Figure 1.--Here Berliners check out a NAZI campaign poster which has just been put up on a Litfaßsäule/Morris Tower. The photograph is undated, but the poster helps us date it to the 1932 presidential campaign. The poster reads, 'Unsere letzte Hoffnung: Hitler' (Our last hope: Hitler). The poster was the work of Mjölnir (Hans Schweitzer). It was designed to appeal to unemployed workers left destitute by Depression with Hitler depicted as their savior. It is interesting that these people are standing at the corner of Yorck Strasse and another street which we can not make out. Yorck Strasse was named after the Prussian field marshal Ludwig Yorck von Wartenburg who fought in the Npoleonic Wars (1759-1830). The year 1932, when this picture was taken, was too early to name a street after a descendent, the jurist Peter Yorck von Wartenburg (1904-44), who was involved in the July Bomb Plot and resistance group against Hitler together with many other German aristocrats. He was hanged by the NAZIs in 1944.

With the rise of the NAZIs in the late 1920s, the Reichstag became fractured along ideological lines. The Communists on the left and NAZIs and other nationalist parties on the right became increaingly important. Both were committed to destroying the Republic. This made governing Germany increasingly difficult as the moderate parties supporting the Republic became an increaingly smaller part of the Reicstag. No party or party groupings could form stable coalitions. The situation in the Reichstag made the German President increasingly important. Hitler decided to challenge the incumbent president and revered military legend Paul von Hindenburg for the presidency. The ageing Hindenburg was now 84 years old and was showing signs of senility to those close to him. Hitler launched an active campaign, fling around the country and using the radio to create an image of an active, modern politican of the future in sharp contrast to the elderly Hindenburg. The majority of Germans still feared Hitler. Hindenburg won the 1932 election with a clear majority. The NAZI's after Hitler's April 1932 election loss to Hindenburg were still the largest German political party, but did not have a majority in the Reichstag.

The Reichstag

With the rise of the NAZIs in the late 1920s, the Reichstag became fractured along ideological lines. The Communists on the left and NAZIs and other nationalist parties on the right became increaingly important. Both were committed to destroying the Republic. This made governing Germany increasingly difficult as the moderate parties supporting the Republic became an increaingly smaller part of the Reicstag. No party or party groupings could form stable coalitions.

The German Presidency

The situation in the Reichstag made the German President increasingly important.

Candidates

There were four principal presidential candidates in the 1932 election. The candidates were telling. Hitler and Thälmann wanted to overthrow the Republic. And many of the voters who supported Hindenburg and Duesterberg were not committed to the Republic either. The SPD concerned about splitting the moderate vot did not even run a candis=date.

President Hindenburg

The ageing incumbent, Paul von Hindenburg was now 84 years old. He was Germany's greatest World War I hero and the most respected man in the country. He was by 1932 showing signs of senility to those close to him. He decided, however, to run for reelection. Hindenberg explained, "In the consciouness of my responsibility for the fate of the Fatherland," he was persuaded to run for reelection. He saw Germany as in peril. [Marcosson, p. 89.] Hindenburg was polituically an unusual candidate. The Weimar Republic had been created by Socialists. Hindenburg had been elected in 1925 with the support of monarchists and nationalists who hoped he would restore the Imperial monarchy. This did not happen. Now he was supported by the moderate parties supporting the Republic. The SPD rather than running their own candidate, supported Hindenburg.

Adolf Hitler

Adolf Hitler is arguably the most evil individual in modern history. The tendency today is to view Adolf Hitler as both evil and mad. Evil he was, mad he was not. Adolf Hitler was a sewred and resourceful politician who constantly out maneuered his opponents as he rose to power in Germany. Many in Germany during 1932 recognized him as both evil and dangerous. Large numbers of Germans, however, saw him as the national salvation. NAZI leader Adolf Hitler decided to challenge the incumbent president and revered military legend Paul von Hindenburg for the presidency. He was a virulent critic of the Weimar Republic and democracy itself. While in prison (1923-24) he wrote very honestly about what he wanted for Germany in Mein Kampf. Some liked his vission. Many did not read his long, rambling and rather turgid book. Others discouted it as political bluster.

Ernst Thälmann

The candidate of the German Communist Party (KPD) was Ernst Thälmann. He became KPD leader in large part because he carefully followed instructions from Moscow and aligned himself with Stalin. He had run in the 1925 election and helped split the center-left vote. This ensured that Paul von Hindenburg. the conservative candidate, defeated the Center Party's Wilhelm Marx in 1925. At the KPD's 12th party congress in Berlin-Wedding (June 1929), Thälmann followed the Soviet line and adopted a policy of oposing the SPD rather than joining with them to oppose the NAZIs. This meant that there was no common front against the NAZIs. The KPD's election slogan was "A vote for Hindenburg is a vote for Hitler; a vote for Hitler is a vote for war." It proved to be profetic. The Gestapo arrested him along with other Communist leaders after Hitler seized power (1933). He was held in solitary confinement for 11 years, although he did receive adequate food. He was shot in the Buchenwald Concentration Camp on Hitler's direct orders (1944).

Others

Another candidate was Theodore Duesterberg. He was head of the Stalbeim/Stahlhelm, a veteran's organization much like the American Legion in the United States, but differeing in that many of its members had no real loyalty to the Republic. Once in power, Hitler would disband the Stahlhelm. Duesterberg was briefly detained in Dachau. A virtual unknown, Gustav Winter, ran from prison.

The Campaign

Hitler launched an active campaign, flying around the country and using the radio to create an image of an active, modern politican of the future in sharp contrast to the elderly, but respected Hindenburg. Hitler's campaign may well be characterized as the first modern campaign, making full use of mass media. Wealthy businessmen provided Hitler the money to run an active election campaigns, including extensive media advertising. He presented himself as a moderate, but highly nationalist politican. He promised to create a Third Reich which meant an end to the Weimar Republic, but not a resoration of the monarchy. Hitler appeakled to unemployed Germans devestated by the Depression. He railed against the 'November criminals' and humiliation of the Versailles Treaty. He promised order and stability, never addressing the obvious--that it was the NAZI SA that was creating most of the disorder. Hindenburg in sharp contrast to Hitlker, did not actively campaign.

First Vote (March 13)

Hindenburg dominated the election. He received 49.6 percent of the vote, impressive but just shor of the majority required for election. The other candidates split the remaining vote: Hitler 30.1 percent, Thaelmann 13.2 percent, and Duesterberg 6.8 percent. Historians point out that nearly 70 percent of the German rejected Hitler. [Shirer] The NAZIs were very disappointed. Joseph Goebbels, who would be the NAZI Propaganda Minister, and usually able to find an optimistic view in even the worst circumstances, was crushed. He wrote in his diary, “We’re beaten; terrible outlook. Party circles badly depressed and dejected.” A closer look at the vote provides an insight into why the Weimar Republic failed. Hitler was not the only German politican who wanted to destroy the Republiic. Communist Party leader Thaelmann did also. There vote combined is 43 percent of the electorate. And many of the Germans who voted for PresidentbHindenburg and even more so Duesterberg were no friends of the Republic.

Second Vote (April 19)

Since Presidenyt Hindenberg had fallen just short of a majority, a runoff election was required with the three candidates that received the largest vote. The runoff was held April 19, 1932. This time President Hindenburg won his majority. The results were: Hindenburg 53.0 percent, Hitler 36.8 percent, and Thaelmann 10.2 percent. Hitler increased his vote, primarily by appealing to Duesterberg 's voters. Stragely, Thaelmann received fewer votes. I'm not sure why. The majority of Germans still obviously feared Hitler. Hitler did increase his vote, but he was still soundky rejected by the majority of the German people. Tragically for democracy, the vote for the political extremists combined (Hitler and Thaelmann) was very substantial--47 percent. And the The NAZI's after Hitler's presidential election loss to Hindenburg were still the largest German political party, although they did not have a majority in the Reichstag.

Sources

Marcosson, Frederick. Turbulent Years.

Shirer, William. The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich

Created: 2:55 AM 8/6/2008
Last updated: 1:06 AM 1/29/2012