The Great Depression hit Germany hard, with one in three German workers unemployed by early 1933. Political support drained away from the main parties, benefiting Adolf Hitler's National Socialist German Workers Party (better known as the Nazi Party). In the July 1932 national election they came first, with 37% of the vote. They were unable to form a government and Hitler was defeated in the presidential election, but they had become a major political force.
Other parties were also unable to form a majority government and Germany was in political limbo. So in January 1933 former chancellor Franz von Papen persuaded president Paul von Hindenburg to form a national government with Hitler as chancellor. The idea was that von Papen would retain real power, while using Nazi support to get legislation through parliament. This proved a miscalculation that had tragic consequences for Germany and the rest of the world.
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But immediately after the election, Hitler set about dismantling the remaining elements of democracy. He used a mixture of diplomacy and coercion to force parliament to pass the Enabling Act, which allowed him to bypass parliament. This effectively ended the Weimar Republic.
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