“This is a God-given signal, Herr Vice-Chancellor! If this fire, as I believe, is the work of the Communists, that we must crush out this murderous pest with an iron fist.” – Adolf Hitler to Franz von Papen
On January 30, 1933, Adolf Hitler was appointed Chancellor of the Weimar Republic (this was how Germany was referred to after WW I) by the President, Paul von Hindenburg. No party had an outright majority but Hitler’s National Socialist Party entered into a coalition with the National-Conservative Party, giving them 33% of the seats in the German legislative assembly, the Reichstag. The National-Conservatives thought they could tame Hitler. However he had other plans. He wanted to abolish the constitution and democratic rule and establish a nationalist-dictatorial regime. He wanted to do this legally and to this end, he planned to exploit the German constitution. He needed the Enabling Act.
The Enabling Act was a special law that gave the Chancellor the power to pass laws by decree, without the involvement of the Reichstag during states of emergency. These special powers could stay in effect for four years after which they could be renewed. It had been used just once since it was instituted and that was when Germany was hit by hyperinflation shortly after WW I.
Hitler needed to get a two-thirds majority in the Reichstag to enable him to pass the Enabling Act.
The way he went about achieving his vision is worthy of study.
As soon as he was appointed Chancellor in January, 1933, he petitioned President von Hindenburg to dissolve the Reichstag and schedule new elections since there was so much fragmentation. Elections were scheduled for the 5th of March, 1933.
The only other party that stood in Hitler and the Nazis’ way was the German Communist Party. He had to get rid of them. He also had to generate a state of emergency that would justify passing the Enabling Act. He achieved both aims with one blow.
The Reichtag Fire of February 27, 1933.
There is a school of thought that the Nazis set the fire. Even if they didn’t, Hitler exploited it expertly.
On that fateful Monday, a fire broke out in the Reichstag building. It gutted most of the building. Shortly, a young Dutch immigrant, Marinus van der Lubbe, who had arrived recently in Germany was arrested as the culprit. Van der Lubbe was an unemployed bricklayer and a communist. That was all Hitler needed. He declared that the fire was the first in a series of attacks planned by the Communist Party to take over the country through a coup. He called it a “sign from God”.
The day after the fire, he got the president to enact the Reichstag Fire Decree. This basically abolished all civil liberties – habeas corpus, freedom of expression, freedom of the press, the right of free association and public assembly, the secrecy of the post and telephone. It would be years (after the WW II) before they would be reinstated. Newspapers not friendly to the Nazis were banned.
The narrative that the Communist were planing a coup spread like wildfire, helped on by the amazing Nazi propaganda machine and supportive newspapers. A purge of communists ensued and soon, there were none left to contest the elections on March 5, 1933.
The Nazis increased their share of the Reichstag seats. They also received the support of the other right-wing parties like the National People’s Party and the Centre Party. To get to two-thirds, the final step was intimidating the Social Democrats and preventing them from taking their seats in the Reichstag. This they did with ease.
On March 23, 1933, the Reichstag passed the Enabling Act and the rest like they say, is history.
Beware of Reichstag Fires!