The End of Democracy, 1933 (AQA A Level History: Component 2: Depth study): Revision Note

Summary

• Adolf Hitler and the Nazis began to dismantle Germany's democratic laws and institutions very quickly after coming to power

  • A key event in this was the Reichstag fire on 27th February 1933

  • Although many people dispute its cause, a communist was arrested at the scene, convicted and executed

  • This allowed Hitler to claim all communists were a threat and that Germany was under attack

  • Civil liberties were suspended, and thousands of communists and other opponents were arrested and imprisoned without trial

• New elections were held in March 1933, which led to the Nazis and their nationalist allies gaining a majority of deputies

  • Hitler followed this by proposing the Enabling Act which would allow him to pass laws without needing them to be voted on by the Reichstag

  • The act was passed by 444 votes to 94, with communists being banned from voting and only members of the SPD voting against it

• Hitler was now free to pass any laws he wished and imprison any person he saw as a threat

  • However, Hindenburg was still president, the Army was still powerful and could move against the Nazis, and trade unions could organise strikes that could cause significant disruption to Germany

The Reichstag Fire, 1933

• Hitler became Chancellor of Germany on 30th January 1933, but still did not have complete control of Germany:

  • The Nazi Party only controlled one-third of the Reichstag

  • Hindenburg was President of Germany

  • The Weimar Constitution limited the power of the chancellor

• A fire destroyed the Reichstag building on 27th February 1933:

  • A Dutch communist named Marinus van der Lubbe was arrested at the scene and later executed

  • The arrests of around 4,000 communists were a result of the fire

"When I pushed my way into the burning building, we had to climb over the bulging hoses of the Berlin fire brigade, although as yet there were few onlookers. A few officers of my department were already engaged in interrogating Marinus van der Lubbe. Naked from the waist upwards, smeared with dirt and sweating, he sat in front of them, breathing heavily. He panted as if he had completed a tremendous task. There was a wild triumphant gleam in the burning eyes of his pale, haggard young face.

I sat opposite him in the police headquarters several times that night and listened to his confused stories. I read the communist pamphlets he carried in his trouser pockets. They were of the kind which in those days were publicly distributed everywhere.

The voluntary confessions of Marinus van der Lubbe prevented me from thinking that an arsonist who was such an expert in his folly needed any helpers. Why should not a single match be enough to set fire to the cold yet inflammable splendour of the Chamber, the old upholstered furniture, the heavy curtains, and the bone-dry wooden panelling!

But this specialist had used a whole knapsack full of inflammable material. He had been so active that he had laid several dozen fires. With a firelighter he had set the Chamber aflame. Then he had rushed through the big corridors with his burning shirt, which he brandished in his right hand like a torch to lay more fires under the old leather sofas. During this hectic activity, he was overpowered by Reichstag officials."

An extract from a report written by police chief Rudolf Diels in February 1933.

• Hitler persuaded Hindenburg to pass the Decree for the Protection of the People and the State:

  • This suspended civil rights and gave police increased powers of arrest

  • The Reichstag Fire allowed Hitler to scapegoat the Communist Party (KPD)

  • Political opponents were imprisoned legally, and communist newspapers were shut down

  • The SA was able to justify using violence and intimidation towards political opponents

• Some people at the time and historians since have questioned whether van der Lubbe was really responsible for the Reichstag fire

  • The circumstances appeared too convenient for Hitler

  • They allowed him to claim Germany was under attack and argue all of his political opponents was in Germany's best interests

Parties and elections, March 1933

• Elections had already been set for 5 March 1933, and they went ahead despite the fire

  • Many of Hitler's opponents were imprisoned and unable to stand or vote in the elections

  • The Nazis were able to portray themselves as Germany's saviours and the communists as trying to destroy Germany

• The Nazi propaganda was effective and led to them gaining 43.9% of the vote and 288 seats

  • With the 52 seats of their Nationalist Party Allies (DNVP), the Nazis had the majority in the Reichstag they needed

The Enabling Act, 1933

• The Law for Removing the Distress of the People and the Reich, or the Enabling Act, became law on 24th March 1933,

  • It required two-thirds of deputies to vote in favour of it, and it passed by 444 votes to 94

• The SA surrounded the Kroll Opera House where the deputies met instead of the Reichstag

  • All 81 members of the Communist Party were absent as their party was now banned

  • The Centre Party voted in favour of it after they were promised that the Catholic Church would be protected

  • Other members of the Reichstag were intimidated by the SA before the vote took place

  • Only the SPD opposed the vote

• The Act gave the Nazi Party several powers such as:

  • as chancellor, Hitler could propose new laws

  • Hitler’s cabinet could pass these laws

  • these laws could overrule the Weimar Constitution

"After the persecutions that the Social Democratic Party has suffered recently, no one will reasonably demand or expect that it should vote for the Enabling Act proposed here. The elections of March 5 have given the governing parties the majority and thus the possibility of governing in strict adherence to the words and meaning of the Constitution. Where such a possibility exists, there is also an obligation. Criticism is salutary and necessary. Never before, since there has been a German Reichstag, has the control of public affairs by the elected representatives of the people been disabled to such an extent as is happening now, and as will happen even more through the new Enabling Act. Such omnipotence of the government will certainly have all the more serious repercussions inasmuch as the press, too, lacks any freedom of expression."

An extract from a speech by the Social Democratic Deputy, Otto Wells, which he made in the Kroll Opera House on 23rd March 1933, the day before the Enabling Act was passed and the day before it came into force.

Impacts of the Enabling Act

• The Enabling Act was only valid for four years, but it was renewed again in 1937

• Parties in the Reichstag could no longer oppose new laws, marking an end to democratic rule in Germany

The state of Germany by March 1933

• Despite Hitler only coming to power in January 1933, by March 1933 Germany was well on its way to becoming a dictatorship

  • Many civil liberties had been removed

    • People could be arrested and imprisoned without trial

  • Opposition political parties had been banned and their assets confiscated

  • Hitler could now rule without the need for the Reichstag to approve any new laws he introduced

• However, Hitler's grip on power was not completely secure

  • He still faced potential opposition from:

    • Local democracy

    • Trade unions who could organise strikes

    • The Army who could launch a coup d'état

    • President Hindenburg, who could move against him

How far was the end of democracy achieved legally?

• Historians have strongly debated the issue of whether the Nazis ended Democracy legally in Germany

• Those who believe they did point to the election results and the fact that the Enabling Act was passed with an enormous majority

  • They believe that many Germans had become tired of democracy, of which they had no heritage or history, and wanted a return to a single, strong leader

• Those who argue that the Nazis acted illegally point to the suspicion that the Reichstag fire was actually caused by the NSDAP

  • They also argue that deputies were bullied and intimidated by the SA at the Kroll Opera House and that the communist deputies were prevented from voting at all

  • This, they argue, was not a free and fair vote but resulted in the death of German democracy