Reichstag election November 1933

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Propaganda poster for the election ("Adolf Hitler House", Vossstrasse in Berlin )
Iron election badge for election

The Reichstag election of November 12, 1933 took place at the same time as the referendum on Germany's withdrawal from the League of Nations . This was preceded by the elimination of the political opponents of the National Socialist system . Only a single list dominated by the National Socialists was admitted , on which a number of non - party members referred to as guests were candidates. Election and voting resulted in clear approval, as intended by the government.

prehistory

Advertising pillar with an election poster for the NSDAP ( Berlin )

Domestically, the time since the Reichstag election of March 1933 has been shaped by the elimination of the political opponents of National Socialism. The last session of the Reichstag took place on May 17th; after that he was dissolved. The KPD was already out, the SPD was banned on June 22nd . The other parties, like the center, had broken up more or less voluntarily. On July 14th the law against the formation of new parties was passed, making the NSDAP the only legal political organization.

A majority of the population welcomed the elimination of the political parties and, in particular, the smashing of the SPD and KPD and counted the regime as a success.

During this time, the NSDAP had succeeded in gaining every opportunity to influence propaganda. The gradual end of the global economic crisis had a positive impact on the regime . The beginning of the decline in unemployment was attributed to the government.

In terms of foreign policy, however, Hitler had little success up to that point. His regime was largely isolated. This became evident at the Geneva Disarmament Conference (February 1932 to June 1934). If Germany was on the verge of becoming militarily equal in 1932, there was no longer any question of it. Instead, the UK proposed a system to control German rearmament . As a result, on October 14, 1933, Hitler canceled the disarmament negotiations and announced that he was leaving the League of Nations . This step was widely popular. The theologian Martin Niemöller also sent Hitler an enthusiastic letter of congratulations. The exit from the League of Nations should be legitimized by a referendum.

At the same time there was to be a Reichstag election. While different parties competed in March 1933, this time only one single list was permitted. This list was compiled by the Reich Ministry of the Interior in cooperation with the NSDAP. Most of the applicants were NSDAP members and activists. However, former members of DNVP , DVP , Zentrum or BVP were also set up in order to simulate a certain plurality .

Election campaign

The regime used all means of propaganda to obtain approval. The party advertised with the slogan "With Hitler against the armaments madness". The government was supported by leading figures in public life. The prelude was the pledge of loyal allegiance published nationwide on October 26, 1933 , with which 88 writers from the German Academy of Poetry pledged their unreserved support to Reich Chancellor Adolf Hitler. On November 1st, the same association explicitly called for the election of “People's Chancellor Adolf Hitler” and for a “yes” to withdraw from the League of Nations. On November 11, President Paul von Hindenburg called for approval in one of his rare radio addresses. On the same day in Leipzig, the German professors declared their commitment to Adolf Hitler , with which high-ranking German scholars and scientists demonstrated demonstratively behind Hitler. Support also came from the surgeon Ferdinand Sauerbruch , the philosopher Martin Heidegger and the writer Gerhart Hauptmann . Business leaders and the churches also called for a vote. In the case of the Catholic Church, the conclusion of the Reich Concordat between the Holy See and the German Reich in July 1933 contributed to the fact that the bishops now called for “happy voting for the Führer”. Some nationally minded opponents of the regime also spoke out in favor of approving the referendum, at least because they wanted to support a national foreign policy.

Choice and results

The ballot for the Reichstag election (here the Schleswig-Holstein constituency) had the same ten candidates across the whole of Germany
Call of the President of the Reich Railway Directorate in Mainz , Erich Goudefroy , to vote “Yes” in the referendum on leaving the League of Nations

For the election there was a nationwide uniform ballot with ten candidates, seven of them from the ranks of the NSDAP ( Adolf Hitler , Rudolf Heß , Wilhelm Frick , Hermann Göring , Joseph Goebbels , Ernst Röhm and Walther Darré ) and three from the black and white battle front -Rot ( Franz Seldte , Franz von Papen and Alfred Hugenberg ) came from. As already determined during the Weimar Republic , there was one seat for every 60,000 votes cast, which is why 661 of the nominees on the unified list were determined by Hitler and entered the Reichstag . 639 were members of the NSDAP, 22 were non - party designated as guests . There were neither Jews nor women among the delegates; most of the elected were between 30 and 45 years old.

Although voting secrecy was officially maintained, it was in no way democratic: pictures of Hitler or swastika flags were hung in the polling stations, the SA was allowed to view the electoral lists and organized an "election towing service" that brought voters to the polls. But even where no pressure was exerted on the voters, they often had no trust in voting secrecy. Many were intimidated or saw no alternative to a positive vote. Although it was still possible to vote no with this vote without any major risk , this had to be written explicitly on the ballot because there was only one field for yes . Alternatively, the ballot paper could be made invalid by scribbling or not voting .

The historian Hans-Ulrich Wehler assumes that, due to the lack of systematic election fraud, the results actually reflected the approval of a large part of the population for the regime. Even Heinrich August Winkler says that the regime could see it as a striking confirmation of his policy. Propaganda and political terror would have been intimidating, but it also shows that there were still a considerable number of opponents of the regime, especially in the strongholds of the battered workers' parties and in neighborhoods with a large Jewish population. There, the percentage of votes against was not infrequently in the double-digit range. A stronghold of the rejection was Lübeck with about 22% against. In Altona the approval was 77.4%, in Hamburg 78.1%, in Berlin 78.6%, in Bremen 79.6% and in Leipzig 79.8%. This shows that social control was less pronounced in large cities than in small towns and in the countryside . The turnout was very high at 95.2%. The referendum resulted in an approval of 95.1% for leaving the League of Nations. This corresponded to 89.9% of the eligible voters. The result for the unit list was slightly lower at 92.1%.

See also

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Heinrich August Winkler : The long way to the west. Volume 2, Bonn 2005, p. 30.
  2. Nazi search for clues in the country Braunschweig: year-end 1933. www.ns-spurensuche.de, accessed on 18 February 2018 .
  3. ^ Hans-Ulrich Wehler : German history of society . Volume 4. Munich 2003, p. 804.
  4. ^ Kurt Bauer : National Socialism: Origins, Beginnings, Rise and Fall . Vienna u. a. 2008, p. 234.
  5. Jörg Thunecke: 'The Years of Doom': The inner émigré Oskar Loerke in his diaries and leftover poems. In: Marcin Gołaszewski, Magdalena Kardach, Leonore Krenzlin (eds.): Between Inner Emigration and Exile. German-speaking writers 1933–1945. De Gruyter, Berlin / Boston 2016, pp. 65–82 (here: p. 68).
  6. ^ Hans-Ulrich Wehler : German history of society . Volume 4. Munich 2003, p. 813.
  7. ^ Gerhard Schulz : Permanent synchronization of public life and the emergence of the National Socialist leadership state in Germany. In: The same (ed.): The great crisis of the thirties . Göttingen 1985, p. 85.
  8. ^ A b Adolf Scheffbuch : Twelve years of Hitler's rule , Neckar-Verlag, Villingen im Schwarzwald 1960, 2nd edition, p. 18.
  9. Reichstag manuals, 1933 / 9.Wahlperiode: List of members of the Reichstag. Bavarian State Library , accessed on September 6, 2012 .
  10. Frank Omland: Elections 1933 to 1938: “You vote for me nich Hitler!” The Reichstag elections and referendums of the Nazi dictatorship (1933-1938). www.geschichte-sh.de, 2018, accessed on February 17, 2018 .
  11. Hans-Ulrich Wehler : The National Socialism . Munich 2009, p. 72.
  12. ^ Heinrich August Winkler: The long way to the west . Volume 2: German history from the “Third Reich” to reunification. CH Beck, Munich 2000, p. 31.
  13. The figures were published in Statistics of the German Reich , Volume 449 and contain the results broken down down to the level of larger communities. List of volumes, Rostock University Library (PDF; 75 kB).