By this time Hitler had already acquired a substantially authoritative position and gained popularity. After great instability experienced through the consumption of three chancellors (Heinrich Bruening, Baron Franz von Papen, and General von Schleicher), by 1933 there only existed two candidates to take over as Chancellor subsequent to Schleicher's forced resignation: Papen and Hitler. Hitler rejected Papen's suggestion for a Papen-Hitler government persisting that there must be a chancellor. Auspiciously, the army maintained a neutral stance (as they had the sanction to be able to ban Hitler from becoming Chancellor), and President von Hindenburg overcame his reservations about the Nazi Party. Hence, on 30 January 1933, Adolf Hitler was appointed Chancellor.
The 30th of January 1933 marked a turning point in German politics. This seizure of power marked the death of the Republic, the abolition of the federal structure that remained since 1871 in the German Reich, and the birth of a Nazified Germany under a totalitarian regime. Despite obtaining the position of chancellor, real power still evaded him, thus real power still evaded the overall Nazi party. This was owing to the fact that Hitler did not have majority in the Reichstag and President Hindenburg didn't give him emergency powers. Hitler's chance to rectify this came about less than a month after he had been made chancellor when the Reichstag building was burnt down. The Nazi Party used the Reichstag fire on 27th February 1933 (it is generally assumed that the fire "was lit by the Nazis themselves" ) as an opportunity for replacing the constitutional laws of the Weimar Republic on the following day, and by passing an emergency decree "to protect the people and the state". This provided not only the instigation of the harassing and arresting of political adversaries, but also the commencement of the Nazi Party consolidating power, and in hindsight can be seen as a reflection of the means by which they would execute their accomplishments.
