Why does science always upstage God?

[Deesse23]

This is a common misconception. He was appointed.

He was never voted in after a free and fair election. Later "elections", in which he was "elected"/confirmed, were neither free or fair.

Really?... you learn something new every day.
How did he get appointed?

By the president, Hindenburg, as usual per constitution. The Weimar chancellor was never elected!

In Weimar the chancellor was not elected but appointed, by the president (much like in a parliamentary democracy today, but with the president having the most power, not parliament, quite similar to what we have in France today). The chancellor however was suposed to be responsible to the parliament (Reichstag) as well and to step back once he had lost a majority of support. But what if he didnt want to...and had the support of the president? See below....

In the last free and fair election, in 1932, the NSDAP had the most votes (33%), but no coalition could be formed with a >50% majority (SPD and KPD held 36% together as well !). So, no potential chancellor could have been backed up by a majority of the Reichstag. Now, how can (and has been for the past two years before 1932!) Weimar be run?

In order to avoid stalemates like this (which was the case since 1930!), it was possible for the President to take over matters and rule by himself (Article 48) and just appoint a chancellor to his liking (originally his position was intended to be only a kind of overseer), dissolve the reichstag and call for new elections (in the hope of a decisive result) while reigning direclty himself per decree via chancellor (chancellor was the "puppet" to sugeest a new law, and president deciding to sign or not, until the new Reichstag was formed). This loophole was abused to make Hindenburg appoint Chancellors (without having the backup of a majority) and constantly dissolve the Reichstag. What if elections had no decisive result? --> rinse and repeat. This practice was called "Präsidialkabinett". 

Hitlers appointment in January 1933 was such an attempt by the "Kamarilla" around the aging Hindenburg to install a "puppet" chancellor (Hitler), since nooone was going to have the support of parliament anyway, and to control Hindenburg himself instead. But Adolf (and Hermann) was going to have none of that. Hindenburg died a year later and Hitler had himself elected as president too, while the big purge and oppression was already in full gear.

This fatal loophole of Weimar was fixed in post WWII western Germany, by stripping the president of all factual powers and making him a kind of "head of ceremony", like QEII in the UK. All power rests now in the parliament and the chancellor is now factually responsible to the pariament....with still a loophole being that if elections do not result in a new coalition, the current chanclelor remains......which actually happend for the longest time ever in the 2016 elections, where Merkel stayed chancellor for months after new elections, because a new coalition could not be formed. This is the only case where the president has power left, since he could call out for new elections, but he can not appoint a chancellor at will.

Hitler/NSDAP never "won" a (free and fair*) election. Most of the time the party was a sideshow in the Reichstag (some 10%), only in the last two elections in July and November 1932 they gained 30%+ and became strongest party, but still having a majority oppose them (mostly KPD/SPD), and a NSDAP chancellor would never have had the support of a majority of Reichstag.


* until 1938 some "elections" were held, but that was Germany already being an authoritarian/dictatorial regime with the elections being a complete joke.