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.
Background
The 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
This 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]
After 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.
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.
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