Americans never again have to ask how a free German people could have ELECTED Adolph Hitler as Chancellor of Germany in 1933 despite all the warnings. The American voters did the same in 2008 by electing Obama.
The difference being is that Hitler was so adept at taking control of the population so quickly through power, intimidation and fear.
And Hitler spoke to the innate inner hatreds carried throughout Weimar depression in the working class. Utilizing the socialist/communist labor movement to blame the “bankers”. Sound familiar?
The SA were out of work males, who were put on a very low subsistence salary, and tasked with street harassment of jews, and any one who wasn’t aryan. The SA was composed of both socialists and communists. F.A. Hayek discusses this thoroughly. It was easy to coopt people with no job.