dgabriel, contrary to a widespread belief, the Nazis did not ´come to power by election in 1933, after several failed attempts in prior elections´.
on the legal basis of § 48 oft he Weimar constitution Hitler was appointed Reichskanzler (Imperial chancellor) by the Reichspraesident (Imperial president) and former WW I Fieldmarshal Paul von Hindenburg on the 30th of January 1933.
Hitler´s 1st cabinet was not even a true NSDAP government but the socalled ´government of national concentration´,with Hitler as chancellor and only 2 nazi ministers (Dr. Frick and H. Goering). the majority of ministers were members of the DNVP (deutschnationale volkspartei). because the combined NSDAP and DNVP had no majority (248 of a total 584) in the Reichstag (Imperial diet) they kept governing on the basis of the above mentioned presidential powers of § 48 of the Weimar constitution.
even after the takeover of power (Machtergreifung) and brutal oppression of SPD and KPD election campaigns the nazis were unable to win a majority in the general election of the 5th of March 1933.
Wahlergebnis (election results) vom 5. März 1933
Wahlberechtigte: 44,7 Mill., Wahlbeteiligung: 88,7%
Mill. Stimmen Prozent Abgeordnete
NSDAP 17,3 43,9 288
DNVP 3,1 8,0 52
Zentrum 4,4 11,2 74
BVP 1,1 2,7 18
SPD 7,2 18,3 120
KPD 4,8 12,3 81
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Gesamt 39,3 96,4 647
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only with the help of the 52 DNVP deputies the nazis won a slim majority in the Reichstag which was used to adopt the socalled ´Ermaechtigungsgesetz`(act of empowerment) of the 21st of March 1933. the KPD (kommunistische partei deutschands) was excluded from the inauguration session of the Reichstag for their alleged incineration of the Reichstag building and the SPD simply didn´t turn up, out of fear.