Everything about German Election 1933 totally explained
The
8th German Reichstag election of the
Weimar Republic was held on
March 5 1933, shortly after the Reichstag building had burned, and was the last election to be held in
Germany before
World War II. Because of the success of the
Nazi Party and its ally in the poll, its leader and
Chancellor of Germany,
Adolf Hitler, was able to pass the
Enabling Act, which effectively gave him the power of a dictator.
The election took place shortly after the
Reichstag fire, in which the German parliament was set alight, allegedly by a Dutch
Communist,
Marinus van der Lubbe. This event had the joint effect of lowering the popularity of the
Communist Party (KPD), and enabling Hitler to persuade President
Paul von Hindenburg to pass the
Reichstag Fire Decree. This emergency law removed many civil liberties and allowed the arrest of the leaders of the KPD shortly before the election, suppressing the Communist vote and consolidating the position of the Nazis. Hence, the fire is widely believed to have had a major effect on the outcome of the election. As replacement, and for 10 years to come, the new parliament used the
Kroll Opera house for its meetings.
However, despite achieving a much better result than in the
November 1932 election, the Nazis didn't do as well as Hitler had hoped, polling 43.9%, rather than the 50+% that he'd expected. Therefore, he was forced to maintain his coalition with the Nationalist
German National People's Party (DNVP) to control a majority. In addition to this, Hitler needed a two-thirds majority to pass the
Enabling Act (a law which allowed him to pass laws without consulting the
Reichstag), which he gained by persuading the
Centre Party to vote with him. The bill was passed on
March 23. Only the Social Democrats opposed the measure, which came into effect on March 27. Moreover, Social Democratic representation was suppressed, because some Social Democratic deputies that were elected to the Reichstag were prevented from taking their seats by the Nazi SA. Had the Communist Party participated, its representatives would have contributed 17% of the Reichstag votes. Instead, their representatives were under arrest for their suspect role in the Reichstag Fire. Though the Enabling Act was only meant to be effective for four years, it was formally prolonged twice. The powers gained from the bill allowed the KPD and
Social Democratic Party (SPD) to be outlawed, and firmly established Germany as a dictatorship.
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