Talk:March 1933 German federal election

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Elections and Referendums

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Nazis Did Not "Seize" Power on January 30, 1933

The Nazis did not "seize" power on January 30, 1933. It was given to them pursuant to the terms of the Weimar Convention. As Volume 1 of "World at War" points out, they had never expected to achieve power legally, and for a time they were a bit unsure how to act. Alexander Springstea (talk) 01:34, 15 August 2022 (UTC)[reply]

I agree, "seizure" connotes "force" and the result of agency on the part of the Nazis, which obscures the reality that they took power from a position of weakness due to a perfect storm of political machinations among competing faction leaders. The Nazis negotiated for and were voluntarily given power by those that thought the Nazis were the least-bad option. This reality is an important lesson that should not be made indistinct by the desire to portray the Nazis as predators. In short, "it could happen here" if we don't see the connection between short-sighted political deals and their potential consequences. 24.96.151.80 (talk) 01:45, 23 October 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Expansion of the Reichstag

Can it be detailed when and for what reasons the Reichstag went from 584 seats in the Nov 1932 election to 647 seats at the March 1933 election, and whose oversaw/organized this expansion of the parliament? Maybe be a pretty benign reason typical of parliaments with variable numbers of seats, but also possible that it was a strategy for help the NSDAP, and it'd be helpful to include that in the "Background" section or make an "Electoral system" section to describe the change. Criticalthinker (talk) 02:52, 11 April 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Ahh, apparently the system up to that time connected seats to turnout; the larger the turnout, the more seats and vice versa. 60,000 votes equalled a seat, but even taking out invalid votes and those parties who didn't cross this threshold, I'm still getting 655 seats, so I'm not sure how this formula got them to 648 seats for this election. Anyone have any further insight into this? Criticalthinker (talk) 07:52, 2 June 2023 (UTC)[reply]

It was indeed 60'000 votes for one seat in each constituency, then votes were pooled by constituency group and the quota was applied again, then votes were pooled nationally and the quota was applied one last time; however no more seats could be given at the national level than had already been allocated on the constituency and constituency group level, which may lead some smaller parties to lack seats. There's a lot more info on wahlen-in-deutschland.de. Julio974◆ (Talk-Contribs) 09:29, 2 June 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks. I read that - and perhaps partly because of the translation - and understand none of the details beyond the constituency level. This was quite confusing. I'd be interested in seeing an example of one of the major parties, and how many seats the party one in each of the steps described. In any case, an "Electoral system" section needs to be added with someone who could explain this, as it's pretty typical for articles on elections, even historic ones. Criticalthinker (talk) 05:44, 5 June 2023 (UTC)[reply]