Why did President Paul von Hindenburg appoint Hitler as chancellor in January 1933?

President Paul von Hindenburg’s appointment of Adolf Hitler as chancellor on January 30, 1933, was the result of intense political maneuvering rather than a direct electoral victory for the Nazi Party.1

Following the failure of General Kurt von Schleicher to secure parliamentary support for his government, Hindenburg was left frustrated and exhausted by the ongoing political instability of the Weimar Republic. Franz von Papen, seeking revenge against Schleicher for his own ouster, reached an agreement with Hitler in January 1933. Papen persuaded Hindenburg to appoint Hitler as chancellor, assuring the president that the Nazi leader could be easily controlled by a cabinet dominated by non-Nazi nationalists, with Papen serving as vice chancellor.12

Hindenburg, who had previously distrusted Hitler’s aggressive political style, ultimately yielded to this arrangement as a way to resolve the persistent cabinet crises that had plagued his presidency. This decision proved to be a catastrophic miscalculation, as Hitler quickly dismantled democratic institutions to establish a dictatorship.13