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Reich President Hindenburg Announces his Reelection Bid in a Radio Address (1932)

In 1932, incumbent Paul von Hindenburg ran for reelection as Reich President. Running against Hindenburg, who was listed as an independent candidate, were Adolf Hitler (NSDAP), Ernst Thälmann (KPD), and Theodor Duesterberg (DNVP). Reich Chancellor Brüning and the parties of the Weimar Coalition in particular were determined to prevent Hitler from being elected and thus campaigned for Hindenburg’s nomination and reelection. This photo shows Hindenburg delivering the only radio address he gave during his entire campaign. In it, he said he ran out of a desire to “spare the homeland the shock the election of an extreme party candidate would cause.” Since none of the candidates was able to gain the absolute majority necessary to win in the first ballot, another ballot was held about three weeks later. Since Duesterberg had dropped out in the meantime, only three candidates were left on the list. In the second ballot, a relative majority sufficed to win the election. Winning 53.1% of the votes, Hindenburg won the election while Hitler received 36.8% and Thälmann 10.2%.

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Reich President Hindenburg Announces his Reelection Bid in a Radio Address (1932)

© Bundesarchiv