Members of the Reichstag (Nazi Germany)
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| Members of the Reichstag (Nazi Germany) | |
|---|---|
| Name | Members of the Reichstag (Nazi Germany) |
| Native name | Abgeordnete des Reichstags (NSDAP-Zeit) |
| Jurisdiction | Nazi Germany |
| Established | 1933 |
| Abolished | 1945 |
| Membership | varying (nominal) |
| Authority | Enabling Act of 1933 |
Members of the Reichstag (Nazi Germany)
The members of the Reichstag during the Nazi Party era were the nominal deputies who sat in the Reichstag (German Empire), later the Reichstag (Weimar), and the Reichstag (Nazi Germany) after 1933, operating under the legal framework shaped by the Enabling Act of 1933, the Reichstag Fire Decree, and decrees of the Reich Cabinet. Their composition, selection, and functions were transformed by interactions among the NSDAP, the German State, the SA (Sturmabteilung), the SS (Schutzstaffel), and institutions such as the Presidential Chancellery.
Background and Legal Framework
The legal status of Reichstag members derived from the Weimar Constitution until superseded by the Enabling Act of 1933, which transferred legislative authority to the Reich Cabinet and to Adolf Hitler, reducing the Reichstag to a body subject to the Führerprinzip. The Reichstag Fire Decree curtailed civil liberties and enabled Gestapo actions that affected political representation, while laws such as the Law Against the Formation of New Parties (1933) and the Nazi Gleichschaltung measures dissolved rival parties like the Social Democratic Party of Germany, the Communist Party of Germany, and the Centre Party (Germany), shaping the legal basis for single-party representation. Key statutes and decrees were promulgated in the Reichsgesetzblatt and defended by legal figures like Franz Gürtner and Hans Frank.
Composition and Selection of Members
After the March 1933 German federal election, party lists consolidated representation under the NSDAP, augmented by appointed non-party figures from conservative networks including the German National People's Party, industrialists linked to Thyssen, Krupp, and the Reichsbank elite, and clergy-affiliated deputies connected to the German Evangelical Church. Membership rolls featured veterans of the German Army (Reichswehr), former deputies from the Bavarian People's Party, and technocrats from the Reich Ministry of Economics and the Reich Ministry of Aviation. Recruitment and placement were managed through NSDAP organs such as the Office of the Deputy Führer and personnel lists drawn up by Martin Bormann and regional Gauleiter offices, while seats were filled according to party lists rather than constituency votes, reflecting practices established in the 1933 election and later plebiscitary votes tied to referendums.
Roles, Powers, and Activities
Formally, Reichstag deputies participated in plenary sessions at the Krolloper and approved laws presented by the Reich Government and Adolf Hitler; in practice, the chamber served as a venue for public endorsements of executive decrees, speeches by figures such as Joseph Goebbels and Hermann Göring, and ceremonial ratifications of measures like rearmament initiatives tied to the Four Year Plan. Committees nominally existed but were subordinated to ministries including the Reich Ministry of the Interior and the Reich Ministry of Justice, and deputies often executed roles within state corporations such as the Reich Forestry Office or paramilitary organizations like the SA and SS. Deputies held offices intersecting with institutions such as the Prussian State Council, the Reichstag Presidium, and cultural bodies like the Reichskulturkammer to propagate policies on German art and media.
Party Affiliation and Factional Structure
Although the Reichstag became a single-party body dominated by the NSDAP, internal distinctions persisted: deputies identified with factions linked to the SA, the SS, the Conservative Revolution network, industrialist blocs associated with Fritz Thyssen, and religious conservatives sympathetic to the Centre Party (Germany). Influential NSDAP figures including Gregor Strasser (before 1934), Rudolf Hess, and Alfred Rosenberg signaled ideological currents; administrative cohorts aligned with Hermann Göring and Wilhelm Frick steered economic and policing policy, while party chancellery operatives under Martin Bormann managed appointments. Regionalism survived in attenuated form via the Gau system and leading Gauleiter such as Josef Bürckel and Lutz Schwerin von Krosigk who shaped local delegations.
Notable Members and Biographies
Prominent deputies included Adolf Hitler (as Führer and Reich Chancellor), Paul von Hindenburg (pre-1934 President influencing early appointments), Hermann Göring (Reichstag President and economic overseer), Joseph Goebbels (Propaganda Minister and Reichstag speaker), Rudolf Hess (Deputy Führer until 1941), Wilhelm Frick (Interior Minister), Alfred Rosenberg (ideologist and Reich Minister), Martin Bormann (head of the Party Chancellery), Franz von Papen (Vice-Chancellor briefly aligned), Ernst Röhm (SA leader until 1934), Baldur von Schirach (Hitler Youth leader and deputy), Hjalmar Schacht (economist and Reichsbank figure), Albert Speer (later armaments minister and Reichstag deputy), Rosenberg-aligned cultural figures, conservative allies like Franz Seldte, Catholic-aligned appointees such as Hans Kerrl, and well-known bureaucrats including Fritz Sauckel and Hermann Göring’s industrial patrons. Lesser-known deputies spanned military veterans, Freikorps affiliates, academics linked to Germanic studies, and business directors from firms like IG Farben and Siemens who occupied seats to legitimize policy.
Changes During the Nazi Era and Dissolution
Throughout the Night of the Long Knives, the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, and the escalation to World War II, the Reichstag shifted from a legislative forum to a ceremonial body endorsing foreign and military policy, as exemplified during votes on territorial annexations like the Anschluss of Austria and the incorporation of the Sudetenland. Wartime exigencies elevated ministerial decrees over parliamentary procedure, and casualties, arrests, and party purges altered personnel lists managed by the NSDAP apparatus. The collapse of the Third Reich in 1945 terminated the Reichstag; many former deputies faced postwar trials before the International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg and denazification processes conducted by Allied Control Council authorities.