I’ve gotten at least five emails arguing that clearly all of my assertions are to be doubted, because Adolf Hitler did not come to power by a process that was in any way democratic. This is wildly ahistorical, as a brief perusal of the six parliamentary elections that took place in Germany between May 1924 and March 1933 demonstrate rather clearly.
During this time, none of the twelve parties active at the time won a majority in the 418-seat Reichstag, so every government was a parliamentary coalition.
The number of Reichstag seats won by the Nazi party, 1924 – 1933:
May 1924 – 032 seats, sixth-place
Dec 1924 – 014 seats, ninth-place
May 1928 – 012 seats, ninth-place
Jul 1930 – 107 seats, second-place
Sep 1932 – 230 seats, first-place (38 percent)
Nov 1932 – 196 seats, first-place (34 percent)
Mar 1932 – 288 seats, first-place (45 percent)
Hitler did not win the presidential election of April 1932, but he did win 13,418,051 votes despite having become a German citizen only one month before. However, not only did he lead his party to electoral victory three times, but also became Chancellor within the rules of the democratic Weimar system, an arrangement settled between the leading parties that placed Hitler and two other Nazis in the eleven-member Cabinet.