Hitler Named Fuhrer: Germany's Plebiscite Approves
The German electorate voted on August 19, 1934, to approve merging the offices of president and chancellor into the single title of Fuhrer, giving Adolf Hitler 89.9% of the vote. The plebiscite was held under conditions that made genuine opposition virtually impossible: the Nazi Party controlled all media, opposition parties had been banned for over a year, the SA and SS intimidated voters at polling stations, and ballots were not truly secret. The vote retroactively ratified what Hitler had already done: he had merged the offices on August 2, the day President Hindenburg died, and required the military to swear a personal oath to him before the ballots were even printed.
August 19, 1934
92 years ago
Key Figures & Places
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