on january 30, 1933, franz von papen offered to make adolf hitler the chancellor of germany in a nationalist cabinet. he did this in secret. this was a "machtübergabe", or 'transfer of power'. however, later on, the nsdap started to call it the "machtergreifung" ('seizing power'). it was better for nazi propaganda to say that they took power from the weimar republic, instead of being made the republic's legal government.