November 1932 German federal election

November 1932 German federal election

← July 1932 6 November 1932 (1932-11-06) March 1933 →
All 584 seats in the Reichstag 293 seats needed for a majority
Registered	44,374,085 ( 0.4%)
Turnout	80.6% ( 3.5pp)
First party Second party Third party   Leader Adolf Hitler Otto Wels Arthur Crispien Hans Vogel Ernst Thälmann Party NSDAP SPD KPD Last election 37.3%, 230 seats 21.6%, 133 seats 14.3%, 89 seats Seats won 196 121 100 Seat change 34 12 11 Popular vote 11,737,021 7,247,091 5,980,239 Percentage 33.1% 20.4% 16.9% Swing 4.2pp 1.2pp 2.6pp   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   Leader Ludwig Kaas Alfred Hugenberg Heinrich Held Party Centre DNVP BVP Last election 12.4%, 75 seats 5.9%, 37 seats 3.2%, 22 seats Seats won 70 51 20 Seat change 5 14 2 Popular vote 4,230,545 2,959,053 1,094,597 Percentage 11.9% 8.3% 3.1% Swing 0.5pp 2.4pp 0.1pp
Results by electoral constituency Results by district and independent city Results for each party
Government before election Papen cabinet Ind.–DNVP Government after election Von Schleicher Cabinet Ind.–DNVP

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Federal elections were held in Germany on 6 November 1932.^[1] The Nazi Party saw its vote share fall by four percentage points, while there were slight increases for the Communist Party of Germany and the national conservative German National People's Party. The results were a great disappointment for the Nazis, who lost 34 seats and again failed to form a coalition government in the Reichstag. The elections were the last free and fair elections before the Nazis seized power the following year.

The Nazi Party and Communist Party (KPD) held over half of the seats in the Reichstag after the July 1932 election. This made it impossible to form a government composed of moderates. Chancellor Franz von Papen could only rely on the support of the German National People's Party (DNVP) and German People's Party (DVP), who only held a total of 44 seats. A vote of no confidence was put forward by the KPD and supported by 84% of the deputies. A new election was scheduled for November.^[2]

Over 6 million people were unemployed in 1932, and 40% of organized labour was unemployed or working reduced hours in summer 1932.^[2]

This was the first time since 1928 that voter turnout decreased.^[3]

The KPD regained its plurality of the popular vote in Berlin from the 1930 election, which was interrupted by the Nazis in the July election.^[4]

Party		Votes	%	+/–	Seats	+/–
	Nazi Party	11,737,021	33.09	−4.18	196	−34
	Social Democratic Party	7,247,901	20.43	−1.15	121	−12
	Communist Party of Germany	5,980,239	16.86	+2.54	100	+11
	Centre Party	4,230,545	11.93	−0.51	70	−5
	German National People's Party	2,959,053	8.34	+2.43	51	+14
	Bavarian People's Party	1,094,597	3.09	−0.14	20	−2
	German People's Party	660,889	1.86	+0.68	11	+4
	Christian Social People's Service	403,666	1.14	+0.15	5	+2
	German State Party	336,447	0.95	−0.06	2	−2
	German Farmers' Party	149,026	0.42	+0.05	3	+1
	Reich Party of the German Middle Class	110,309	0.31	−0.09	1	−1
	Agricultural League	105,220	0.30	+0.04	2	0
	German-Hanoverian Party	63,966	0.18	+0.05	1	+1
	Radical Middle Class	60,246	0.17	+0.15	0	0
	Thuringian Agricultural League	60,062	0.17	New	1	New
	Christian-National Peasants' and Farmers' Party	46,382	0.13	−0.12	0	−1
	Reich Party for Civil Rights and Deflation	46,202	0.13	+0.02	0	−1
	Socialist Workers' Party of Germany	45,201	0.13	−0.07	0	0
	Poland List	32,988	0.09	0.00	0	0
	For Hindenburg and Papen	27,752	0.08	New	0	New
	Kleinrentner, Inflationsgeschädigte und Vorkriegsgeldbesitzer	15,727	0.04	0.00	0	0
	Free Economy Party of Germany	11,002	0.03	0.00	0	0
	Schicksalsgemeinschaft deutscher Erwerbslosen, Kleinhandel und Gewerbe	9,250	0.03	New	0	New
	Social Republican Party of Germany	8,395	0.02	New	0	New
	Handwerker, Handels- und Gewerbetreibende	5,189	0.01	0.00	0	0
	Radical Democratic Party	3,789	0.01	New	0	New
	Workers' and Farmers' Struggle Community	3,308	0.01	0.00	0	0
	National Social Party of the Middle Class	3,052	0.01	New	0	New
	Enteigneter Mittelstand	2,737	0.01	0.00	0	0
	National Freedom Party of Germany	1,810	0.01	+0.01	0	0
	Schleswig Home	1,694	0.00	0.00	0	0
	Greater German People's Party (Schmalix List)	1,311	0.00	0.00	0	0
	Interessengemeinschaft der Kleinrentner und Inflationsgeschädigten	1,086	0.00	–0.01	0	0
	Nationalist Party	588	0.00	New	0	New
	People's Socialists	518	0.00	New	0	New
	Haus- und Landwirtepartei	461	0.00	New	0	New
	National Communist Party of Germany	381	0.00	New	0	New
	German Social Monarchist Party	355	0.00	0.00	0	0
	German Reform Party	352	0.00	0.00	0	0
	German Workers Party	308	0.00	0.00	0	0
	Unitarianist Union of Germany	290	0.00	0.00	0	0
	Greater German Middle Class Party for Middle Class Dictatorship	286	0.00	New	0	New
	Gerechtigkeits-Bewegung-Meißner	280	0.00	New	0	New
	German National Citizen Bloc	192	0.00	New	0	New
	Party for the Unemployed for Work and Bread	140	0.00	0.00	0	0
	National German Catholic Reich Party	137	0.00	New	0	New
	German Socialist Struggle Movement	101	0.00	0.00	0	0
	German Reich against Interest Rate Movement	97	0.00	New	0	New
	Freiheitsbewegung Schwarz-Weiß-Rot	92	0.00	New	0	New
	Middle Class Party	85	0.00	New	0	New
	Kampfbund der Lohn- und Gehaltsabgebauten	63	0.00	New	0	New
Total		35,470,788	100.00	–	584	–24
Valid votes		35,470,788	99.20
Invalid/blank votes		287,471	0.80
Total votes		35,758,259	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		44,374,085	80.58
Source: Gonschior.de

After the election, von Papen urged Hindenburg to continue to rule by decree, while at the same time attempting to form a coalition with the Nazis. Negotiations failed and Papen was dismissed by Hindenburg, who replaced him with Defence minister Kurt von Schleicher.^[5]

In the subsequent two months, Schleicher held talks with a faction of the Nazi Party led by Gregor Strasser in an attempt at a Querfront strategy, attempting to unite Strasserists, the SPD, the Centre Party and the trade unions.^[6] The plans failed when Hitler disempowered Strasser and approached Papen for coalition talks. It is disputed if Schleicher was actually serious about his proposal.^[7] Since Schleicher's ineffective rule was growing increasingly unpopular among German elites, Papen convinced Hindenburg to dismiss him and appoint Hitler as Chancellor on 30 January 1933, with a cabinet composed of NSDAP and DNVP politicians; the new government lacked a majority in the Reichstag, so a snap election was called and scheduled for March by Hindenburg.

On 27 February, the Reichstag was set on fire allegedly by Dutch council communist Marinus van der Lubbe: in response, the Reichstag Fire Decree was enacted, suspending basic liberties and allowing the Nazis to conduct mass arrests of KPD members and freely engage in paramilitary violence against their opponents.^[8]

The elections were the last free and fair all-German election before the Nazi seizure of power, since the subsequent vote in March saw massive suppression against opposition politicians, especially SPD and KPD ones. The next free national elections were not held until 1949 in West Germany and 1990 in East Germany. The next free all-German elections took place in December 1990, after reunification two months earlier.

• Childers, Thomas (1983). The Nazi Voter: The Social Foundations of Fascism in Germany, 1919-1933. University of North Carolina Press. ISBN 0807815705.
• Hamilton, Richard (1982). Who Voted for Hitler?. Princeton University Press. ISBN 0691093954.