Victory and Liberation - 30th January 1933
NS History Lesson
In the Reichstag election in November 1932, the NSDAP had received 33.1% of the vote (and thus less than in the previous election). Papen then tried to organize a coalition with the National Socialists behind the back of the incumbent Chancellor Schleicher, in order to depose him and, if possible, to become Chancellor himself again. On January 4, 1933, Papen's meeting with Hitler took place in the house of the banker Kurt Freiherr von Schröder, at which the NSDAP's participation in government was discussed. However, Hitler insisted on being appointed chancellor himself. State Secretary Otto Meissner and Oskar von Hindenburg also took part in a later meeting on January 22nd. In the end, they convinced the President of Hitler's appointment as Chancellor.
A coalition government made up of the German Nationalists and the NSDAP was agreed upon, to which, besides Hitler, only two other National Socialists, namely Wilhelm Frick as Minister of the Interior and Hermann Göring as Minister without Portfolio (and acting Prussian Interior Minister), were to belong. Papen himself was designated as Vice Chancellor and Reich Commissioner for Prussia.
1st row sitting: Hermann Göring, Adolf Hitler, Franz von Papen
2nd row standing: Franz Seldte, Günther Gereke, Lutz Graf Schwerin von Krosigk, Wilhelm Frick, Werner von Blomberg, Alfred Hugenberg.
The 86-year-old Reich President, was finally reassured by pointing out that an NSDAP leader “framed” by a conservative cabinet majority meant little danger.
In the evening a large parade of SA-men with torches and banners passed by the Reich Chancellery and through the Brandenburg Gate.
