The Great Depression

Inflation in the 1920s followed by the worldwide depression that emerged during the 1930s allowed Hitler to gain tremendous support. Germany had undergone great economic hardships after the Great War and, combined with the worldwide depression, its economy was completely devastated. During these difficult economic conditions, and mass unemployment, people began to turn to Hitler for a solution for their problems. He proposed programs that would put people back to work and rebuild the economy. Hitler capitalized on his growing support in the elections of 1932. During that election, he was able to gain enough seats to be elected Chancellor of Germany.

How to be a Dictator

Once elected Chancellor, Hitler wasted little time. He believed in the need for a strong leader, who did not need to be elected every few years, to "push" the German people to greatness. Hitler immediately began to take steps to consolidate and increase his power. Two major problems faced him in his rise to dictator. First, there was the position of President of Germany above his position of Chancellor. A general of Great War fame, Hindenburg, held the position of President. The second problem was Hitler's overall lack of support in the Reichstag or parliament. He did not have enough seats in the parliament to make laws as he wished. He had to ask other parties to join the Nazis in order to pass laws.

Hitler called another election hoping to gain more support for his party. One week before the vote was to be held, the German Parliament burned to the ground. The fire was quickly blamed on Hitler's largest competitor for power, the Communist Party. The Nazis had set the whole thing up and blamed the communists. The idea was that Hitler could then pass new laws giving him supreme power, and this was exactly what he did. Hitler immediately demanded a new law be passed called the "Law for the Protection of People and State." It was designed to stop the violence that the Communist Party was trying to spread.


The new law basically outlawed the Communist Party and, therefore, his competition for the next election. As a result, Hitler won a landslide election, which allowed him to pass new laws without the support of other parties. The next major new law was called the "Enabling Act," which allowed him to pass laws without asking parliament. In other words, he was no longer required to listen to the elected parliament or for that matter, anyone else.

With the death of the elderly President Hindenburg, Hitler passed another law stating that he would be both President and Chancellor of Germany. The final move in his rise to dictator was passing a law banning all other parties in Germany. That meant if there was ever to be another election citizens could only vote for the Nazi Party