Chancellor Adolf Hitler Leaving the Reich Chancellery (January 30, 1933)

After Hitler was appointed Chancellor by President Hindenburg, crowds of Germans rushed to the streets. While Nazi strongholds across the country celebrated, the Communists called for a general strike to protest the Hitler cabinet. Although street fighting was limited, Berlin experienced some rather violent skirmishes between supporters and opponents of Hitler. Early in the morning of January 31, 1933, a police officer escorting approximately 100 Nazis back from a rally on Wilhelmstrasse was killed by gunshots from a darkened house. A Nazi, too, was killed by an unknown shooter.

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Photographer: Georg Pahl
© Bundesarchiv