Hitler came to power democratically

Zakharova diligently does not notice the meaning of Le Drian’s words about Zelensky’s coming to power in a democratic way. The French minister underlines the fact that the presidential elections in Ukraine with an impressive result of 73.22% of the votes in the second round were won by a candidate who never concealed either his Jewish origin or the fact that his mother tongue was Russian. This is an absolute evidence of the unpopularity of neo-Nazi ideas in Ukraine.

As for Hitler’s rise to power in a democratic way, here Zakharova repeats a fairly common historical myth. In the 1932 presidential election, Hitler lost to the non-partisan candidate Paul von Hindenburg. In the elections to the Reichstag in November 1932, the NSDAP won first place, but the result of 33.09% of the vote and the reluctance of other parties to enter into a coalition with the Nazis did not allow them to create a government.

The Nazis viewed the election result as a failure. Joseph Goebbels at the end of 1932 in his diaries gave such an assessment of the situation: “hopes have completely disappeared”, “we are on our last legs”, “there is no money, no one gives a loan.”

But due to the position of the Communists, who received 16.86% of the vote and categorically refused to form a coalition with the Social Democrats, who received 20.43%, it turned out to be impossible to form a government that would receive the support of the parliamentary majority. Germany found itself in a situation of government crisis. Von Hindenburg appointed the non-partisan Chancellor Kurt von Schleicher, who was Minister of Defense in the previous government of Franz von Papen. The von Schleicher government, which did not enjoy the support of the Reichstag, held out for two months.

After that, as a result of the intrigues of von Papen, dissatisfied with his resignation, von Hindenburg at the end of January 1933, unexpectedly for the Nazis themselves, offered the post of chancellor in the cabinet of the parliamentary minority to Hitler. Von Papen got the post of vice-chancellor.

At the same time, von Hindenburg appointed early parliamentary elections for March 5, 1933. On February 27, the Reichstag building was set on fire, and the Nazis blamed the arson on the Communist Party on the grounds that the direct culprit of the arson, Marinus van der Lubbe, was a Dutch communist. There are different versions of this crime; according to one of them, the arson was a provocation organized by the Nazis, according to the other, van der Lubbe was a mentally ill loner. But one way or another, the Nazis used it as a powerful propaganda tool.

At the request of Hitler, von Hindenburg signed the decrees “On the protection of the people and the state” and “Against the betrayal of the German people and the intrigues of the traitors to the homeland”, abolishing the inviolability of person and property, freedom of assembly, association, speech and press and privacy of correspondence. About 10,000 dissidents were arrested, including the communist leader Ernst Thalmann.

However, in the 1933 elections, the Nazis again failed to gain an absolute majority, gaining only 43.91% of the vote. The Social Democrats got 18.25%, the already practically banned communists – 12.32%. But the votes cast for the communists were declared invalid and handed over to the NSDAP. Only in this way did the Nazis manage to obtain a simple majority in the Reichstag.

The Nazis still did not have a constitutional majority of ⅔ votes. But it was possible to pass a law on vesting the chancellor with extraordinary powers, including the right to issue laws without the consent of the Reichstag. During the voting on this bill, armed attack aircraft and SS men were in the hall. In May, trade unions were banned, in July – all parties except the NSDAP.

Finally, in August 1934, President von Hindenburg died, and Hitler, instead of calling an early presidential election, appropriated presidential powers and proclaimed himself the sole leader of the nation.

Thus, the Nazis came to power not through democratic elections, but through first behind-the-scenes intrigues, and then through a forceful coup.