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The entry before this one is the real entry. In searching for the spelling of the old german president's name, I found this site Rossel.net. I just thought that this was interesting in that it's exactly what W did to get elected and to go to war with Iraq, and why I've never heard anyone other than me talk about the similarities.
"1930-1933...
In the early 1930s the Depression spread. By 1932 over three million Germans were out of work. The moderate parties were weak and helpless, unable to agree on what to do. More and more the military leaders looked to Hitler for an answer. Above all, they admired his promise to rebuild German military power. More and more the leaders of industry and business looked to Hitler. They saw that new factories and industry would be needed to outfit and equip new military forces. More and more the members of the middle class listened to Hitler's promises of new jobs.

Hitler campaigned without stopping, and the Nazi party flourished. His storm troopers, called the Brownshirts because of the uniform they wore, grew to an army of about half a million. By 1933 most of the other small anti-Semitic and extreme-right parties had joined forces with the Nazis. And in this moment, when the government needed leadership, the aging president of the German republic, Paul von Hindenburg, was faced with the most difficult decision of his political life. He did not like Hitler. He very much wanted a moderate leader for the German republic. But there was no moderate leader with a real program for bringing Germany out of the Depression. And there was no moderate leader who could bring together enough of the votes in the Reichstag to rule the country. To Hindenburg, and his political colleagues, Hitler seemed the only possibility.

On January 30, 1933, President von Hindenburg called on Hitler to form a new government and to become the chancellor of Germany. Hitler swore the oath of office, promising to protect the constitution of Germany and its laws, and to be just and fair to all Germans. But even as he spoke these words, he had already laid plans for a war on German democracy.

The Reichstag Fire...
New elections had been set for March of 1933, and Hitler wanted to make sure that the Nazis would win these elections decisively. In the second election of 1932 they had lost votes, losing some of their seats in the Reichstag. Hitler was determined to ensure that it would not happen again. Most historians agree that Hitler arranged for a fire in the Reichstag building and arranged to make it seem that the Communists had set the fire.

Even before the fire was set, Hitler and his chief lieutenants drew up lists of enemies to be arrested and accused of the fire. On these lists were many leading members of the Reichstag, leading members of the Communist party inside Germany, and others who had spoken out from time to time against Hitler and against Nazism.

Luck was with Hitler; whether by plan or by accident, his storm troopers discovered a down-and-out Dutchman who happened to be a member of the Communist party. The Dutchman had been heard bragging that the only way to change the government in Germany would be to set fire to government buildings. It is now believed that it was actually the Brownshirts that set fire to the Reichstag building, using gasoline and other chemicals. In only a few minutes, the building was ablaze in the night. The Dutchman was immediately arrested; later he was tried and executed.

When Hitler, the new chancellor of Germany, arrived on the scene of the fire, he declared that the burning of the Reichstag was the work of the Communists. With the elections only a week away, he stepped up his campaign against "Marxists," the press, and organizations of the political left.

To the old President von Hindenburg the fire came as a great blow. As the Nazis quickly arrested many of Germany's foremost political leaders, their parties were left stunned and without direction. The government seemed near collapse. Hitler insisted that the Communists were trying to take over Germany by force, as they had taken over Russia in 1917. Something had to be done, he declared. And he knew just what it should be. He called for von Hindenburg to sign an emergency decree "for the protection of the people and the state."

The emergency decree canceled all individual and civil rights, placing power in the hands of Hitler and his party. It became illegal for Germans to express their opinions freely, or to assemble to hear political speeches or for any other reason. And the decree made it legal for Hitler and his Brownshirts to control what was published in newspapers or broadcast as news over the radio; to open mail, read telegrams, and listen in on telephone conversations; to search houses without warning; to confiscate personal property; and to rule by dictatorship in any of the states of Germany, whenever Hitler thought it necessary.

With von Hindenburg's decree on February 28, 1933, Hitler became Germany�s dictator."

Always remember to quit while you're ahead.

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