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Several
days after the November 1932 elections, the Reichstag rejected the
program of the incumbent Chancellor, Franz von Papen, for a
"government of national concentration." In response, von
Papen resigned. Hitler asked President Paul von Hindenburg to
appoint him chancellor, but the president refused, feeling that
Hitler would use the office to amass dictatorial power. In early
December, he appointed the Minister of Defense, Kurt von Schleicher,
to the premiership, but he, too, resigned less than two months
later. Now Hindenburg chose Hitler by recommendation of the
Conservatives, who thought they could manipulate him for their
purposes. The new era started out modestly; only three of the 11
ministers in Hitler's government were Nazis.(Hitler, William Frick,
minister of the interior and Goering, minister for Prussia).
Swiftly, however, Hitler took over all mechanisms of governance and
functions of state, making Nazi Germany a totalitarian dictatorship.
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