March 5, 1933: The Election That Destroyed German Democracy
Recently, President Donald Trump banned three media organizations from the White House because of their negative coverage of him and his administration. “I mean, there’s something wrong with a country that can allow people to write purposely negative stories,” Trump.
In January 1933, Adolf Hitler was appointed chancellor (head of government) of Germany by President Paul von Hindenburg, despite having lost the presidential election to Hindenburg in April 1932 by a margin of 6 million votes out of 36.8 million. Hitler’s party, the National Socialists (Nazis), had secured the largest share of seats in the 600-seat Reichstag (German parliament) in the 1932 legislative elections. Hindenburg dissolved the Reichstag at Hitler’s request, setting new elections for March 5, 1933, which Hitler framed as a referendum on his leadership. He aimed to win an absolute majority of 51% to govern without forming a coalition, a goal he believed his local operatives, called Gauleiters, could achieve.
Hitler used his executive powers to influence the election outcome. He and Hindenburg signed an emergency decree restricting press freedoms and public demonstrations, which newspapers challenged in court. Hitler also attempted to rewrite election laws and considered deploying the army to maintain order, but his defense minister refused, stating it was unthinkable for German soldiers to fire on German citizens. A week before the election, the Reichstag building was set ablaze in a dramatic arson attack. Hitler used this event to convince Hindenburg to issue another decree suspending constitutional civil liberties and due process, further tilting the electoral playing field in his favor.
The March 5, 1933, election was widely seen as a critical moment for German democracy. The New York Times described it as a referendum on the republican form of government that had existed in Germany since the end of World War I. Voter turnout reached 89%, the highest since the 1870s. Hitler’s goal was to secure an absolute majority, but the results were mixed. While his party gained support, particularly from young voters (2 million new votes), left-wing parties like the Social Democrats and Communists retained significant representation. The Social Democrats lost only one seat, and the Communists kept 81 out of 100 seats despite their leaders being imprisoned or in hiding.
Contrary to Hitler’s expectations, the election did not deliver an overwhelming majority. His party did not clear the 51% threshold, forcing him to form a coalition. The results showed that centrist conservative parties lost nearly half their voters to Hitler, while young voters overwhelmingly supported the Nazis. Emil Gumbel, a statistician and associate of Albert Einstein, questioned why young people had abandoned the Social Democrats in favor of Hitler. Gumbel noted that while the Social Democrats had warned about Hitler’s threats to democracy, Hitler had focused on addressing everyday concerns like housing, inflation, unemployment, public safety, and national pride, which resonated with voters.
Historians now view the March 5 election as a flawed process heavily influenced by Hitler’s manipulation and voter intimidation. However, contemporary observers, including Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Fred Birchall of *The New York Times*, initially believed the election could result in a setback for Hitler. In mid-February 1933, Birchall predicted that an adverse outcome would relegate Hitler and his party to obscurity. The article emphasizes that elections are shaped by political contingencies rather than historical inevitabilities, and outcomes are often unpredictable even in hindsight. The comparison is drawn to the 2024 U.S. elections, where similar predictions and concerns about democratic backsliding are present.
