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.
