Enabling Act of 1933

Enabling Act of 1933
Georg Pahl · CC BY-SA 3.0 de · source
Name	Enabling Act of 1933
Long title	Law to Remedy the Distress of the People and the Reich
Enacted by	Reichstag
Signed by	Paul von Hindenburg
Signed date	March 23, 1933
Repealed by	Allied occupation / Basic Law (1949)

Enabling Act of 1933 The Enabling Act of 1933 was a pivotal Weimar Republic-era statute that transferred legislative authority from the Reichstag to the Cabinet led by Adolf Hitler, permitting laws to be enacted without parliamentary consent. The measure followed the Reichstag fire and the Prussian coup-era crisis, dramatically altering the relationship between the Nazi Party and existing constitutional institutions such as the President of the Reich Paul von Hindenburg and the Reich justice system.

Background and Passage

The law emerged in the aftermath of the Reichstag fire of February 1933, after which the Reichstag Fire Decree curtailed civil liberties and enabled mass arrests of opponents from Social Democratic Party, Communist Party, and other groups. Facing political deadlock involving the Centre Party, DNVP, and Stahlhelm, Chancellor Adolf Hitler and Interior Minister Wilhelm Frick sought emergency powers. Negotiations involved senior figures including Franz von Papen, Kurt von Schleicher, and industrialists like Friedrich Flick and Gustav Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach, and relied on support from conservative elites such as President Paul von Hindenburg and military commanders from the Reichswehr. Parliamentary maneuvering in the Reichstag included pressure tactics by the SA and SS and legal counsel from jurists tied to the Prussian Ministry of the Interior. Passage required a two-thirds majority under the Weimar Constitution because it amended constitutional procedures; parties such as the Centre Party and the DNVP provided key votes amid intimidation of Communist deputies.

Provisions of the Law

The statute, formally titled the Law to Remedy the Distress of People and Reich, authorized the Cabinet to enact laws, including ones that deviated from the Weimar Constitution, for a four-year period without Reichstag consent. It allowed measures to take effect notwithstanding constitutional articles concerning individual rights, legislative procedure, and federal-state relations involving the Länder such as Prussia, Bavaria, and Saxony. The law required that laws affecting the President of the Reich retain his authority but effectively subordinated the Reichspräsident to executive decrees. Several ministries including the Interior Ministry and Justice Ministry gained enhanced regulatory scope, while emergency provisions mirrored those in prior acts like the Reichstag Fire Decree. The enabling statute legally sanctioned future measures targeting organizations including the SPD and trade unions such as the ADGB.

Political and Legal Effects

Legally, the law nullified key checks provided by the Weimar Constitution and undermined bodies like the Reichsgericht and state parliaments in Prussia and elsewhere. Politically, it facilitated the marginalization of parties such as the SPD and Centre Party and accelerated the banning of the KPD. The statute enabled coordination (Gleichschaltung) policies affecting institutions like the German Press, universities, and Trade unions while consolidating power around Adolf Hitler and party organs such as the NSDAP leadership, including figures like Hermann Göring and Joseph Goebbels. The law also influenced debates in comparative constitutionalism and emergency powers, drawing attention from scholars in jurisdictions including the United Kingdom and the United States.

Implementation and Consolidation of Power

After enactment, the Cabinet issued numerous decrees restructuring state governments, dissolving state parliaments, and replacing elected officials with appointed Reich Commissioners affiliated with the NSDAP. The process included the dissolution of trade unions, the formation of the Deutsche Arbeitsfront, and purges such as the Night of the Long Knives that removed rivals like elements linked to Ernst Röhm. Key ministries and institutions—including the Gestapo, Reich Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda, and Reich Ministry of the Interior—were expanded under ministers such as Heinrich Himmler and Hermann Göring. Legal rationalizations came from jurists in the Reich Ministry of Justice and scholars associated with the Kaiser Wilhelm Society, while administrative centralization affected federal entities from Prussian administration to municipal councils in cities like Berlin, Munich, and Hamburg.

Domestic and International Reactions

Domestically, reactions ranged from support among industrialists like Thyssen and conservative elites to opposition and emigration by intellectuals including Albert Einstein and political activists from SPD and KPD. Cultural institutions such as the Berlin Philharmonic and publishing houses experienced censorship and Gleichschaltung under figures like Joseph Goebbels. International responses included concern and analysis by governments in the United Kingdom, France, and the United States, with diplomats and commentators in capitals like London, Paris, and Washington, D.C. debating recognition and policy. Some foreign businesses and bankers, including firms linked to Standard Oil and Rothschild networks, adjusted relations with the German state. The enabling legislation later became a focal point during postwar legal reckonings and the Nuremberg Trials, influencing denazification under Allied Control Council policies and shaping constitutional safeguards in the Basic Law of 1949.

Category:Legal history of Germany