While its existence was protected by the Enabling Act, for all intents and purposes it reduced the Reichstag to a mere stage for Hitler's speeches. 1 - Repealing of Nazi Laws", National Political Institutes of Education, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Enabling_Act_of_1933&oldid=1160895641, Short description is different from Wikidata, Pages using collapsible list with both background and text-align in titlestyle, Wikipedia articles needing page number citations from December 2016, Articles needing additional references from March 2015, All articles needing additional references, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 4.0, In addition to the procedure prescribed by the constitution, laws of the Reich may also be enacted by the government. Shortly after nine o'clock on the evening of February 27, 1933, the Reichstag building in Berlin started to burn. [10], During the election campaign, the Nazis alleged that Germany was on the verge of a communist revolution and that the only way to stop the communists was to put the Nazis securely in power. In January 1933, Adolf Hitler, leader of the Nazi Party, was appointed as chancellor, the head of the German government. In his book, The Coming of the Third Reich, British historian Richard J. Evans argued that the Enabling Act was legally invalid. The combined effect of the Enabling Act and the Reichstag Fire Decree transformed Hitler's government into a legal dictatorship and laid the groundwork for his totalitarian regime. All rights reserved. Hett, "This Story Is about Something Fundamental": Nazi Criminals, History, Memory, and the Reichstag Fire, Central European History, Vol. The banning of the Communist party gave the Nazis a clear majority in parliament 7. How did Adolf Hitler rise to power? | Britannica All Rights Reserved. The Reichstag Fire Quickquiz - History [45], Lennings, who died in 1962, further stated in his account that he and other members of his squad had protested the arrest of Van der Lubbe, "because we were convinced that Van der Lubbe could not possibly have been the arsonist, because according to our observation, the Reichstag had already been burning when we dropped him off there". [9], Hitler hoped to abolish democracy in a quasi-legal fashion, by passing the Enabling Act. c. The Reichstag fire. [28], In 1998 historian Ian Kershaw, argued that nearly all historians agreed that Van der Lubbe had set the Reichstag on fire, that he had acted alone, and that the incident was merely a stroke of good luck for the Nazis. Commonly known as the Reichstag Fire Decree, the resulting act For the Protection of the People and State abolished a number of constitutional protections and paved the way for Nazi dictatorship. Washington, DC 20024-2126 He also argued that the act's passage in the Reichsrat was tainted by the overthrow of the state governments under the Reichstag Fire Decree; as Evans put it, the states were no longer "properly constituted or represented", making the Enabling Act's passage in the Reichsrat "irregular".[27]. In fact, the "SA man" was Albert Norden, the editor of the German communist newspaper Rote Fahne. The blaze would destroy the Reichstags gilded cupola, as well as a main chamber, causing some $1 million in damage before firefighters could extinguish it. Kristallnacht, (German: "Crystal Night") , also called Night of Broken Glass or November Pogroms, the night of November 9-10, 1938, when German Nazis attacked Jewish persons and property. Van der Lubbe reportedly confessed to setting the fire, saying he did it to encourage a workers uprising against the German state. The Nazi leadership and its German Nationalist coalition partners exploited the fire to persuade President Paul von Hindenburg that Communists were planning a violent uprising to derail Germanys "national renewal." [8] As chancellor, Hitler asked President Paul von Hindenburg to dissolve the Reichstag and call for a new parliamentary election. [61], The countertrial was an enormously successful publicity stunt for the German communists. The passing of the Enabling Act is significant in German and world history as it marked the formal transition from the democratic Weimar Republic to the totalitarian Nazi dictatorship. On February 27, 1933, the German parliament ( Reichstag) building burned down. [2] On February 27, the German parliament building the Reichstag caught fire. [20], While the Nazis emerged with a majority, they fell short of their goal, which was to win 5055% of the vote that year. Under the Weimar Constitution, a quorum of two-thirds of the entire Reichstag membership was required to be present in order to bring up a constitutional amendment bill. The decree also removed all restraints on police investigations, allowing the Nazis to arrest and jail their political opponents indiscriminately. Treaties of the Reich with foreign states, which relate to matters of Reich legislation, shall for the duration of the validity of these laws not require the consent of the legislative authorities. Although they received five million more votes than in the previous election, the Nazis failed to gain an absolute majority in parliament, and depended on the 8% of seats won by their coalition partner, the German National People's Party, to reach 52% in total. Language links are at the top of the page across from the title. On March 23, meeting at the Kroll Opera House in Berlin, the Reichstag passed the Enabling Act, giving full powers to Hitler. and more. [16] Gempp asserted that there had been a delay in notifying the fire brigade and that he had been forbidden from making full use of the resources at his disposal. Van der Lubbe, an unemployed bricklayer who had recently arrived in Germany, was caught at the scene of the fire. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. In my eyes you are nothing, but a scoundrel, a crook who belongs on the gallows!". The Nazi leadership and its coalition partners used the fire toclaimthat Communists were planning a violent uprising. He was later tried in Leipzig, along with three Bulgarian members of the Communist International and a leading German Communist. While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. The majority sided with Kaas, and Brning agreed to maintain party discipline by voting for the Act. Things which were reported to me on the night of the firecould not be tested or proven. The Reichstag Fire, February 1933 Flashcards | Quizlet [26] The following exchange took place: Dimitrov: Herr Prime Minister Gring stated on February 28 that, when arrested, the "Dutch Communist Van der Lubbe had on his person his passport and a membership card of the Communist Party". No. "For the Protection of the People and State", Holocaust Survivors and Victims Resource Center. After the November 1932 German federal election, the Nazi Party had a plurality, not a majority; the communists posted gains. The firefighters and police inspected the ruins and found 20 bundles of flammable material (firelighters) unburned lying about. Only SPD chairman Otto Wels spoke against the Act, declaring that the proposed bill could not "destroy ideas which are eternal and indestructible." I know that the Russians pay with bills, and I should prefer to know that their bills are paid! In 1981, a West German court posthumously overturned Van der Lubbe's 1933 conviction and found him not guilty by reason of insanity. They were met at the site by Hermann Gring, Interior Minister of Prussia, who told Hitler, "This is communist outrage! Gring also declared that any deputy who was "absent without excuse" was to be considered as present, in order to overcome obstructions. As a result, the Social Democratic Party would be under-represented in the final vote tally. However, Gring reduced the quorum to 378 by not counting the 81 KPD deputies. Hett argues that the most recent evidence makes clear that the fire could not have been the work of an individual and Hett feels there is far more evidence of Nazi collaboration than there is of a communist plot. [30], In 1967, a court in West Berlin allowed the 1933 conviction to stand, but overturned the death sentence and posthumously changed Van der Lubbe's sentence to eight years in prison. Last updated 31st January 2022. It was my task to expose the Party, and the mentality, which was responsible for the crime. Nevertheless, Hitler's shrewd maneuvering behind the scenes prompted the president of the German republic, Paul von Hindenburg , to name him chancellor on . On the other hand, the communists sought to make it appear that Van der Lubbe was working for the Nazis, so each side constructed a conspiracy theory in which the other was the villain. From 1933 onwards Hitler continued to consolidate and centralize power via purges and propaganda. Calling an election - and taking advantage of the Reichstag fire - he got the Reichstag to pass the Enabling Act. Kaas had still not received the written constitutional guarantees he had negotiated, but with the assurance it was being "typed up", voting began. The Reichstag fire had a large impact on the formation of Germany's political future. Arson attack in Berlin on 27 February 1933. Non-Nazi members of the Reichstag, including Vice-Chancellor von Papen, are shown objecting. The Reichstag Fire was a dramatic arson attack occurring on February 27, 1933, which burned the building that housed the Reichstag (German parliament) in Berlin. [28] Torgler was also acquitted and survived the war. For this purpose, a working committee was set up, co-chaired by Hitler and Centre Party chairman Kaas. Van der Lubbe's testimony was very hard to follow as he spoke of losing his sight in one eye and wandering around Europe as a drifter and that he had been a member of the Dutch Communist Party, which he quit in 1931, but still considered himself a communist. During the negotiations between the government and the political parties, it was agreed that the government should inform the Reichstag parties of legislative measures passed under the Enabling Act. On February 28, 1933, the day after the fire, Hitlers dictatorship began with the enactment of a decree for the Protection of the People and the State, which dispensed with all constitutional protection of political, personal, and property rights. Once the Enabling Act was introduced, it was hastily passed by the Reichstag and Reichsrat on 23 March 1933. [9][10] By mid-March, the government began sending communists, labor union leaders, and other political dissidents to Dachau, the first Nazi concentration camp.[11]. Transfer of the Reichstag's power to the government under Hitler, Law to Remedy the Distress of People and Reich, National Socialist German Students' League (NSDStB), National Socialist League of the Reich for Physical Exercise (NSRL), Combat League of Revolutionary National Socialists (KGRNS), South African Gentile National Socialist Movement, National Socialist Movement in the Netherlands, National Socialist Workers' Party of Denmark, Nationalist Liberation Alliance (Argentina), Martin Collier, From Kaiser to Fuhrer: Germany, 190045, p. 131, Klaus Scholder "The Churches and the Third Reich" volume 1 pp. [12][13][14] Later that day, the Enabling Act was signed into law by President Paul von Hindenburg. This was Germany's highest court. Reichstag fire | Summary, Significance, Images, Video, Enabling Act The Communists were blamed for the fire 6. In their mouse-holes, out of which they now want to come, of course they hear nothing of the cheering of the masses. 1 / 3 On the 31 January 1933, Hitler, conscious of his lack of a majority in the Reichstag, immediately called for new elections to try and strengthen his position. According to Evans, while Gring was not required to count the KPD deputies in order to get the Enabling Act passed, he was required to "recognize their existence" by counting them for purposes of the quorum needed to call it up, making his refusal to do so "an illegal act".