1932 German Presidency without Hindenburg

[rob in cal]

Lets assume President Hindenburg dies two years early, in 1932, and thus we have no Hitler vs. Hindenburg election.  What do the pro-Republic Center and Social Democrat Parties do for a candidate to stand against Hitler?  Personally I have no idea, as I haven't found any literature on the subject of even a fallback strategy that the pro-Weimar Republic Parties had for the 1932 election without Hindenburg.

[pbrower2a]

Even if you have to restore Kaiser Wilhelm II to prevent the rise of the Antichrist, you do so.

[Hash]

Even if you have to restore Kaiser Wilhelm II to prevent the rise of the Antichrist, you do so.

Uh. What?

[Kaine for Senate '18]

Even if you have to restore Kaiser Wilhelm II to prevent the rise of the Antichrist, you do so.

Uh. What?

I assume he meant Hitler.

[minionofmidas]

Somebody saner, probably a Center politico.

The results would have been almost exactly identical, btw - Hindenburg's core constituency voted for Hitler in these elections.

[Hash]

Even if you have to restore Kaiser Wilhelm II to prevent the rise of the Antichrist, you do so.

Uh. What?

I assume he meant Hitler.

Obviously. But his statement makes absolutely no sense historically.

[Dan the Roman]

Brunning likely would have been a front-runner. He was minimally acceptable to the SPD, the Liberal parties, and would of course have had the Center behind him. He also was more popular than let on by contemporaries as he was very well received in the July Reichstag Elections.

Alternatively,someone like Carl Gordealer would have been drafted. Another potentially interesting candidate would have been Interior and Defense Minister Groener. He was a former commander and chief  of the German Army and would have had a large degree of military support, but his hard line against the Nazis made him very popular with the SPD. He was also an extremely close ally of Brunning's.

In either case I doubt Hitler would have run the runoff, and given that the Nazis were a few months from total collapse in the fall of 1932, and that with no Hindenburg there would have been no election until 1934, I think its highly unlikely Hitler would have come to power in this scenario.