Federal elections were held in Germany on 6 November 1932.[1] The Nazi Party saw its vote share fall by four percentage points, while there were slight increases for the Communist Party of Germany and the national conservative German National People's Party. The results were a great disappointment for the Nazis, who lost 34 seats and again failed to form a coalition government in the Reichstag. The elections were the last free and fair elections before the Nazis seized power the following year.
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All 584 seats in the Reichstag 293 seats needed for a majority | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Registered | 44,374,085 ( 0.4%) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Turnout | 80.6% ( 3.5pp) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Background
editThe Nazi Party and Communist Party (KPD) held over half of the seats in the Reichstag after the July 1932 election. This made it impossible to form a government composed of moderates. Chancellor Franz von Papen could only rely on the support of the German National People's Party (DNVP) and German People's Party (DVP), who only held a total of 44 seats. A vote of no confidence was put forward by the KPD and supported by 84% of the deputies. A new election was scheduled for November.[2]
Over 6 million people were unemployed in 1932, and 40% of organized labour was unemployed or working reduced hours in summer 1932.[2]
Results
editThis was the first time since 1928 that voter turnout decreased.[3]
The KPD regained its plurality of the popular vote in Berlin from the 1930 election, which was interrupted by the Nazis in the July election.[4]
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Votes | % | +/– | Seats | +/– | |
| Nazi Party | 11,737,021 | 33.09 | −4.18 | 196 | −34 | |
| Social Democratic Party | 7,247,901 | 20.43 | −1.15 | 121 | −12 | |
| Communist Party of Germany | 5,980,239 | 16.86 | +2.54 | 100 | +11 | |
| Centre Party | 4,230,545 | 11.93 | −0.51 | 70 | −5 | |
| German National People's Party | 2,959,053 | 8.34 | +2.43 | 51 | +14 | |
| Bavarian People's Party | 1,094,597 | 3.09 | −0.14 | 20 | −2 | |
| German People's Party | 660,889 | 1.86 | +0.68 | 11 | +4 | |
| Christian Social People's Service | 403,666 | 1.14 | +0.15 | 5 | +2 | |
| German State Party | 336,447 | 0.95 | −0.06 | 2 | −2 | |
| German Farmers' Party | 149,026 | 0.42 | +0.05 | 3 | +1 | |
| Reich Party of the German Middle Class | 110,309 | 0.31 | −0.09 | 1 | −1 | |
| Agricultural League | 105,220 | 0.30 | +0.04 | 2 | 0 | |
| German-Hanoverian Party | 63,966 | 0.18 | +0.05 | 1 | +1 | |
| Radical Middle Class | 60,246 | 0.17 | +0.15 | 0 | 0 | |
| Thuringian Agricultural League | 60,062 | 0.17 | New | 1 | New | |
| Christian-National Peasants' and Farmers' Party | 46,382 | 0.13 | −0.12 | 0 | −1 | |
| Reich Party for Civil Rights and Deflation | 46,202 | 0.13 | +0.02 | 0 | −1 | |
| Socialist Workers' Party of Germany | 45,201 | 0.13 | −0.07 | 0 | 0 | |
| Poland List | 32,988 | 0.09 | 0.00 | 0 | 0 | |
| For Hindenburg and Papen | 27,752 | 0.08 | New | 0 | New | |
| Kleinrentner, Inflationsgeschädigte und Vorkriegsgeldbesitzer | 15,727 | 0.04 | 0.00 | 0 | 0 | |
| Free Economy Party of Germany | 11,002 | 0.03 | 0.00 | 0 | 0 | |
| Schicksalsgemeinschaft deutscher Erwerbslosen, Kleinhandel und Gewerbe | 9,250 | 0.03 | New | 0 | New | |
| Social Republican Party of Germany | 8,395 | 0.02 | New | 0 | New | |
| Handwerker, Handels- und Gewerbetreibende | 5,189 | 0.01 | 0.00 | 0 | 0 | |
| Radical Democratic Party | 3,789 | 0.01 | New | 0 | New | |
| Workers' and Farmers' Struggle Community | 3,308 | 0.01 | 0.00 | 0 | 0 | |
| National Social Party of the Middle Class | 3,052 | 0.01 | New | 0 | New | |
| Enteigneter Mittelstand | 2,737 | 0.01 | 0.00 | 0 | 0 | |
| National Freedom Party of Germany | 1,810 | 0.01 | +0.01 | 0 | 0 | |
| Schleswig Home | 1,694 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0 | 0 | |
| Greater German People's Party (Schmalix List) | 1,311 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0 | 0 | |
| Interessengemeinschaft der Kleinrentner und Inflationsgeschädigten | 1,086 | 0.00 | –0.01 | 0 | 0 | |
| Nationalist Party | 588 | 0.00 | New | 0 | New | |
| People's Socialists | 518 | 0.00 | New | 0 | New | |
| Haus- und Landwirtepartei | 461 | 0.00 | New | 0 | New | |
| National Communist Party of Germany | 381 | 0.00 | New | 0 | New | |
| German Social Monarchist Party | 355 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0 | 0 | |
| German Reform Party | 352 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0 | 0 | |
| German Workers Party | 308 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0 | 0 | |
| Unitarianist Union of Germany | 290 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0 | 0 | |
| Greater German Middle Class Party for Middle Class Dictatorship | 286 | 0.00 | New | 0 | New | |
| Gerechtigkeits-Bewegung-Meißner | 280 | 0.00 | New | 0 | New | |
| German National Citizen Bloc | 192 | 0.00 | New | 0 | New | |
| Party for the Unemployed for Work and Bread | 140 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0 | 0 | |
| National German Catholic Reich Party | 137 | 0.00 | New | 0 | New | |
| German Socialist Struggle Movement | 101 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0 | 0 | |
| German Reich against Interest Rate Movement | 97 | 0.00 | New | 0 | New | |
| Freiheitsbewegung Schwarz-Weiß-Rot | 92 | 0.00 | New | 0 | New | |
| Middle Class Party | 85 | 0.00 | New | 0 | New | |
| Kampfbund der Lohn- und Gehaltsabgebauten | 63 | 0.00 | New | 0 | New | |
| Total | 35,470,788 | 100.00 | – | 584 | –24 | |
| Valid votes | 35,470,788 | 99.20 | ||||
| Invalid/blank votes | 287,471 | 0.80 | ||||
| Total votes | 35,758,259 | 100.00 | ||||
| Registered voters/turnout | 44,374,085 | 80.58 | ||||
| Source: Gonschior.de | ||||||
Aftermath
editAfter the election, von Papen urged Hindenburg to continue to rule by decree, while at the same time attempting to form a coalition with the Nazis. Negotiations failed and Papen was dismissed by Hindenburg, who replaced him with Defence minister Kurt von Schleicher.[5]
In the subsequent two months, Schleicher held talks with a faction of the Nazi Party led by Gregor Strasser in an attempt at a Querfront strategy, attempting to unite Strasserists, the SPD, the Centre Party and the trade unions.[6] The plans failed when Hitler disempowered Strasser and approached Papen for coalition talks; it is disputed if Schleicher was actually serious about his proposal.[7] Since Schleicher's ineffective rule was growing increasingly unpopular among German elites, Papen convinced Hindenburg to dismiss him and appoint Hitler as Chancellor on 30 January 1933, with a cabinet composed of NSDAP and DNVP politicians; the new government lacked a majority in the Reichstag, so a snap election was called and scheduled for March by Hindenburg.
On 27 February, the Reichstag was set on fire allegedly by Dutch council communist Marinus van der Lubbe: in response, the Reichstag Fire Decree was enacted, suspending basic liberties and allowing the Nazis to conduct mass arrests of KPD members and freely engage in paramilitary violence against their opponents.[8]
The elections were the last free and fair all-German election before the Nazi seizure of power, since the subsequent vote in March saw massive suppression against opposition politicians, especially SPD and KPD ones. The next free national elections were not held until 1949 in West Germany and 1990 in East Germany. The next free all-German elections took place in December 1990, after reunification two months earlier.
References
edit- ^ Dieter Nohlen & Philip Stöver (2010) Elections in Europe: A data handbook, p762 ISBN 978-3-8329-5609-7
- ^ a b Childers 1983, p. 209.
- ^ Childers 1983, p. 211.
- ^ Hamilton 1982, p. 74.
- ^ Longerich, Peter (2019). Hitler: A Life. Oxford University Press. p. 264. ISBN 978-0-19-879609-1.
- ^ Henry Ashby Turner (1996). Hitler's thirty days to power. Internet Archive. Addison-Wesley. ISBN 978-0-201-40714-3.
- ^ Turner, Henry Ashby (2008). "The Myth of Chancellor Von Schleicher's Querfront Strategy". Central European History. 41 (4): 673–681. ISSN 0008-9389. JSTOR 20457400.
- ^ Shirer, William L. (1990). Rise And Fall Of The Third Reich: A History of Nazi Germany. Simon and Schuster. p. 194. ISBN 978-0-671-72868-7.
Works cited
edit- Childers, Thomas (1983). The Nazi Voter: The Social Foundations of Fascism in Germany, 1919-1933. University of North Carolina Press. ISBN 0807815705.
- Hamilton, Richard (1982). Who Voted for Hitler?. Princeton University Press. ISBN 0691093954.