracy to get himself into power so he could change Germany into the Nazi regime. He was a powerful speaker so he was able to persuade the Germans to vote for him. He promised to make their economy better and to become more powerful than ever. Well he was true to his word. Germany's economic and military power increased tremendously. The Nazi Army was almost unstoppable and the economy was booming. I mean it took many countries including the U.S. to stop Hitler. Russia , Great Britain, France and several other countries could not take down Germany. It took the U.S. to enter the war to finally end the Axis powers from conquering the world. Maybe if the U.S. had never entered the war, maybe we would all be speaking German right now.
You may think Hitler was a nut but to the German people he was like a hero. Its all in a matter of opinion and not about facts when it comes to world leaders.
Democracy is not perfect what so ever. I t has so many flaws and yet there are many positives to it. Adolf Hitler knew of its flaws and used it to get himself into power. Nobody expected him to do what he did.
Don't you think all this some what sounds very familiar to you?

NAZGUL

Adolf was a very charismatic powerful speaker (sound familiar?) He was able to baffle and bull sh{t the people in a way they wanted to vote for him. He promised a better economic future for Germany and they fell for his sh[t.

leavin#1

Yes it is true and they were thinking the same as we do. Democracy is far from perfect in fact that is why the founding fathers hated the system and went with a Republic. As far as getting another Hitler in it is all to plausible and some would say that GW Bush was one.

Until people stop spending so much time and energy hootin' and hollerin' for their "candidate" and start getting engaged after the election another Hitler is always around the corner.

Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

Yak Rider

Here's the truth.....

In the presidential election held on March 13, 1932, there were four candidates: the incumbent, Field Marshall Paul von Hindenburg, Hitler, and two minor candidates, Ernst Thaelmann and Theodore Duesterberg. The results were:

Hindenburg 49.6 percent
Hitler 30.1 percent
Thaelmann 13.2 percent
Duesterberg 6.8 percent

At the risk of belaboring the obvious, almost 70 percent of the German people voted against Hitler, causing his supporter Joseph Goebbels, who would later become Hitlerâ€™s minister of propaganda, to lament in his journal, â€œWeâ€™re beaten; terrible outlook. Party circles badly depressed and dejected.â€

Since Hindenberg had not received a majority of the vote, however, a runoff election had to be held among the top three vote-getters. On April 19, 1932, the runoff results were:

Hindenburg 53.0 percent
Hitler 36.8 percent
Thaelmann 10.2 percent

Thus, even though Hitlerâ€™s vote total had risen, he still had been decisively rejected by the German people.

On June 1, 1932, Hindenberg appointed Franz von Papen as chancellor of Germany, whom Shirer described as an â€œunexpected and ludicrous figure.â€ Papen immediately dissolved the Reichstag (the national congress) and called for new elections, the third legislative election in five months.

Hitler and his fellow members of the National Socialist (Nazi) Party, who were determined to bring down the republic and establish dictatorial rule in Germany, did everything they could to create chaos in the streets, including initiating political violence and murder. The situation got so bad that martial law was proclaimed in Berlin.

Even though Hitler had badly lost the presidential election, he was drawing ever-larger crowds during the congressional election. As Shirer points out,

In one day, July 27, he spoke to 60,000 persons in Brandenburg, to nearly as many in Potsdam, and that evening to 120,000 massed in the giant Grunewald Stadium in Berlin while outside an additional 100,000 heard his voice by loudspeaker.

Hitlerâ€™s rise to power

The July 31, 1932, election produced a major victory for Hitlerâ€™s National Socialist Party. The party won 230 seats in the Reichstag, making it Germanyâ€™s largest political party, but it still fell short of a majority in the 608-member body.

On the basis of that victory, Hitler demanded that President Hindenburg appoint him chancellor and place him in complete control of the state. Otto von Meissner, who worked for Hindenburg, later testified at Nuremberg,

Hindenburg replied that because of the tense situation he could not in good conscience risk transferring the power of government to a new party such as the National Socialists, which did not command a majority and which was intolerant, noisy and undisciplined.

Political deadlocks in the Reichstag soon brought a new election, this one in November 6, 1932. In that election, the Nazis lost two million votes and 34 seats. Thus, even though the National Socialist Party was still the largest political party, it had clearly lost ground among the voters.

Attempting to remedy the chaos and the deadlocks, Hindenburg fired Papen and appointed an army general named Kurt von Schleicher as the new German chancellor. Unable to secure a majority coalition in the Reichstag, however, Schleicher finally tendered his resignation to Hindenburg, 57 days after he had been appointed.

On January 30, 1933, President Hindenburg appointed Adolf Hitler chancellor of Germany. Although the National Socialists never captured more than 37 percent of the national vote, and even though they still held a minority of cabinet posts and fewer than 50 percent of the seats in the Reichstag, Hitler and the Nazis set out to to consolidate their power. With Hitler as chancellor, that proved to be a fairly easy task.

derrick k

just wait the next question about this will be about Obama,

the reality is they say one thing to get elected but do their own personal agenda, Just like the germans, americans can be duped

Samwise

Democracy isn't that perfect, and nobody who knows it claims that it is. It's sometimes asserted that it's the worst system, except for all the others (attributed to Winston Churchill); I don't know any other system that isn't vulnerable to bad leaders as well.

Hitler became chancellor in 1933, but not by the standard electoral process. A combination of failures to meet the requirements for electoral victories, Nazi Party troops, general disorder, and behind-the-scenes dealing got him the job. Unfortunately, parliamentary governmental systems seem to be vulnerable to this sort of failure.

But U.S.-style Presidential electoral systems can also produce lousy results. Many of us contend that it has done so, in our lifetimes.

Jack the Ripper

They saw the coming of a savior - kinda like now.

Citizen Lupold

Did you know in the 30's their was a political party named Juden fÃ¼r Hitler (Jews for Hitler)? Did you know Adolph Hitler was Time magazines man of the year in 1933?

The Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei (National Socialist German Workers Party) was elected as the party in control and he was appointed by the party as Chancellor of Germany in 1933 and declared himself FÃ¼hrer und Reichskanzler (Head of State) in 1934.

charles t

yes he was. and yes it isnt perfect.

desertviking_00

Yes. He and his party were elected into the Reichstag in 1932. You might want to find a copy of the least known novel by Sinclair Lewis, "It Can't Happen Here", which describes this sort of thing happening in the U.S.

NONAME

Yes, I think I was.

they must have been thinking the same way that the people were when they elected Obama.........change........they sure got it and I guess we will too

Lu W

He looked like a good leader.

Teddy

Yes he was elected just like American presidents are today, his number one supporters where American and British, mostly over his promise with the UK to create the state of Israel

dinodino

Yes. Germany was in a horrible depression with hyperinflation. They had been forced to disarm and pay huge reparations for WWI because of the Treaty of Versailles, which many Germans felt humiliated by. Hitler offered a way out and appealed to German Nationalism. Plus the Reichstag burned down, helped, Hitlers fear and smear Campaign.

DrooBey

Yes. It was a scenario the US could be headed for, even though Germany had a parliamentary government. One of the two major parties failed to lead the country out of an economic situation 10 times worse than the Great Depression was in America. The other party won the election but also failed to form a solid government. The Nazis were the third party saying Germany was great and just needed a new kind of leadership. Scared, hungry voters said, "Our two main parties are so bad, how can these third-party guys be worse?"

snvffy

Sure he was, just in the same vain as Vladimir Putin was elected democratically in Russia, and Lyndon Johnson was elected democratically in Texas, and Hugo Chavez in Venezuela........

warmaniac1

yes he was democratically elected at first
when he was first put into power Germany was a mere shadow of what it had been preWorld War One. its military stripped away, tons of debt to the countries that were involved, and internal problems during its time as a republic
Hitler promised that he will bring Germany back up to its former glory which he did through gradual steps after attaining more power when President Hindenburg resigned he started to institute his plans and brought the military back better than ever, he printed out money that would pay back all the debts(unfortunately also bringing about a near worthless money), and he took all but the title of dictator in order to make it look like the people were still in power

Jimmy C

The same way Americans voted for Bush. He started a war too.

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