Hitler Is Appointed Chancellor
Conservative politicians hand Hitler power through legal, constitutional means, wrongly certain they can control him
Quick facts
- Date
- 30 January 1933
- Appointed by
- President Paul von Hindenburg
- Mechanism
- Legal constitutional appointment, not a coup
- Miscalculation
- Conservative allies believed they could control Hitler
What happened
On 30 January 1933, German President Paul von Hindenburg appointed Adolf Hitler chancellor of Germany. Hitler did not seize power through a coup; he was installed through Germany's legal constitutional process, the result of a political deal in which conservative politicians persuaded the aging Hindenburg to make the appointment, believing they could contain and control Hitler within a coalition cabinet where Nazis held only a minority of ministries. That assumption proved disastrously wrong within weeks.
Why it matters
The appointment is the hinge point historians treat as the start of Nazi Germany, the moment legal political process handed control of the German state to a movement that would, within two years, dismantle the constitutional order entirely and begin the sequence of persecution that led to the Holocaust. The speed and totality of what followed, given how narrow and contingent this initial appointment was, is a central case study in how democratic institutions can be used to end democracy from within.
How we know
The appointment and the political maneuvering behind it are extensively documented in the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum's Holocaust Encyclopedia, drawing on German government records, contemporary press accounts, and the personal papers of the officials involved in brokering Hitler's appointment.
Sources
- Holocaust Encyclopedia, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Adolf Hitler is Appointed Chancellor · Reputable sourceencyclopedia.ushmm.org · The domain "encyclopedia.ushmm.org" is on our Reputable source registry. · Link is live and its text matches the event's key terms (Jul 2026)
- Holocaust Encyclopedia, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Hitler Comes to Power: How, When, & Key Dates · Reputable sourceencyclopedia.ushmm.org · The domain "encyclopedia.ushmm.org" is on our Reputable source registry. · Link is live and its text matches the event's key terms (Jul 2026)
See something wrong? . Corrections with a source get fixed fastest.
Part of a timelineHistory of Germany33 events · From the Teutoburg Forest to a divided nation reunited, the long argument over what "Germany" even isView all →