The liberal SDP split with the communists, supporting "centrist" Hindenburg in the name of unity.
The communists campaigned on "A vote for Hindenburg is a vote for Hitler is a vote for war"
Hindenburg won the election, getting more votes than either the communist or fascist candidates.
Hindenburg, the liberal candidate, then proceeded to make Hitler the chancellor and staff positions of power with nazis while purging the government of communists.
The nazis then barely had to do anything to assert complete control.
The nazis didn't get in power because communists stayed home, they got into power because the liberals would rather work with fascists than communists.
Also, Hitler had to declare a state if emergency to gain the absolute power the Supreme Court has just handed to the US president.
Suffice it to say, something lile this is impossible now in Germany. The justices of our highest court, the Bindesverfassungsgericht, can only hold the job for 12 years and can be no older than 68. They are also always equally voted in by two different branches of the government and need a two thirds majority for any decision.
Our democracy isn't without faults, but this is probably our strongest bulwark against another descent into facsism.
The first NSDAP government came into being in 1930, in Thuringia. It toppled a left-wing government with a broad alliance of liberals, conservatives and right-wing extremists. Today, a center-left government is still in power in Thuringia, but in a tolerated minority government that is dependent on the votes of the other parties. In a few months, it will most likely be voted out by another one. The liberal, conservative and far-right parties are already using their majority to jointly push through laws against the government. An extreme right-wing party will probably become the strongest force and as such will be able to do a lot of damage, even without government participation.
There are already areas where only right-wing candidates are running and right-wing conservatives are the most left-wing option.
It didn't just take "Hitler's death" for Germans to be able to vote again. It wasn't a case of "oh look, he's dead, now we can go back to democracy". It took over a decade of political terror and violence, a devastating world war, and one of the most organised campaigns of mass murder and genocide in history.
The problem with the left everywhere is they don't have the balls to actually take action. They all talk about tolerance and how dialogue should make people change and be the politicians language.
No. Certain things shouldn't be tolerated. Fascism and nazism are two of those. Democracy is above anything else. If a subject is trying to undermine democracy or the institutions protecting it, they should be considered a national threat and dealt with accordingly.
The problem is that the left is afraid of being seen as "authoritarian" so when a fascist comes and openly says they want to fuck democracy until it becomes a dictatorship, leftists just say "hey now, let's sit down and talk".
No, my dude, we don't "sit down and talk" with a fascist. We punch them in the face and tell them "fuck you, if you want to be a dictator, you're a threat for our country and will be dealt with as a terrorist".
80 years ago, we argued with Nazis by shooting them. We forgot and now we're having them in our governments again.