Editing Weimar Republic (section)

==== 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.