The Brink
17 November 1932
The parliamentary elections on 6 November were a disaster for the parties faithful to the Republic. Chancellor von Papen announces his cabinet’s resignation.
18 November 1932
President Hindenburg begins the search for a new chancellor.
19 November 1932
A letter reaches Hindenburg: prominent figures in the business community urge him to give the chancellorship to Adolf Hitler, the leader of the strongest party in the Reichstag.
21 November 1932
Hindenburg offers Hitler a mandate: draw together a parliamentary majority that would support him as chancellor.
23 November 1932
Defence Minister von Schleicher asks Hitler whether he would be willing to join a cabinet under his own stewardship. Hitler refuses and suggests to Hindenburg that he be appointed chancellor and given presidential powers without a parliamentary majority.
24 November 1932
Hitler declares in a letter to Hindenburg that he has no intention of seeking a parliamentary majority.
A pledge of loyalty to the Führer signed by several National Socialists – Frick, Goebbels, Göring, Röhm and Strasser – appears in the Völkische Beobachter. The Defence Ministry begins to run its simulation testing the capability of the army to respond to civil unrest.
30 November 1932
Hitler and his intraparty opponent Gregor Strasser fight. Strasser demands the NSDAP agree to join a coalition.
1 December 1932
Hindenburg again tasks Papen with building a government.
The Plan
2 December 1932
The results of the simulation are presented. Several members of the cabinet refuse to cooperate with Papen. General Schleicher is appointed the Weimar Republic’s twelfth head of government.
4 December 1932
Schleicher meets with Strasser and explores whether he would be willing to join the government.
5 December 1932
The NSDAP holds a summit of senior party leaders at the Hotel Kaiserhof in Berlin.
6 December 1932
The first session of the new Parliament takes place.
7 December 1932
The power struggle inside the NSDAP escalates.
Strasser announces his resignation from his roles in the party and leaves Berlin.
15 December 1932
Chancellor Schleicher gives a radio address in which he presents his government’s agenda: ‘create jobs’.
Silent Night
16 December 1932
The conservative Gentlemen’s Club throws its annual dinner. The former chancellor, Papen, gives a speech in which he criticises his successor’s fiscal policy.
21 December 1932
Schleicher’s amnesty comes into force, freeing hundreds of prisoners before Christmas. Carl von Ossietzky is among them.
28 December 1932
The Cologne-based banker Kurt von Schröder arranges a conversation between Hitler and Papen for 4 January.
In the Maelstrom
4 January 1933
Hitler and Papen meet secretly in Cologne, but news of their conversation is leaked. In Berlin, Hitler’s rival, Gregor Strasser, visits President Hindenburg.
9 January 1933
Papen and Schleicher have a long talk.
At the president’s office, the National Rural League complains to Hindenburg and Schleicher about the pressing struggles of large-scale agriculturalists.
12 January 1933
A clandestine meeting takes place between Papen and Hitler at the home of prominent businessman Joachim von Ribbentrop.
13 January 1933
Hugenberg offers the DNVP to Chancellor Schleicher as a coalition partner. In return he demands two ministries – Economics as well as Food and Agriculture – for himself. Schleicher hesitates.
15 January 1933
An election takes place in Lippe. The NSDAP receives just under 40 per cent of the ballot, becoming the largest faction in the Regional Assembly.
16 January 1933
Addressing the cabinet, Schleicher clings to his notion of a ‘cross-party front’ incorporating Strasser.
18 January 1933
East Prussian landowners are accused of misappropriating state funds through the Eastern Aid scheme at the meeting of the Reichstag Budget Committee. The newspapers begin calling it a ‘scandal’. Papen and Hitler meet again at Ribbentrop’s villa.
22 January 1933
The SA demonstrates outside the KPD’s head office in Bülowplatz, guarded by the Prussian police. That evening another meeting between Hitler and Papen takes place at the Ribbentrops’ home; also present are State Secretary Meissner and Hindenburg’s son, Oskar.
Schleicher asks President Hindenburg to grant him quasi-dictatorial plenary powers.
28 January 1933
Schleicher steps down as chancellor when Hindenburg refuses to give him the authority to dissolve Parliament.
Taking Power
30 January 1933
Adolf Hitler is appointed chancellor by President Hindenburg. Franz von Papen becomes Vice-Chancellor, and Commissioner of Prussia; Hugenberg becomes Minister for Economics and Agriculture. Hermann Göring and Wilhelm Frick are also given cabinet posts. The KPD calls for a general strike. The SA, SS and Stahlhelm conduct a torchlight procession through the Brandenburg Gate.