Provisional law to bring the states into line with the Reich

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The provisional law for the alignment of the states with the Reich of March 31, 1933 ( RGBl. I p. 153) was the first law for the " alignment " of the states of the German Reich by the NSDAP . It transferred the balance of power in the Reich to the states: The state parliaments received a new composition after the result of the Reichstag elections of March 5 in their territory, so that the National Socialists and German Nationals were considerably strengthened compared to the legitimate, older state election results . In addition, the state governments, like the Reich government, were given the right to pass laws through the Enabling Act.

A second law followed on April 7th. The Reich Governors were introduced through this law : They could appoint and dismiss the state governments and dissolve the state parliaments. Chancellor Hitler himself took over these powers for Prussia.

Historical tendencies

Until 1918, the German municipalities had extensive autonomy , comparable to that in Switzerland or in French municipalities today. In Germany, the first serious intervention in the self-determination of the states and municipalities took place in the course of the Erzberger reform . On August 12, 1919, Reich Minister of Finance Erzberger informed the delegates of the National Assembly about the new structures as follows:

"I am clear about this and also want to create clarity: The implementation of the Reich's own tax organization will represent the greatest step towards building the German national unified state."

With the state tax law of March 30, 1920 , the first adoption of special financial equalization legislation, the states and municipalities lost their financial independence. Most political parties continued to strive for a unified state, some like the Communists and National Socialists in an authoritarian form. In the right right up to the middle there was a strong idea of ​​giving the Reich President more power.

The federal government to renew the kingdom presented in 1928 in a memorandum the Reichsland solution before: While only the southern German states remained independent, Northern Germany should be a managed the kingdom Reichsland. This organization, in which members from banks and industry, agriculture, various parties, science and the labor movement were represented, worked towards an authoritarian presidential government .

The beginning of the elimination of federalism took place on July 20, 1932 with the so-called Prussian strike . As a result, the Free State of Prussia was de facto equated with the Reich . The Papen government used this "attainment" to remove a large proportion of officials who were politically left of the center from their offices. The coup d'état of the imperial government against a member state was all the more serious because Prussia was the largest country of the Weimar Republic and comprised two thirds of the imperial territory and three fifths of the imperial population. The development was not without effect on smaller countries.

In this context, the abstraction " synchronization" has already been used by various sides in a way that is synonymous with realization, centralization , unitarization , etc. The term was expanded in the following and was incorporated into the National Socialist terminology . The National Socialists applied it to various measures and steps with which, for example, institutions or organizations were “fitted” into the new principle of rule or, in some cases, even “brought into line” with the new power .

Legal implementation

After the Reichstag with the required two-thirds majority , the Enabling Act of March 24, 1933 had decided in the course could seize power of the Nazi Party, the Hitler government on 31 March 1933, the "Provisional Law for coordination of the states with the Reich" decide. The state parliaments were thus dissolved and newly formed in the respective state based on the number of votes in the Reichstag election of March 5, 1933 .

With the on April 7, 1933 enacted by the Reich government Second Law for coordination of the states with the Reich the establishment of carried Reichsstatthalter . These received u. a. the power to appoint or dismiss chairmen of the state government and to dissolve state parliaments by means of new elections . Franz von Papen's position as Reich Commissioner in Prussia was canceled by the law because Hitler had reserved the rights of the Reich Governor in Prussia to himself as Reich Chancellor in Section 5 of the Act . He immediately transferred these rights to Hermann Göring , whom he appointed as Prussian Prime Minister and Minister of the Interior on April 10, 1933 . In December 1933, a uniform municipal constitutional law followed in Prussia , which repealed all previously valid city and rural community regulations.

On January 30, 1934, the law on the rebuilding of the Reich was passed in the Reichstag and also approved by Hindenburg. The previous existence of the countries therefore lost its importance; the law transferred all rights of the states to the imperial government and made them the state constitution-giver, with which the coordination of the states was completed. The Reichsrat was dissolved.

Web links

Wikisource: Provisional law to bring the countries into line with the Reich  - sources and full texts

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b Wolfgang Benz : Southern Germany in the Weimar Republic: A Contribution to German Domestic Policy 1918–1923. Duncker & Humblot, 1970, pp. 185 ff.
  2. ↑ Joe Weingarten: Income tax and income tax administration in Germany: A historical and administrative overview. Springer-Verlag, 2013, p. 133.
  3. ^ Kurt Gossweiler : Bund zur Renewerung des Reiches (BER) 1928–1933 . In: Dieter Fricke (ed.): The bourgeois parties in Germany. Handbook of the history of the bourgeois parties and other bourgeois interest organizations from Vormärz to 1945. Volume 1, Leipzig 1968. pp. 195–200.
  4. ^ Bernhard Grossfeld, Legal Study Society Münster: Westfälische Jurisprudenz. Waxmann Verlag, 2000, p. 311.
  5. ^ Horst Möller: Regional banks in the Third Reich. Walter de Gruyter, 2015, p. 25.
  6. ↑ Kurt Pätzold: Encyclopedia of National Socialism. Klett-Cotta, 1997, p. 490.
  7. ↑ Martin Broszat : The State of Hitler. Foundation and development of his inner constitution. dtv, Munich 1976, ISBN 3-423-04009-2 , p. 145.