Hitler Cabinet - Formation

Formation

Hitler succeeded the conservative Chancellor Kurt von Schleicher and similar to the preceding cabinets of the Weimar Republic, the parties of his coalition government, NSDAP and DNVP, initially had no majority in the Reichstag parliament until the elections of March 1933. The conservative plans to "enframe" the Nazis failed: after the Enabling Act had passed on March 24, Hitler was no longer dependent neither on presidential decrees according to Article 48 of the Weimar Constitution nor on the support of his coalition partner. On 27 June 1933 the DNVP officially dissolved, with its Reichstag MPs joining the Nazi Party.

At first, only three members of the cabinet were affiliated to the NSDAP: Hitler himself, Wilhelm Frick heading the strategically important Interior ministry, and Hermann Göring as Minister without portfolio. Shortly afterwards, Joseph Goebbels entered the cabinet upon the establishment of the Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda, furthermore the former Stahlhelm leader Franz Seldte, the Minister for Labour, joined the Nazi Party in April 1933. After the dissolution of the DNVP in June, the party's "strong man" Alfred Hugenberg, who had held two ministerial posts, retired. Vice-Chancellor von Papen chose to resign after the Night of the Long Knives in 1934, his post was not filled again. After von Hindenburg's death on 2 August 1934, Hitler also assumed his office as head of state, styling himself Führer und Reichskanzler.

From the beginning, Hitler did not admit any votings but expected the ministers to obey his orders. The cabinet met less and less often, the last session being held on 5 February 1938.

Besides Hitler himself, Finance Minister Lutz Graf Schwerin von Krosigk and Labour Minister Franz Seldte were the only people to serve in the cabinet continuously from Hitler's appointment as Chancellor until his death.