Incident irrelevant. Five minutes of fame of the funny little mustache chickens. A pinch of bewilderment that will sober up voters. At the turn of 1932 and 1933, no one understood the real importance of Hitler's electoral success. And that only helped him dismantle German democracy.
In November 1932, the NSDAP achieved a spectacular election victory. The Nazis won 33% of the vote - the most of all parties. The second party, the left-wing SDP, won over only 20% of voters. However, Hitler did not have a majority, and at this stage it was still possible to stop his march to power. There were very good reasons for this. The leader of the Nazis has repeatedly announced that he intends to dismantle German democracy and organize a fascist Rome in Berlin at the first opportunity. Nevertheless, in Europe, hardly anyone bites their nails from the nerves.
Radical in power? It will do us good!
Nearly 12 million Germans threw cards in support of a program based on hatred and chauvinism. Meanwhile, journalists from the British Daily Herald they reassured readers that Hitler was just "a squat little Austrian with a mustache like Charlie Chaplin." In short - someone who should not be worried at all.
Hitler was compared to Charlie Chaplin years before the famous movie "The Dictator" was made.
It was popular among politicians and commentators that Hitler was… a figurehead. A man thrown on the front line only because he had the ability to speak to crowds. A harmless screamer, behind which stood much more sophisticated, and often calmer politicians as well.
Similar voices were heard also in Germany. In the conditions of political chaos, it was also increasingly heard that a pinch of radicalism could turn out to be even healing for Weimar politics. It was believed that Hitler would quickly compromise himself and lose support. He will have to be ashamed of him for a few months, but then voters will go to their senses. The system will be aired, and the funny little mustache will be followed by serious and sedate gentlemen.
At the turn of 1932 and 1933, it still seemed that German democracy was safe.
Racing in Zakopane more important than Hitler's triumph
It is a common belief among historians today that, despite his electoral triumph, Hitler would have had no chance of becoming chancellor - and of real power - without the approval of the country's social cream. He was nominated only when great financiers, industrialists and representatives of the former aristocracy supported him. Many of them were guided by the belief that the experiment with radicalism would be a brief excess that would sober up voters.
Others, with even greater carelessness, calmed down that after all, the rally postulates were one thing, and real politics was another. "Everyone underestimated Hitler," writes a member of Nazi militias, cured of illusions years later, H.W. Koch - "His oratory talent was appreciated, but everyone assumed that when responsibility for the government rested on his shoulders, he would quickly burn out and stand by a slow tool in the hand of [former Chancellor] Papen. ”
Even many of Hitler's fierce opponents quietly admitted that it would be better to allow him to power for a moment. It happened on January 31, 1933, when the German president, Paul von Hindenburg, swore the Nazi leader as head of government. London's The Times decided that this was just another step in the usual political scuffle and did not even announce the event on the front page. In Poland, more importance was attached to the nomination of Hitler, but ... also without exaggeration. For example, Ilustrowany Kuryer Codzienny wrote about her on the front page, but it was by no means the subject of the issue. The main illustrated material in the opening sequence from February 1, 1933 concerned the horse racing in Zakopane.
The Illustrated Daily Kuryer had its priorities. Horse racing seemed more important than Hitler's seizure of power…
In fifty years, no one will remember a single Hitler?
Hitler very quickly began to prove that he was not anyone's puppet. And that he really intends to implement the crazy program presented on the pages of Mein Kampf. Still, hardly anyone believed him. Even H.G. Wells - an outstanding writer and futurologist who is often mentioned as predicting the date of the outbreak of World War II with great accuracy - let his vigilance lull. As late as 1934, he claimed Hitler's rise to power was a "meaningless incident."
His Polish colleague, Antoni Słonimski, expressed very similar opinions. In one of his columns from 1933, he suggested that only the mention of the fact that a group of madmen had driven Albert Einstein out of Germany would probably go down in history from the entire "era" of Nazism. In his opinion, even the name of Adolf Hitler was to die in the darkness of history. Elsewhere, Słonimski - a great pacifist and enemy of all dictatorships - joked to himself that Hitler was "a beast without a sense of humor" and an insignificant "jester".
Even a visionary like H.G. Wells underestimated the danger of Hitler.
The price of carelessness
This carelessness was not unusual or rare. And no one enjoyed it more than the Nazis themselves. Hitler neither burned out nor turned out to be a painted radical. Taking advantage of the lethargy of political opponents and the carelessness of the elite of society, he quickly transformed from a chancellor into a dictator.
Smart people did not take his passwords seriously and did not see the funny screamer as a threat. This is why Hitler was successful. Free elections were never held in the Weimar Republic again. Anyway, it was no longer a Republic, but a country with a new, proud number in front of the name, announcing the advent of "better" times. Third Reich.