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[[File:Bundesarchiv_Bild_183-S38324,_Tag_von_Potsdam,_Adolf_Hitler,_Paul_v._Hindenburg.jpg|thumbnail|left|300px|President Paul von Hindenburg meets Chancellor Adolf Hitler in 1933 at the new Reichstag]]
In 1929 the Great Depression was triggered by a massive US stock market crashed. Counterproductive and damaging economic policies exacerbated it. Financial panics and bank failures slow crept around the world. The repercussions were felt around the globe and especially in Germany. The United States could no longer provide the loans that the Weimar Republic needed. Furthermore, global trade almost came to a standstill, and many Germans became unemployed. One in three Germans were unemployed at the height of the economic crisis and poverty and hunger were widespread. The Republic was in the grip of an economic and social crisis. In 1930 the conservatives won the election. Chancellor Brunning embarked on a series of disastrous economic and political policies. His economic policies involved devaluing the German currency, but this had only the effect of causing hyperinflation that compounded Germany’s economic problems. Furthermore, Brunning discarded the Constitution and ruled by Presidential decree to manage the socio-economic conditions in the country. The Great Recession and the response of Brunning led many people to become disillusioned with the Republic and even democracy. <ref>Nicholls, Anthony James (2000). <i>[https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0312233515/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0312233515&linkCode=as2&tag=dailyh0c-20&linkId=c73d8de75e0efebecb8d0388f55c8f79 Weimar And The Rise Of Hitler]</i>. New York: St. Martin's Press, p. 117.</ref>
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As the effects of the Great Depression continued, there was a revival in the extremist parties in Germany. The Communist party received approximately one-quarter of the popular vote, and its supports controlled many working-class neighborhoods in urban centers. The right-wing National Socialist Party also won support, and in the 1932 election they received almost one-third of the vote.<ref> Kershaw, Ian (1998). ''[https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0393320359/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0393320359&linkCode=as2&tag=dailyh0c-20&linkId=0aa7f979a9f767b4c910f6c8ddbb276a Hitler 1889–1936: Hubris]''. London: Allen Lane, p. 345.</ref> The mainstream political parties seemed unable to manage the socio-economic crisis. Many conservatives were worried about the specter of a Communist revolution.<ref>Kershaw, Hitler 1889-1936, p.356.</ref> They withdrew their support for the Republic and looked for ways to ensure that the Communists did not take control. President Hindenburg and his allies offered the Chancellorship to Adolf Hitler as part of a strategy to keep the Communists out of power. Hitler began to assume more and more power and suspended the Constitution of the Weimar Republic, and it was effectively dead. Under the 1934 ‘Enabling Act’, Hitler was made the undisputed leader of the German people and nation.<ref>Kershaw, ''[https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0393320359/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0393320359&linkCode=as2&tag=dailyh0c-20&linkId=0aa7f979a9f767b4c910f6c8ddbb276a Hitler 1889–1936: Hubris]'', p. 347.</ref>
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Updated November 14, 2018
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