Thursday, March 23, 2017

This Day in History [1933] - The Weimar Republic Dies




The usual caveat applies - I don't endorse Hitler.

Shortly after Hindenburg handed power to Adolf Hitler on January 30, 1933, Hitler persuaded Hindenburg to do something he refused to do for his predecessor [Kurt von Schleicher] only four days prior: dissolve the Reichstag and hold new elections.  The next day, Hitler addressed the nation on German radio.  In his Appeal of the Reich Government to the German People, Hitler gave a campaign speech.  He portrayed November 9, 1918 [the day the Kaiser “abdicated” and the Social Democrats proclaimed a republic] as the day the German people fell from grace.  He described the fourteen years since then as “fourteen year of Marxism” that ruined Germany, and that one year of Bolshevism would “annihilate Germany”.  He asked the German people for four years to save German farmers from “pauperism”, completely eliminate employment, and put the country’s finances on a “sound basis”.  He also vowed to “protect Christianity” and declared war on “cultural nihilism”, which he attributed to Communists.  These were themes he repeated in his February 10th speech at Berlin’s Sportpalast.

Two days later [at the invitation of General von Blomberg] he addressed a group of senior German army officers.  At this meeting, he expressed zero tolerance of opposition and promised “extermination of Marxism root and branch”.  He told the gathering that the firmest authoritarian leadership and the “removal of the damaging cancer of democracy” [the ‘November parties’ and the Communists] was necessary for internal recovery.  He promised rearmament and a return of general conscription, and to remove the army from German internal politics.  Meanwhile in Prussia, Hermann Göring [in his role as Minister of the Interior] purged the police of non-Nazis and deputized 50,000 Stormtroopers.  This meant they could legally carry out their harassment of Communists with impunity.  The Reichstag Fire decree had given Göring the legal cover to act as he did.  Within the decree, there was a brief paragraph that gave the Reich government the right to intervene in the German Länder the right to intervene in order to “restore order”.   

The Reichstag Fire happened on February 27th, for which Hitler and his followers blamed the Communists.  Coming conveniently only one week before German voters went to the polls on March 5th, the subsequent Reichstag Fire decree – with its suspension of civil liberties and haebeas corpus– declared open season on Communists.  Thousands of Communists were jailed, others went into hiding.  These actions suppressed the Communist vote, and the Communists were effectively eliminated as a political force, though they were not banned outright.  Social Democrats [SPD] also felt the wrath of Nazi Stormtroopers.  They broke up SPD meetings, beating up speakers and audience alike.  The government also banned newspapers of the SPD and the Catholic Center Party. 
The Nazi Party got the most votes in the March 5th election 44 percent of the vote.  But only with the help of the German National People’s Party were the Nazis able to secure a Reichstag majority.  The newly elected Reichstag met at the Potsdam Garrison Church amid much pomp and ceremony.  The ceremony was meant to portray the continuity from the old Prussian monarchical tradition [as embodied by Hindenburg’s presence] and the new Nazi regime.  Two days later, the Nazis introduced an enabling act to the Reichstag.  The Enabling Act of 1933 [called the Law to Remove the Distress of People and State] had two main provisions: it gave Hitler dictatorial powers for four years.  It could be renewed every four years by the Reichstag.  Lawmaking was taken from the Reichstag and was given to the Hitler’s cabinet [in theory – in practice, the power passed to Hitler himself]; second, Hitler didn’t need Hindenburg’s agreement under Article 48 of the Weimar Constitution, which allowed the Reich Chancellor to rule by decree with presidential approval.


Because the law allowed for departures from the constitution, the law itself was considered a constitutional amendment.  For such a law to pass it required approval of 2/3 of those Reichstag deputies present and voting.  Hermann Göring, as Reichstag president, changed procedural rules to make it easier for the law to pass.  Under normal rules 2/3 of Reichstag membership [not just of those who just showed up and voted] was required to bring the constitutional bill to the floor for debate.  Out of 584 total members that meant 423 would have to be present.  The Social Democrats and the Communists were expected to vote against it.  By simply ignoring the 81 Communist members, Göring reduced the quorum number to 378.  For those Communist members who weren’t present [probably arrested or in hiding], Göring declared any member “absent without excuse” to be considered as “present”.  Some SPD members were arrested by the Nazis under provisions of the Reichstag Fire decree.  Additionally, the Kroll Opera House [where the Reichstag assembled after the fire] was crawling with SA Stormtroopers as an added intimidation factor.  Hitler’s coalition partners in the German National People’s Party [DNVP] were already on board with the program.  Hitler then won the support of the Catholic Center Party.  They got a “written guarantee” that included a pledge to respect the continued existence of the constituent states [Länder], the Reichstag, an independent judiciary, and the presidency. Most importantly, Hitler pledged to respect the independence of the Catholic Church in Germany.  With the Communists out of the picture that left only the SPD in opposition.
Otto Wels: The Only Man to Publicly Oppose Hitler


During the debate over the act, Hitler pleaded his case by telling the assembled members that the “Marxists” [his term for the SDP] were responsible for the sad state of German affairs, to include toppling the monarchy, fomenting revolution, assuming the “war guilt” for World War I, the hyperinflation, the high unemployment, etc.  He also explained that he wanted to completely change the German mindset and all that help shape it - the entire system of education, the theater, the cinema, literature, the press, and radio.
SPD leader Otto Wels was the only dissenting voice in the debate, the only one to oppose Hitler publicly, and to his face.  He objected to Hitler’s characterization of a willingness by the SPD to accept “war guilt” for World War I.  He painted a picture of the SPD government having only four hours to accept or reject the “war guilt” clause of the Versailles treaty, otherwise the armistice of November 11, 1918 would expire and the Allies would resume hostilities.  Wels argued that if Hitler and the Nazis actually believed the brand of Socialism that they espoused, there would be no need for an Enabling Act.  He pleaded the SPD’s case for saving the German nation immediately after World War I:  
 
“No good can come of a dictated peace; and this applies all the more to domestic affairs.  A real Volksgemeinschaft cannot be established on such a basis. That requires first of all equality of rights. May the Government guard itself against crude excesses of polemics; may it prohibit incitements to violence with rigorousness for its own part. This might be achieved if it is accomplished fairly and objectively on all sides and if one refrains from treating defeated enemies as though they were outlaws. 

Freedom and life they can take from us, but not honor. 

We Social Democrats have borne joint responsibility in the most difficult of times and have been stoned as our reward.  Our achievements in reconstructing the State and the economy and in liberating the occupied territories will prevail in history.  We have created equal rights for all and socially-oriented labor legislation. We have aided in creating a Germany in which the path to leadership is open not only to counts and barons, but also to men of the working class…

The Weimar Constitution is not a Socialist Constitution. But we adhere to the basic principles of a constitutional state, to the equality of rights, and the concept of social legislation anchored therein. We German Social Democrats solemnly pledge ourselves in this historic hour to the principles of humanity and justice, of freedom and Socialism.  No Enabling Act can give you the power to destroy ideas which are eternal and indestructible. You yourself have professed your belief in Socialism. Bismarck’s Law against Socialists has not destroyed the Social Democratic Party. Even further persecution can be a source of new strength to the German Social Democratic Party.  We hail those who are persecuted and in despair. We hail our friends in the Reich. Their steadfastness and loyalty are worthy of acclaim. The courage of their convictions, their unbroken faith - are the guarantees of a brighter future.” 

Hitler knew what Wels was going to say [he was given Wels’ remarks prior to the debate], and to this he had a retort: 

You declare that the Social Democratic Party subscribes to our foreign policy program; that it rejects the lie of war guilt; that it is against reparations. Now I may ask just one question: where was this fight during the time you had power in Germany? You once had the opportunity to dictate the law of domestic behavior to the German Volk…

You state that being stripped of power does not mean being stripped of honor.  You are right; that does not necessarily have to be the case. Even if we were divested of our power, I know we would not be divested of our honor. Thanks to having been oppressed by your party, our Movement had been stripped of power for years; it has never been stripped of honor. 

It is my conviction that we shall inoculate the German Volk with a spirit that, in view of the Volk’s defenselessness today, Mr. Deputy, will certainly never allow it to be stripped of its honor.  Here, too, it was your responsibility, you who were in power for fourteen years, to ensure that this German Volk had set an example of honor to the world. It was your responsibility to ensure that, if the rest of the world insisted upon suppressing us, at least the type of suppression the German Volk was subjected to would be one of dignity. You had the opportunity to speak out against all of the manifestations of disgrace in our Volk. You could have eliminated this treason just as easily as we will eliminate it…

Your death knell has sounded as well, and it is only because we are thinking of Germany and its distress and the requirements of national life that we appeal in this hour to the German Reichstag to give its consent to what we could have taken at any rate." 
The Enabling Act passed by a vote of 444 to 94.  Only the SPD voted against it.  In effect, the Reichstag voted itself out of existence.  And so on this date, the Weimar Republic died.  The republic's death was long, slow and painful, but the coup de grace was quick.  It took Hitler only 52 days to kill the Weimar Republic once Hindenburg handed power to him.  Hindenburg was still Reich President, but his signature on the Enabling Act of 1933 gave Hitler a free hand to do whatever he wanted.


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