I was not aware that the KPD had ever cooperated with the Nazis.
It was not really a collaboration, but a united opposition against the democratic parties in the parliaments.
As the communists were already excluded from the Reichstag in 1933, the SPD was the only party opposing the enabling act (Ermächtigungsgesetz). The speech of Otto Wels in 23rd March about dismissing the enabling act (Youtube, English transscript) is famous for being the last free speech in the Reichstag and often analysed at school in Germany. Its most remembered phrase “Die Freiheit und das Leben kann man uns nehmen, die Ehre nicht!”, (“Freedom and life can be taken from us, but not our honor”) is divinatory for the dark years that followed. According to Willy Brand (SPD, chancellor from 1969-1974), beside his manuscript Wels carried an ampoule with poison for the case the “guarding” Nazi SA men would detain him during or after his speech.
Yes, the KPD and the NSDAP both rejected parliamentary democracy and briefly formed a blocking minority in the Weimar Republic. Nevertheless, I do not think it is correct to speak of the KPD enabling or supporting the NSDAP’s seizure of power - on the contrary. As I said, the situation is quite different with the conservative forces of the time - they were definitely at least partly to blame for Hitler’s rise.
It was not really a collaboration, but a united opposition against the democratic parties in the parliaments.
As the communists were already excluded from the Reichstag in 1933, the SPD was the only party opposing the enabling act (Ermächtigungsgesetz). The speech of Otto Wels in 23rd March about dismissing the enabling act (Youtube, English transscript) is famous for being the last free speech in the Reichstag and often analysed at school in Germany. Its most remembered phrase “Die Freiheit und das Leben kann man uns nehmen, die Ehre nicht!”, (“Freedom and life can be taken from us, but not our honor”) is divinatory for the dark years that followed. According to Willy Brand (SPD, chancellor from 1969-1974), beside his manuscript Wels carried an ampoule with poison for the case the “guarding” Nazi SA men would detain him during or after his speech.
Yes, the KPD and the NSDAP both rejected parliamentary democracy and briefly formed a blocking minority in the Weimar Republic. Nevertheless, I do not think it is correct to speak of the KPD enabling or supporting the NSDAP’s seizure of power - on the contrary. As I said, the situation is quite different with the conservative forces of the time - they were definitely at least partly to blame for Hitler’s rise.