But DNVP leader Hugenberg smells a rat. He has already tried several times to form a coalition with Hitler, first in 1929 and again in 1931—fragile alliances that fractured under the pressure of relentless power struggles. He listens as Hitler nimbly steers them toward another idea that also seems, to many ministers in the room, reasonable: they could call off tomorrow’s meeting of the Reichstag and hold a new election. Hugenberg objects. Hitler presses his case.
