(My answer on Quora).
After the failed Munich Beer Hall Putsch in 1923 the Nazis realized that the only way to power would have to go through the ballot box. While the party started off small (albeit with some big name backing at one point viz. Erich Ludendorff) they gradually picked up great momentum in a fractured political system over the next decade drawing heavily from both traditional left and right wing voters.
Economic instability and dissatisfaction with the ruling elites played into their appeal. Their share of the popular vote made them a power player (although by November 1932 it appeared as though their fortunes were waning).
However what saved Hitler (and with hindsight doomed the Weimar Republic) was the ill-conceived miscalculation by the former Chancellor Franz von Papen, who felt that he could use Hitler as a bulwark to isolate his rival Kurt von Schleicher.
Von Papen (who at the time was out of favour) convinced the elderly German President (and WWI war hero) Paul von Hindenburg that Hitler could be boxed in and controlled as Chancellor if he, von Papen, was made Vice-Chancellor.
Hindenburg, whose relationship with von Schleicher had soured, reluctantly agreed allowing Hitler to ascend to the Chancellorship on the 30th of January 1933. Once the toxin was allowed entry into the crypt there was no turning back. Von Papen was no match for the Austrian.
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