The intention of the framers of the constitution was that the president would rule in conjunction with the Reichstag (legislature) and that his extensive emergency powers would be exercised only in extraordinary circumstances.

The political instability of the Weimar period and an increasingly severe factionalism in the legislature, however, led to the president occupying a position of considerable power, legislating by decree and appointing and dismissing governments at will.

In his last will in April 1945, Hitler named Karl Dönitz president, thus briefly reviving the presidential office until just after the German surrender in May 1945.

The governmental structure established by the Weimar Constitution was a mix of presidential and parliamentary systems, with a strong president as a kind of "replacement emperor" (Ersatzkaiser).

Hugo Preuss, who wrote the initial draft of the constitution, intended the president to be above political parties and a counterweight to the Reichstag.

[3][4] Preuss' decision to have a president as head of state was influenced by constitutional scholar Robert Redslob and sociologist Max Weber.

[5] The constitution did not require that a vote of no confidence be constructive – that is, the Reichstag had the power to make a government resign without the burden of being sure that a new one could be formed.

Friedrich Ebert and Paul von Hindenburg (initially) both attempted to appoint chancellors who were able to build coalitions that had the confidence of the Reichstag.

On 11 February 1919, the Weimar National Assembly elected Friedrich Ebert of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) the first Reich president by a vote of 379 to 277.

[7] The first regular presidential election was to have taken place when the Weimar Constitution came into effect in August 1919, but the continuing turmoil in the Republic caused the Reichstag to postpone it repeatedly, until in late 1922 it extended Ebert's term to 30 June 1925.

[8][9] Due in large part to the ongoing political violence during the early years of the Republic, Ebert used Article 48 on 136 occasions,[10] although he always based invoking the act on agreements between himself, the government and parliament.

[14][15] The decision of the Communist Party of Germany to run their candidate, Ernst Thälmann, in the second round was widely considered to have thrown the election to Hindenburg.

Under Brüning, the Social Democrats, out of fear that the Nazi Party would gain strength if there were another election, tolerated the government by not supporting motions that sought to revoke the decrees,[20] but after Franz von Papen became chancellor in 1932, they refused to do so.

Although he was suffering from the onset of senility,[21] Hindenburg stood for re-election in 1932 with the support of the pro-republican parties, who thought that only he could prevent the election of Adolf Hitler.

[24] Following the November 1932 election in which the Nazi Party's share of the vote slipped to 33%, Papen resigned under pressure from Kurt von Schleicher.

[25] Given Germany's continued economic and political instability and under pressure from his advisors, President Hindenburg consented to appoint Adolf Hitler chancellor on 30 January 1933.

[31] In his Final Political Testament written just before he committed suicide on 30 April 1945, Hitler split the two offices he had merged, although the act was unconstitutional under Articles 41 and 51[6] of the Weimar Constitution, which was technically still in effect.