Enabling Act of March 24, 1933
The Enabling Act of March 24, 1933 , officially the law to remedy the Distress of the People and the Reich , was a the German Reichstag decreed Enabling Act , which the legislature virtually completely to Adolf Hitler passed. It was the basis for abolishing the separation of powers and enabled all subsequent measures to consolidate the National Socialist dictatorship .
The laws of the 1920s, especially the Stresemannian and Marxian enabling laws , created dangerous models for breaking the constitution . When Hitler tried to consolidate his dictatorship at the beginning of 1933, he aimed for an enabling law. His law to remedy the needs of the people and the Reich of March 24, 1933 differed in decisive points from the Enabling Law of the Marx cabinet of 1923:
- According to his Enabling Act, Hitler's government should be able to pass not only ordinances but also laws and conclude treaties with foreign countries.
- Laws passed in this way could deviate from the constitution.
- The regulation was not restricted in terms of content and should be valid for four years.
- Neither a Reichstag committee nor the Reichsrat could exercise control, for example at least retrospectively demand that it be repealed.
Another difference was the parliamentary situation: In contrast to the Marxian minority cabinet, the NSDAP and the DNVP had an absolute majority in the Reichstag since the elections on March 5, 1933 . Hitler's intention was to shut down the Reichstag and de facto override the constitution .
The SPD and KPD together had almost a third of the seats in the Reichstag. In order to still achieve the absolute two-thirds majority required for a constitution-amending law , the rules of procedure of the Reichstag were first changed. The imprisoned and thus absent MPs of the KPD were now formally present. Then - in the presence of armed and uniformed SA and SS members illegally present in the Reichstag - the Enabling Act was passed under the new rules of procedure.
All parties still present except the SPD approved both the change in the rules of procedure and the “law to remedy the plight of the people and the Reich”; because of the dissenting votes of the SPD, the votes of the Center Party were decisive for achieving a two-thirds majority and the final adoption of the law .
content
Original excerpt from the Enabling Act that came into force on March 24th:
The Reichstag has passed the following law, which is hereby promulgated with the consent of the Reichsrat after it has been established that the requirements of constitutional legislation have been met:
Art. 1. Reich laws can be passed by the Reich government in addition to the procedure provided for in the Reich constitution . This also applies to the laws referred to in Articles 85, Paragraphs 2 and 87 of the Imperial Constitution.
Art. 2. The imperial laws passed by the imperial government can deviate from the imperial constitution insofar as they do not deal with the establishment of the diet and the imperial council as such. The rights of the Reich President remain unaffected.
Art. 3. The Reich laws passed by the Reich Government are drawn up by the Reich Chancellor and announced in the Reich Law Gazette. Unless otherwise stipulated, they come into force on the day following the announcement. [...]
Art. 4. Contracts between the Reich and foreign states that relate to subjects of Reich legislation do not require the consent of the bodies involved in the legislation. The Reich Government issues the regulations necessary for the implementation of these contracts.
Art. 5. This law comes into force on the day of its promulgation. It expires on April 1, 1937; it also ceases to be in force if the present Reich government is replaced by another.
This meant that new laws no longer had to be constitutional, in particular that the observance of basic rights could no longer be ensured, and that laws could also be passed by the Reich government alone in addition to the constitutional procedure . Thus the executive also received legislative power. The constitutional articles 85, paragraphs 2 and 87 mentioned in the first article bound the budget and borrowing to the legal form. Through the Enabling Act, the budget and borrowing could now be decided without the Reichstag.
The validity of the Enabling Act was four years - thus Hitler's demand “Give me four years and you will not recognize Germany” was realized.
Debate in Parliament
Since the Reichstag building could not be used after the Reichstag fire , parliament met on March 23, 1933 in the Kroll Opera House . The building was cordoned off by the SS , which appeared on a larger scale for the first time that day. Long SA columns stood inside . Another innovation was a huge swastika flag hanging behind the podium. At the opening, the President of the Reichstag Hermann Göring gave a commemorative speech in honor of Dietrich Eckart .
- Then Hitler in a brown shirt stepped onto the podium. It was his first speech to the Reichstag , and many members of parliament saw him for the first time. As in many of his speeches, he began with the November Revolution and then outlined his goals and intentions. In order for the government to be able to carry out its tasks, it had introduced the enabling law.
"It would contradict the meaning of the national survey and would not be sufficient for the intended purpose if the government wanted to negotiate and request the approval of the Reichstag for its measures on a case-by-case basis."
- He then reassured them that this would not endanger the existence of the Reichstag or the Reichsrat, the existence of the states, or the position and rights of the Reich President. Only at the end of his speech did Hitler threaten that the government would also be ready to face rejection and resistance. He concluded with the words:
"May you, honorable Members, now make the decision yourself about peace or war."
- This was followed by ovations and the singing of the Deutschlandlied, which was intoned while standing .
- Prelate Ludwig Kaas , chairman of the Catholic Center , justified his party's yes to the Enabling Act before the German Reichstag :
“For us, the present hour cannot stand under the sign of words; its only, its ruling law is that of swift, edifying and saving action. And this act can only be born in the gathering.
The German Center Party, which for a long time and despite all temporary disappointment, has vigorously and decisively represented the great idea of collecting, deliberately disregards all party-political and other thoughts at this hour, when all small and narrow considerations must be silent, out of a sense of national responsibility . [...]
In the face of the burning need in which the people and the state are currently facing, in the face of the gigantic tasks that the German reconstruction is placing on us, in the face of the storm clouds that are beginning to rise in and around Germany, we reach out from the German Center Party At this hour, shake hands with all, including former opponents, in order to ensure the continuation of the national advancement work. "
- For the Social Democratic parliamentary group, the SPD chairman Otto Wels justified the strict rejection of the bill; he spoke the last free words in the German Reichstag:
“[...] Freedom and life can be taken from us, but not honor.
After the persecution which the Social Democratic Party has recently experienced, no one can reasonably demand or expect from it that it will vote for the enabling law introduced here. The elections on March 5 brought the ruling parties a majority and thus gave them the opportunity to govern strictly according to the wording and meaning of the constitution. Where this is possible, there is also an obligation. Criticism is wholesome and necessary. Never since there was a German Reichstag has the control of public affairs by the elected representatives of the people been eliminated to the extent that it is happening now, and as the new Enabling Act is supposed to do even more. Such omnipotence on the part of the government must be all the more difficult as the press, too, lacks any freedom of movement.
[...] At this historic hour, we German Social Democrats solemnly acknowledge the principles of humanity and justice, freedom and socialism. No enabling law gives you the power to destroy ideas that are eternal and indestructible. [...] German social democracy can also draw new strength from new persecutions.
We greet the persecuted and oppressed. We greet our friends in the kingdom. Your steadfastness and loyalty deserve admiration. Your courage to confess, your unbroken confidence guarantee a brighter future. "
(The verbatim transcript recorded several applause and approval from the Social Democrats and laughter from the National Socialists .)
- Then Hitler went back to the lectern. Hateful and repeatedly interrupted by stormy applause from his supporters, he denied the Social Democrats the right to national honor and rights and, alluding to his words, confronted Wels with the persecution that the National Socialists had suffered in the 14 years since 1919. The National Socialists are the real advocates of the German workers. He doesn't want the SPD to vote for the law: "Germany should become free, but not through you!"
The minutes of the meeting noted long-lasting healing calls and applause from the National Socialists and in the stands, clapping hands with the German nationalists as well as stormy applause and healing calls. Joseph Goebbels noted in his diary (March 24, 1933):
“You never saw anyone being thrown to the ground and finished off like here. The guide speaks freely and is in great shape. The house rushes with applause, laughter, enthusiasm and applause. It will be an unparalleled success. "
Confrontation in the center
Due to the change in the rules of procedure for votes in the Reichstag on the Enabling Act, the necessary two-thirds majority depended only on the behavior of the center and the Bavarian People's Party (BVP).
The negotiations with the National Socialists in the run-up to the Reichstag session had exposed the center faction to an acid test. Many MPs had received personal threats against themselves or their families and were under the shock of the arrest of the Communist MPs and the threats of the SA and SS men who marched into the meeting room. The former SPD member of the Reichstag Fritz Baade wrote in 1948:
“If the whole center had not been forced through physical threats to vote for this enabling law, there would not have been a majority in this Reichstag either. I remember that MPs from the Center Group [...] came to me crying after the vote and said that they were convinced that they would have been murdered if they had not voted for the Enabling Act. "
Finally, the party chairman, Prelate Kaas, advocate of an authoritarian national collection policy, prevailed against the minority around Heinrich Brüning and Adam Stegerwald . Kaas was of the opinion that resistance by the center to Hitler's rule would change nothing as a political reality. One will only gamble away the chance of keeping the guarantees promised by Hitler. Because Hitler had promised the following:
- Continuation of the highest constitutional organs and the states ,
- Securing Christian influence in schools and education,
- Respect for country concordats and the rights of Christian denominations,
- Irremovability of judges ,
- Retention of the Reichstag and the Reichsrat ,
- Preservation of the position and rights of the Reich President .
This attitude can also be seen in the context of the Kulturkampf against Otto von Bismarck , in which the Roman Catholic Church was unable to assert itself against the introduction of the sole validity of civil marriage and state school supervision . In addition, according to Kaas, large parts of the party would like a better relationship with the NSDAP and can hardly be prevented from moving to Hitler's camp.
Following his speech, the Bavarian People's Party was justified by MP Ritter von Lex .
Both the members of the Center and the members of the Bavarian People's Party voted for the Enabling Act without exception. The Center Party is said to have demanded group discipline from its members of the Reichstag ( see Eugen Bolz ). The Frankfurt MP Friedrich Dessauer spoke out against the Enabling Act in the preliminary discussion on the day of the vote, but gave in later.
The Center Party voted for the Enabling Act as part of a general rapprochement between the National Socialists and the Catholic Church in Germany ; In this context, the Reich Concordat was concluded a few weeks later , in which the center chairman Kaas, who had meanwhile permanently moved to Rome, now represented the Vatican side. However, a specific agreement between the National Socialists and the Vatican on a connection between the Enabling Act and the Reich Concordat ( Junktim thesis) does not seem to have existed.
Behavior of the Liberals
The five MPs ( Hermann Dietrich , Theodor Heuss , Heinrich Landahl , Ernst Lemmer , Reinhold Maier) of the German State Party disagreed at first, but then all followed the majority of three MPs who wanted to agree despite concerns. The parliamentary group's justification was given by MP Reinhold Maier :
“In the major national goals, we feel bound by the view as presented today by the Chancellor of the Reich [...]. We understand that the current Reich government requires extensive powers to work undisturbed [...]. In the interest of the people and fatherland and in the expectation of a lawful development, we will put aside our serious concerns and agree to the Enabling Act. "
poll
| Political party | Seats | proportion of | approval | Rejection |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| NSDAP | 288 | 45% | 288 | 0 |
| DNVP | 52 | 8th % | 52 | 0 |
| center | 73 | 11% | 72 * | 0 |
| BVP | 19th | 3% | 19th | 0 |
| DStP | 5 | 1 % | 5 | 0 |
| CSVd | 4th | 1 % | 4th | 0 |
| DVP | 2 | 0.3% | 1** | 0 |
| Peasant party | 2 | 0.3% | 2 | 0 |
| Landbund | 1 | 0.2% | 1 | 0 |
| SPD | 120 | 19% | 0 | 94 |
| KPD | 81 | 13% | 0 | 0 *** |
| total | 647 | 100% | 444 (69%) | 94 (15%) |
*) One MP was excused.
**) One MP was sick.
because they were already arrested or on the run.
Two thirds of the MPs present had to agree to the bill being passed ; it was also necessary that two thirds of the legal members of the Reichstag were present at the vote. Of the 647 MPs, 432 had to be present. The SPD and KPD had 201 members. In order to prevent the validity of the vote, in addition to these 201 MPs, only 15 other MPs would have had to stay away from the vote (647−216 = 431). In order to prevent this, the Reich government applied for a change in the rules of procedure. According to this, those MPs who did not attend a session of the Reichstag without an excuse should also be considered to be present. These “unexcused” missing also included MPs who were previously taken into “ protective custody ” or expelled. Although the SPD expressly pointed out the risk of abuse, all parties apart from it agreed to this change in the rules of procedure.
Göring and Hitler managed to get the bourgeois parties on their side - on the one hand through previous negotiations on March 20, and on the other hand through an effective threat that the SA built up through its presence. The absence of the KPD MPs caused by arrest, hiding and fleeing increased the pressure on the bourgeois parliamentarians.
After the killing of the KPD, "whose mandates have been withdrawn by ordinance", the SPD alone (94 votes) voted against the law in the Reichstag. 109 MPs from different political groups did not take part in the vote:
- 26 members of the SPD were imprisoned or fled
- 81 MPs of the KPD (the entire parliamentary group) were illegally arrested before the vote or had fled and went into hiding
- 2 other MPs were sick or excused
According to the official protocol, a total of 538 valid votes were cast, 94 members of parliament voted “No”. All other MPs (444 in total) voted for the law. This was done either out of conviction or out of concern for their personal safety and the safety of their families, but also because they bowed to their party's faction pressure. Prominent examples that despite reservations and u. a. The later Federal President Theodor Heuss ( German State Party ), the later Federal Minister and CDU politician Ernst Lemmer and the first Prime Minister of Baden-Württemberg Reinhold Maier (DStP) agreed to personal abstentions from the Enabling Act . When Hermann Göring announced the result of the vote, the NSDAP MPs stormed forward and sang the Horst Wessel song .
Consequences and outlook
The press was censored and a large part of the civil service was dismissed (all civil servants with a Jewish grandparent, plus all - including non-Jewish - opponents of the regime). This government resolution was euphemistically called the “ Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service ” (April 7, 1933). Union property was confiscated immediately after Labor Day May 1, and union leaders were arrested that same day, May 2, 1933. Finally, between May and July, all political parties except the NSDAP were banned one after the other (apart from the SPD and KPD, all other parties disbanded voluntarily, including the DNVP, which was in coalition with the NSDAP). Previously, all municipalities and states in the country had already been "brought into line", i. H. the federal structure of the democratic state had been replaced by the centralistic dictatorship of the imperial government.
By law of December 1, the “ unity of state and party ” was finally proclaimed. The Reichstag, which was now completely ruled by the NSDAP, met only a few times in the years that followed until 1945; almost all new laws were passed by the Reich government or by Hitler himself. To the end, many of those affected had illusions about the suppression that would prevail from then on.
The Enabling Act became the key law for bringing Germany into line at all levels. Legislative procedures by the Reichstag soon became rare; Legislation by the Reich government also declined more and more (in the Reichsgesetzblatt , the laws passed on the basis of enabling laws can be recognized by the initial formula “The Reich government has passed the following law”). At the latest after the beginning of the war , the laws were replaced by ordinances and finally by Fuehrer's orders , which led to considerable legal uncertainty , as the numerous Fuehrer's orders were not always properly promulgated and often contradicted each other.
The law was extended by the National Socialist Reichstag , which was no longer a democratic institution, on January 30, 1937 for a further four years until April 1, 1941 and on January 30, 1939 until May 10, 1943. On the same day, Hitler determined by a decree the continued validity of the powers under the Enabling Act without time limit. In order to preserve a semblance of legitimacy , it says at the end: "I [ the Führer ] reserve the right to obtain confirmation [...] from the Greater German Reichstag." With the resolution of the Greater German Reichstag of April 26, 1942 , however, Hitler was has already been given unrestricted powers.
On September 20, 1945, the Enabling Act was formally repealed by the Control Council Act No. 1 concerning the repeal of Nazi law of the Allied Control Council.
Because of its role in establishing the Nazi dictatorship, the Enabling Act of 1933 is far better known than any previous Enabling Act. In an overview work on historical controversies about the Weimar period, Dieter Gessner wrote : "Even 'enabling laws' passed with a 2/3 majority were possible under the constitution, even if no republican parliament made use of them until January 1933."
See also
literature
- The Enabling Act ("Law to Eliminate the Need of the People and the Reich") of March 24, 1933. Reichstag debate, voting, legal texts . Berliner Wissenschafts-Verlag, Berlin 2003, ISBN 978-3-8305-0523-5 .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Sylvia Eilers: Enabling Act and State of Emergency Military at the Time of the First Cabinet of Reich Chancellor Wilhelm Marx 1923/1924. Cologne 1988, p. 163.
- ↑ Sylvia Eilers: Enabling Act and State of Emergency Military at the Time of the First Cabinet of Reich Chancellor Wilhelm Marx 1923/1924. Cologne 1988, p. 166.
- ^ Federal Agency for Political Education : Beginning of National Socialist rule
- ↑ Wolfgang Benz : The 101 most important questions. The Third Empire. CH Beck, Munich 2007, ISBN 3-406-56849-1 , p. 12.
- ^ Hitler's speech on the grounds of the Enabling Act
- ↑ Opinion of Abg. Wels for the Social Democratic Party on the Enabling Act of March 23, 1933 .
- ↑ Otto Wels' (SPD) speech on the grounds for the rejection of the Enabling Act, Reichstag session of March 23, 1933 in the Berlin Kroll Opera House .
- ↑ Hitler's reply to the Wels speech
- ↑ Fritz Baade (SPD) 1948 retrospectively in: Rudolf Morsey (Ed.): The “Enabling Act” of March 24, 1933. Sources for the history and interpretation of the “Law to remedy the needs of the people and the Reich”. Düsseldorf 1992, p. 163 f.
- ↑ Hans-Ulrich Thamer : Beginning of the National Socialist Rule , in: National Socialism I. From the Beginnings to the Consolidation of Power (Information on Political Education, No. 251), new edition 2003, p. 43 (section “Authorization Act”; online ) .
- ↑ Negotiations of the Reichstag, stenographic report, March 23, 1933, p. 25 C , 37.
- ^ Prelate Kaas justifies the consent of the Center to the Enabling Act .
- ^ Negotiations of the Reichstag, shorthand report, March 23, 1933, p. 25 C , 37 f.
- ↑ Hubert Wolf : Historikerstreit: How the Pope stood when Hitler came to power , FAZ from March 28, 2008.
- ↑ Hubert Wolf, Pope and the Devil. Munich 2008, pp. 191, 194 f. (Paperback 2012 edition, ISBN 978-3-406-63090-3 ).
- ↑ a b Werner Fritsch, German Democratic Party , in: Dieter Fricke et al., Lexicon of Party History, Volume 1, Leipzig 1983, pp. 574–622, here p. 612.
- ^ Negotiations of the Reichstag, shorthand report, March 23, 1933, pp. 25 C - 45 , here p. 38.
- ↑ § 98 Rules of Procedure for the Reichstag . In: Office of the Reichstag (ed.): Reichstag-Handbuch VIII. Election period . Printing and publishing of the Reichsdruckerei , Berlin 1933, p. 32 ( full text at the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek [accessed on July 1, 2019]).
- ^ Alfred Grosser: History of Germany since 1945. A balance sheet. 9th edition, Deutscher Taschenbuchverlag, Munich 1981, ISBN 3-423-01007-X , p. 35.
- ↑ Official protocol
- ↑ Hans-Peter Schneider , Wolfgang Zeh (Ed.): Parliamentary Law and Parliamentary Practice in the Federal Republic of Germany , de Gruyter, Berlin / New York 1989, ISBN 3-11-011077-6 , pp. 677 ff. Rn 15, 16, 19 u. 20th
- ↑ Cf. for example the circular from the Reich Secretariat and the declaration by the members of the Reichstag dated March 24, 1933, in: Erich Matthias, Rudolf Morsey (ed.), The end of the parties 1933. Representations and documents. Unchanged reprint of the 1960 edition, Düsseldorf 1984, pp. 91–94.
- ↑ Deutscher Reichsanzeiger No. 71 of March 24, 1933.
- ↑ The law on the reconstruction of the Reich of January 30, 1934, brought the Länder into line.
- ^ Alfred Grosser: History of Germany since 1945. A balance sheet. 9th edition, Deutscher Taschenbuchverlag, Munich 1981, pp. 35–36.
- ↑ The Leader's decree on government legislation of May 10, 1943 (RGBl. 1943 I p. 295).
- ^ Dieter Gessner: The Weimar Republic . Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, Darmstadt 2002 (controversies over history), p. 98.