Editing Weimar Republic (section)

===End of the Weimar Republic===

====Hitler's chancellorship (1933)====
{{See also|Hitler cabinet}}
Hitler was sworn in as chancellor on the morning of 30 January 1933. By early February, the government had begun to clamp down on the opposition. Meetings of the left-wing parties were banned and even some of the moderate parties found their members threatened and assaulted. Measures with an appearance of legality suppressed the Communist Party in mid-February<ref>{{Cite web |last=Scriba |first=Arnulf |date=8 September 2014 |title=Die Kommunistische Partei Deutschlands (KPD) |trans-title=The Communist Party of Germany |url=https://www.dhm.de/lemo/kapitel/weimarer-republik/innenpolitik/kpd |access-date=12 July 2024 |website=Deutsches Historisches Museum |language=de}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Mommsen |first=Hans |title=The Rise and Fall of Weimar Democracy |publisher=University of North Carolina Press |year=1996 |isbn=978-0-807-82249-4 |location=Chapel Hill |page=542 |translator-last=Forster |translator-first=Elborg |translator-last2=Jones |translator-first2=Larry Eugene}}</ref> and included the plainly illegal arrests of Reichstag deputies.

On 27 February 1933 the [[Reichstag fire|Reichstag was gutted by a fire]] which was blamed on an act of arson by [[Marinus van der Lubbe]], a Dutch [[Council communism|council communist]]. Hitler blamed the fire on the KPD (although Van der Lubbe was not a member of the party) and convinced Hindenburg to issue the [[Reichstag Fire Decree]] the following day. The decree invoked [[Article 48 (Weimar Constitution)|Article 48]] of the [[Weimar Constitution]] and "suspended until further notice" a number of constitutional protections of civil liberties, allowing the Nazi government to take swift action against political meetings and to arrest both socialists and communists.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Decree of the Reich President for the Protection of the People and State ("Reichstag Fire Decree") (February 28, 1933) |url=https://ghdi.ghi-dc.org/sub_document.cfm?document_id=2325 |access-date=12 July 2024 |website=German History in Documents and Images (GHDI)}}</ref>

In the [[German federal election, March 1933|Reichstag election]] which took place on 5 March 1933, the NSDAP obtained 17&nbsp;million votes and a scant majority of 16 seats for the NSDAP-DNVP coalition. The Communist, Social Democrat and Catholic Centre votes changed little.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Das Deutsche Reich. Reichstagswahl 1933 |trans-title=The German Reich. Election Results 1933 |url=https://gonschior.de/weimar/Deutschland/RT8.html |access-date=14 July 2024 |website=gonschior.de |language=de}}</ref> It was the last multi-party election of the Weimar Republic and the last in a united Germany for 57 years.

==== Enabling Act ====
{{Main|Enabling Act of 1933}}
In March Hitler submitted a proposal to the Reichstag for an [[enabling act]] that granted all legislative powers to the cabinet and by extension to Hitler. It in effect allowed Hitler's government to act without regard for the constitution.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Pinfield |first1=Nick |title=A/AS Level History for AQA Democracy and Nazism: Germany, 1918–1945 Student Book |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2015 |location=Oxford |page=98}}</ref> Since it formally amended the Weimar Constitution, it required a two-thirds majority to pass, which it obtained (68%) on 23 March, with only the SPD voting against (the KPD had been banned).<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |date=26 April 2024 |title=The Reichstag fire and the Enabling Act |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Enabling-Act |access-date=15 July 2024 |website=Encyclopedia Britannica}}</ref> The combined effect of the [[Enabling Act of 1933|Enabling Act]] and the Reichstag Fire Decree transformed Hitler's government into a legal dictatorship and laid the groundwork for his totalitarian regime. Since July 1933, the NSDAP was the only legally permitted party in Germany. The Reichstag from 1933 onward effectively became the rubber stamp parliament that Hitler had desired.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Edinger |first=Lewis J. |date=April 1953 |title=German Social Democracy and Hitler's 'National Revolution' of 1933: A Study in Democratic Leadership |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/world-politics/article/abs/german-social-democracy-and-hitlers-national-revolution-of-1933-a-study-in-democratic-leadership/40A2DDC744E785ADCE7E169031F7CAA3 |journal=World Politics |language= |volume=5 |issue=3 |pages=330–367 |doi=10.2307/2009137 |issn=1086-3338 |jstor=2009137 |s2cid=153745010}}</ref>

The passage of the Enabling Act of 1933 is widely considered to mark the end of the Weimar Republic and the beginning of [[Nazi Germany]]. It effectively destroyed the checks and balances of the democratic system, concentrating all the power in the hands of Hitler and his inner circle. The Enabling Act played a significant role in the establishment of Hitler's dictatorship and the subsequent events that unfolded during the Nazi era.

====Nazification====
{{See also|Gleichschaltung}}
In the months following the passage of the Enabling Act, all German parties aside from the NSDAP were banned or forced to disband themselves, all trade unions were dissolved<ref name=":1" /> and all media were brought under the control of the [[Reich Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Ministry of Propaganda and Public Enlightenment |url=https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/ministry-of-propaganda-and-public-enlightenment |access-date=16 July 2024 |website=Holocaust Encyclopedia}}</ref> The Reichstag was then dissolved by Hindenburg and [[November 1933 German parliamentary election|a snap one-party election was called]] in November 1933. It gave the NSDAP 100% of the seats in the chamber.<ref>{{Cite web |title=National Socialism (1933 – 1945) |url=https://www.bundestag.de/en/parliament/history/parliamentarism/third_reich/third_reich-200358 |access-date=16 July 2024 |website=Deutscher Bundestag}}</ref> In February 1934, the [[Law on the Reconstruction of the Reich]] abolished all state parliaments and passed state sovereignty to the Reich government.<ref name=":1" />

The constitution of 1919 was never formally repealed,<ref>{{Cite web |last=Wiik |first=Astrid |date=June 2017 |title=Weimar Constitution (1919) |url=https://oxcon.ouplaw.com/display/10.1093/law-mpeccol/law-mpeccol-e44#:~:text=Never%20formally%20repealed%2C%20the%20Weimar,following%20Hitler's%20rise%20to%20power. |access-date=16 July 2024 |website=Oxford Constitutional Law}}</ref> but the Enabling Act meant that it was a dead letter. The Reichstag was effectively eliminated as an active player in German politics. It met only sporadically until the end of [[World War II]], held no debates and enacted only a few laws; for all purposes, it was reduced to a mere stage for Hitler's speeches.<ref>{{Cite web |title="Scheinparlamentarismus" in der NS-Zeit |trans-title=Pseudo-Parliamentarism in the Nazi Era |url=https://www.bundestag.de/resource/blob/190458/e8f380a84d78d9ad730377ad9320285f/scheinparlament.pdf |access-date=16 July 2024 |website=Deutscher Bundestag |language=de}}</ref> The other chamber of the German parliament (the [[Reichsrat (Germany)|Reichsrat]]) was officially abolished on 14 February 1934 by the [[Law on the Abolition of the Reichsrat]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=3 March 2009 |title=Vor 75 Jahren wurde der Reichsrat aufgelöst |trans-title=75 Years Ago the Reichsrat Was Dissolved |url=https://www.bundesrat.de/SharedDocs/texte/09/20090303-reichsrat.html |access-date=16 July 2024 |website=Der Bundesrat |language=de}}</ref> It was in clear violation of the Enabling Act, which stipulated (Article 2) that any laws passed under its authority could not affect the institutions of either chamber.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The "Enabling Act" (March 24, 1933) |url=https://ghdi.ghi-dc.org/sub_document.cfm?document_id=1496 |access-date=16 July 2024 |website=German History in Documents and Images (GHDI)}}</ref> By then, however, the Nazis had become law unto themselves, and the actions were never challenged in court.

Hindenburg's death on 2 August 1934 eliminated any remaining obstacle to full Nazi dominance. The day before he died, the Hitler cabinet passed the [[Law Concerning the Head of State of the German Reich]], the final major part in the Nazification process called ''[[Gleichschaltung]]'' ("coordination"). It transferred the president's powers upon his death, including as Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, to the new post of "''Führer'' and Reich Chancellor",<ref>{{Cite web |title=Gesetz über das Staatsoberhaupt des Deutschen Reichs. Vom 1. August 1934 |trans-title=Law Concerning the Head of State of the German Reich. From 1 August 1934 |url=http://www.documentarchiv.de/ns/stobrhpt.html |access-date=16 July 2024 |website=documentArchiv.de |language=de}}</ref> giving Hitler complete power over the entire Reich without any possibility of checks and balances. The action was later ratified by [[1934 German referendum|a highly non-democratic referendum]]<ref>{{Cite web |title=Gesetz über das Staatsoberhaupt des Deutschen Reichs und Erlaß des Reichskanzlers zum Vollzug des Gesetzes über das Staatsoberhaupt des Deutschen Reichs vom 1. August 1934, 1. und 2. August 1934 |trans-title=Law on the Head of State of the German Empire and Decree of the Chancellor on the Implementation of the Law on the Head of State of the German Empire of 1 August 1934, 1 and 2 August 1934 |url=https://www.1000dokumente.de/index.html?c=dokument_de&dokument=0242_fue&object=context&l=de |access-date=17 July 2024 |website=100(0) Schlüsseldokumente zur deutschen Geschichte im 20. Jahrhundert |language=de}}</ref> which shed the last remains of the Weimar Republic.