Here's A Timeline Of Hitler's First 53 Days In Office — Let Me Know If You Notice Anything Familiar

Recently, some U.S. politicians have pointed out that Adolf Hitler dismantled a constitutional republic in “one month, three weeks, two days, eight hours, and 40 minutes” as they draw comparisons between Nazi Germany and the current U.S. administration. If you’re wondering exactly how things went down in 1933, you’re in luck — this timeline will lay it all out for you.

On January 30, 1933, Adolf Hitler was appointed the 15th chancellor of the Weimar Republic. With the end of World War I in 1918, Germany shifted away from being a monarchy and transitioned into a republic. 15 short years later, Hitler managed to usurp the constitution in less than two months.

Ten years prior, Hitler had led an attempted coup on the government, now known as the Beer Hall Putsch. A group of armed Nazis marched on the Bürgerbräukeller, a beer hall where the state commissioner was speaking, and Hitler demanded that leaders get behind their cause. In less than 24 hours, the coup failed — leaving 14 Nazis and four police officers dead. Hitler escaped that night but was arrested two days later.

For his involvement in the coup, Hitler was sentenced to five years in prison for high treason, where he penned Mein Kampf — but he only served nine months before being released in 1924. Historian Christopher R. Browning said, “Hitler’s lesson from the failed putsch was that he needed to pursue revolution through ‘the politics of legality’ rather than storm Munich City Hall. The Nazis would use the electoral process of democracy to destroy democracy.”

Later, the Nazis would redefine the putsch as “a heroic effort to save the nation,” according to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. They even built a memorial to their party members who were killed in the attack. The plaque shown here listed all of their names, notably excluding the four police officers killed during the coup.

The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum also notes that “Only after World War II did authorities of the German Federal Republic dedicate a plaque memorializing the four police officers killed on duty in defense of the Weimar Republic.”

With the speeches made during his trial, the release of Mein Kampf, and the impact of the Great Depression on Germany (which made wages drop 39% from 1929 to 1932), Hitler continued to build support for the National Socialist German Workers’ Party, aka the Nazi Party. In the July elections of 1932, the Nazis won more votes than any other party (37% of the popular vote). Shortly thereafter, the majority parties were unable to form a coalition to govern, and the Reichstag (German parliament) was dissolved.

In the following election in November, the Nazis won slightly less at 33%, but it was still the largest share of votes. The Nazis needed to form a coalition with another party to form a government, but they refused to work with other parties. Hitler felt that he had a mandate and demanded that he be appointed Chancellor.

Eventually, the German President, Paul von Hindenburg, gave in.

“Despite his distaste for Hitler, Hindenburg made him Chancellor on January 30, 1933, and gave his Nazi Party two seats in the Cabinet… Hindenburg’s advisors believed that this scenario would allow them to govern behind the scenes,” according to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.

Browning said, “Hindenburg exercised one of the emergency powers granted to him under the Weimar constitution (in this case, the power to appoint a minority chancellor when political polarization and gridlock meant that no majority government could form).”

Once he had the Chancellorship and the Cabinet positions, Hitler began to put his loyalists in positions of power. He appointed Wilhelm Frick as Minister of the Interior and Hermann Göring as Interior Minister of Prussia.

Ryback said Hitler then “put his two ministers to work targeting the Weimar Republic’s key democratic pillars: free speech, due process, public referendum, and states’ rights.”

Hitler wanted to pass his “empowering law,” which Ryback describes as designed to “revive the economy, reduce unemployment, increase military spending, withdraw from international treaty obligations, purge the country of foreigners he claimed were ‘poisoning’ the blood of the nation, and exact revenge on political opponents.”

In order to do so, he would need the support of two-thirds of the parliamentary electorate. But at the time, his opposition, the Social Democrats and Communist parties, held 221 out of the available 584 seats. On that first day as Chancellor, Hitler immediately called for new elections to be held in early March in an attempt to gain more power in the Reichstag.

On February 4, Hitler issued the “Decree for the Protection of the German People,” which restricted the press and allowed the police to shut down any political meetings or marches. This made it difficult for any of his opposition parties to campaign.

Even so, the Nazis seemed more likely to lose support in the upcoming election than to gain it. “On February 18,” Ryback notes, “the center-left newspaper Vossische Zeitung wrote that despite Hitler’s campaign promises and political posturing, nothing had changed for the average German. If anything, things had gotten worse. Hitler’s promise of doubling tariffs on grain imports had gotten tangled in complexities and contractual obligations.”

But everything changed on February 27, 1933, six days before the election, when an arsonist burned down the Reichstag building. “Though the origins of the fire are still unclear, in a propaganda maneuver, the coalition government… blamed the Communists,” according to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.

“The Communists blamed the National Socialists. The National Socialists blamed the Communists. A 23-year-old Dutch Communist, Marinus van der Lubbe, was caught in flagrante, but the Berlin fire chief, Walter Gempp, who supervised the firefighting operation, saw evidence of potential Nazi involvement,” said Ryback.

According to Rudolf Diels, Head of the Prussian Political Police, when Hitler arrived at the scene of the fire, he said, “There will be no mercy now. Anyone who stands in our way will be cut down. The German people will not tolerate leniency. Every Communist official will be shot where he is found. The Communist deputies must be hanged this very night. Everybody in league with the Communists must be arrested. There will no longer be any leniency for Social Democrats either.”

Rudolf Diels

The following day, the “Decree of the Reich President for the Protection of People and State” aka the Reichstag Fire Decree, was signed into law by President Hindenburg.

“The decree permitted the restriction of the right to assembly, freedom of speech, and freedom of the press, among other rights… the regime was free to arrest and incarcerate political opponents without specific charge, dissolve political organizations, and suppress publications. It also gave the central government the authority to overrule state and local laws and overthrow state and local governments,” according to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.

With the decree in place, the government began to arrest members of the opposition parties — namely the Communists, who they blamed for the Reichstag fire. Within months, they had also destroyed the free press, and the Nazi Party’s main daily newspaper, theVölkischer Beobachter, had a circulation of over one million people.

Marinus van der Lubbe (3rd from left), the man blamed for igniting the Reichstag fire.

On March 5, the elections went forward as planned. The Nazis won 44% of the vote; with the Communist party banned from participating, Hitler could now form a majority coalition.

Hindenburg accepted Hitler’s new power, signing a decree that allowed the National Socialists’ swastika banner to be flown beside the old German Imperial flag. He also allowed Hitler to create a cabinet position called the Ministry of Propaganda and Public Enlightenment, where Hitler appointed Joseph Goebbels.

Ryback added that on March 21, a decree “was issued amnestying National Socialists [Nazis] convicted of crimes, including murder, perpetrated ‘in the battle for national renewal.’ Men convicted of treason were now national heroes.”

On March 23, the Reichstag delegates met across the street from the burned ruins of the Reichstag in the Kroll Opera House. Hitler brought forward his aforementioned “empowering law,” now called “The Law to Remedy the Distress of the People,” aka The Enabling Act.

The Communist Party had been banned, vacating 81 seats, and 26 Social Democrats were detained in “so-called protective detention in Nazi-controlled camps,” according to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. This left the Reichstag without a large number of voting members present.

Although all Social Democrats voted against the bill, the rest of the members voted in favor of it, providing the required two-thirds support. The Enabling Act was passed, allowing Hitler to enact laws that violated the Constitution without the approval of parliament or the President.

Afterward, the Supreme Court did not challenge the bill at all, instead accepting the majority vote even though Communist and Social Democrat delegates were under arrest. They viewed Hitler’s government as legitimate and continued to see themselves as “state servants who owed him their allegiance and support,” according to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.

To sum it up, a minor punishment for a failed coup attempt, the rounding up of political adversaries, and appeasement by those around him helped Hitler demolish the democracy of the Weimar Republic in only 53 days. After President Hindenburg died in 1934, Hitler named himself the leader, or Führer, of Germany, combining the powers of Chancellor and President. From that point forward, he had full control over the government and army until he died by suicide in 1945 during WWII, ending the Third Reich.

So there it is, all laid out. What do you think? Does any of this feel eerily familiar? Let us know in the comments.