Takeover: Hitler’s Final Rise to Power

The German humiliation in the Treaty of Versailles at the end of World War I, the impact of the Great Depression, and the right-wing prejudices of the German establishment all contributed to Adolf Hitler’s rise to power. So did the choices of other key players. In this detailed and persuasive account, Ryback follows the twists and turns of German politics from the July 1932 election, in which Hitler’s Nazi Party won the largest share of the votes but not a majority, to the next election that November, when the Nazis lost two million votes and Hitler appeared defeated, to his appointment as chancellor at the end of January 1933. Although the conservative elite disliked Hitler for his demagoguery and the thuggery of his followers, they saw him as their best means of keeping out the socialists and the Bolsheviks and hoped that once in office he would moderate his fanaticism. Instead, Hitler soon turned Germany into a legal dictatorship, waiting until President Paul von Hindenburg died in 1934 to merge the roles of chancellor and president as the country’s Führer.