When President Paul von Hindenburg died, Hitler seized power in Germany.
Explanation:
Paul von Hindenburg was a German soldier, statesman, and politician who largely guided Germany's politics during the second half of World War I and served as president of Germany from 1925 until his death in 1934.
Hindenburg retired from the army for the first time in 1911, but was asked to return as soon as World War I broke out in 1914. At 66, he gained renown for leading the German army that crushed Russia at the Battle of Tannenberg in August. 1914. As head of the German Army General Staff, Hindenburg's reputation was strengthened and together with his subordinate Erich Ludendorff created a military dictatorship that led the country during the war, marginalizing Kaiser Wilhelm II and the Reichstag itself. In line with the ideology of the Lebensraum, he advocated the annexation to Germany of Polish, Ukrainian and Russian territories in order to settle German citizens there.
Hindenburg retired again in 1919, but returned to public life in 1925 to be elected president of Germany. In 1932, aged 84 and with a deteriorating health, he was persuaded to return to the elections because he was considered the only candidate capable of defeating Adolf Hitler and was re-elected president. Hindenburg was opposed to the ideas of Nazism and was one of the essential political figures of the unstable German policy of the Weimar Republic that led Hitler to power. He dissolved the Reichstag twice in 1932 and finally consented to appoint, under pressure, Hitler as Chancellor of Germany in 1933.
Hindenburg died the following year, after which Hitler declared the president's office vacant and appointed himself head of state.
