At a time when the whole world is talking about the Holodomor in Ukraine, Germany is in political turmoil.

In early November 1931, Hindenburg met with Hitler. Hindenburg did not have any affection for the "Bohemian corporal", and afterwards told his cronies: "He can only be a postmaster at best." ”

In 1932, Hindenburg was able to reappoint Brüning as chancellor, as all the democratic parties in the parliament at that time, including the German Social Democratic Party and the German Center Party, supported Hindenburg in order to prevent Adolf Hitler from becoming Chancellor of Germany.

In the spring of 1932, Hindenburg's seven-year term expired, and the old president was willing to retire, but due to the ridicule and sarcasm of the partymen, Hindenburg, who was already in his eighties, decided to come out again, and he was nominated as a candidate again. ** The party nominated Hitler as its candidate. The candidate for the Communist Party was Thälmann.

In the first round of the election, Hindenburg had 49.6% of the vote, Hitler had 30%, and none of the candidates obtained an absolute majority. A second round of elections was held on 10 April, and Hindenburg won 53 percent, beating Hitler's 36.8 percent. However, a few weeks later, his old comrade-in-arms Grener was framed by Schleicher's conspiracy and was forced to resign as minister.

In the course of this election, Hitler knew that his prestige among the people was inferior to that of Hindenburg, so he put forward the slogan "Respect Hindenburg, vote for Hitler" in an attempt to use Hindenburg's momentum to raise his own value.

As a result, Hitler was defeated, but he made a good impression on Hindenburg. When Hindenburg was re-elected president, he prepared to employ Hitler in spite of the opposition of the general public, and said to those who advised him to be wary of Hitler: "I should turn poachers into forest guards." ”

In 1932, Hindenburg was 85 years old. As a result of his old age and physical and mental exhaustion, Hindenburg became more and more dependent on his own small group of right-wing friends and advisers to his comrades-in-arms. Among these were his son Oskar von Hindenburg, his estate's neighbors, Lieutenant General Kurt von Schleicher and Franz von Papen.

These people persuaded him to dismiss Brüning and nominate Papen as prime minister because they wanted Papen's policies to be more right-leaning. After the failure of this plan, these people considered a coup d'état to achieve this goal, but Schleicher refused to provide troops for the coup, so the plan was abandoned. It was later proposed that Franz von Papen organize the "Cabinet of the Nobles", and Papen had close ties with the *** forces. In order to fulfill its "miracle of taming the party", he attempted to invite party members to the cabinet.

Hindenburg was very fond of Baben, so he especially respected his authority, but Bapen failed to tame the ** party. Hitler at this time did not buy Hindenburg's account at all. Hitler saw in the election that his German Workers' Party had a certain strength, so he flatly rejected Hindenburg's request that he form a joint government with Papen. And he said: "As the leader of the largest political party in Germany, I am responsible for the entire power, including all aspects. ”

Hitler not only despised Papen, but was also hostile to Schleicher, who succeeded him as chancellor in December, and insisted that he form his own cabinet, while Hindenburg did not agree to Hitler's arrogance. Seeing that Hitler might threaten his political position, he could not help but be annoyed, and immediately turned 180 ° and publicly declared: "Out of duty and conscience to the Fatherland, I have no right to hand over the power of the entire government to the ** movement bent on monopolizing power." ”

In November 1932, a group of industrialists and bankers filed a petition with Hindenburg demanding the appointment of Hitler as chancellor. But on December 2, 1932, Hindenburg deposed Chancellor Papen, who had close ties to the *** forces, and allowed Schleicher to form a cabinet. This hand directly threatened Hitler's plan to seize power in a comprehensive way, because at that time the *** forces were fledgling after all, and Schleicher had a plan to split the ** party.

Therefore, on the one hand, Hitler asked Papen to "make amends", and on the other hand, invited the leading figures of the German monopoly consortium to submit a petition to Hindenburg to accommodate him. Hindenburg, who was originally a representative of the right-wing, saw that Hitler had "changed his mind" and was willing to cooperate with him, so he came up with the idea of using this "forest keeper."

At this time, Schleicher made a move that made Hindenburg very old-fashioned, and he planned to confiscate the bankrupt Juncker's estate in East Germany. Hindenburg, who was the spokesman, of course, opposed the plan in favor of Juncker, but Schleicher, who did not have Hindenburg's support, made a surprising move. Not only did he refuse to associate with the opposing Juncker, but he openly declared war on them.

In this way, Hindenburg's living room was crowded with representatives of the Junckers' family, angrily demanding the dissolution of the Schleicher government. Not only that, but Schleicher also took the military's wrath on himself. Schleicher, as a military-turned-chancellor, should remember that Juncker and the officer corps have been closely linked for 200 years.

The beneficiary of Schleicher's stupidity was Adolf Hitler, who skillfully exploited the growing discontent. In order to regain his prestige among the masses from the defeat of November, he made a desperate attempt to address almost every city and village in Lipper. Everywhere he went, he was warmly welcomed. On January 15, he received 39.6 percent of the popular vote, an increase of 17 percent. This proves that his personal speech is quite attractive.

At this time, it was logical that Hitler should be the chancellor, but Hindenburg was still not happy with it. The biggest obstacle among them is not the president himself, but the president's son – who openly despised Hitler. However, Oskar Hindenburg's feelings were based on arrogance, not ideological differences. In order to resolve their differences, Oscar accepted the invitation to meet at Ribbentrop's house on the evening of Sunday, January 22.

Papen, Hitler, Goering, and Frank were already waiting in the living room. The atmosphere was tense. After an awkward pleasantry, Hitler suddenly suggested to Oscar that the two go to the next room. And as a result of the secret conversation between the two, later, according to Oscar, Hitler monopolized the topic. Only he, Hitler, could save Germany from the Red elements, and only he, Hitler, could be a strong chancellor. Without the support of the National Socialist Party, no other government can stand.

Oscar then agreed to make Hitler chancellor. So the biggest obstacle was removed, and now Hitler only had to wait for Hindenburg to be appointed chancellor. Hindenburg, on the other hand, agreed to Hitler's appointment as chancellor, but demanded that the new government must have General Varner von Blomburg as defense minister and Papen as deputy chancellor.

On the morning of the next day, Papen met with Hitler and put forward Hindenburg's demands, to which Hitler agreed. But Hitler also demanded a new election and a delegated law that would give him powers over the previous chancellor. In the afternoon, Papen reported to Hindenburg that the parties had agreed to the new government. It was only at this point that Papen mentioned Hitler's demands for a new general election, and it sounded reasonable. He underlined Hitler's promise: this was the last election.

Now that everything was negotiated, then Hindenburg then signed a decree ending Schleicher's premiership, followed by the people's Hitler as chancellor.

At this point, Hitler finally ascended to the throne of chancellor. The man who couldn't even finish high school, the man who failed to get into the Academy of Fine Arts, the man who worked as a homeless man on the streets of Vienna, and now, on January 30, 1933, became Chancellor of Germany.

Adolf Hitler's sudden assuming of Chancellor was the most surprising of the party members in Berlin. For many years, they lived in poverty, risking their lives on the streets of the capital, often contrary to the wishes of the Führer. Now, their dreams have come true in one fell swoop. However, most people only learned through the newspapers that there was a torchlight procession that night.

Every able-bodied stormtrooper and SS member went out in uniform. Many people thought they would get into trouble with the police again, but they were surprised to find that even the police were smiling, and some of them were wearing swastikas. Carrying torches, the stormtroopers marched from Tiegaden at dusk to march under the gates of Brandenburg in good order, marching to military music. They were joined by thousands of Wehrmacht.

Hour after hour passed, still singing the "Song of the Visssel Forest" and other war songs, and marched in procession along Wilhelmstrasse. They first greeted Hindenburg - he stood in front of a window in the presidential palace; It was only a moment later that they greeted Hitler. Hitler stood in front of one of the windows of the Chancellery and looked down on them affectionately.

The trees on both sides of Wilhelmstrasse are full of young men, and the children are like "bunches of grapes" hanging from the iron fence. In the cold winter nights, the fire illuminates the night, and the intoxicating atmosphere of enthusiasm grows stronger. All of this was rehearsed by the acting master Goebbels.

Even Hitler inexplicably asked: "Where did he get these tens of thousands of torches in just a few hours?" ”

The reason was that Goebbels controlled the radio, and through live broadcasting, the whole of Germany enjoyed the magnificent view of the torchlight procession.

Papen stood behind Hitler and watched the torchlight procession. He found that as the procession approached Hindenburg, the people shouted to him respectfully. As soon as they saw Hitler, they cheered wildly.

"The contrast is very stark and seems to highlight the transition from a dying rule to a new revolutionary force...... It was an extraordinary experience, a never-ending shout of victory "Hurray!" Cheer! Hurrah victory! It's like a wake-up call that rings in my ears."

On that intoxicating night, the lawyer Hans Frank also stood behind Hitler. "Only God knows how pure our hearts were that day."

Under the window, the people celebrating the victory burst into tears of joy. "Everyone felt the same way – life would be better," recalls a brownshirt who had rebelled with Sternis. “

Realistically, while there is no reason to believe that life will improve, they do. They had hope again. I don't think Germany can find another person who can give us hope, trust and love as Hitler did. ”

"Some of the strange feelings of that night have stayed with me to this day."

Merida Mahman, who accompanied her parents in the parade, wrote. "The extraordinary footsteps, the spectacle of the red and black flags, the fire dancing on the faces of the people, and the singing that was so lively and sentimental before, and so melodious today......"

In the eyes of most foreign observers, this is a bad omen. "The river of fire flowed in front of the French Embassy," wrote the French ambassador, François Benser, "and it was with a heavy heart and premonition that I watched the fire." ”

Hitler ate crumbs in a hut with Hess, Goering, Goebbels, Röhm and Frank. He couldn't help but say: "Today, some foreigners say that I am against Jesus, and the only one I am against is Lenin. ”

Hitler went on and on, and in one fell swoop turned the conversation to communism. "Tonight marks the end of the so-called Red Berlin. People are red only when there is no way out. Those who often rely on the so-called wisdom of the people are always rude to the masses. The feelings of the people are more or less, like the feelings of women. ”

As everyone paced through the garden, Hitler was still talking. "This prime minister's office is like a cigar box. The reception of guests is very unseemly. We're going to have to change it from the ground up. ”

That night, a beaming Goebbels wrote in his diary: "It was like a dream...... Like a mythical story...... A new empire was born. 14 years of hard work, once a win. The German Revolution begins! ”

The Germans seldom woke up to this that night, and perhaps no one remembered it.