The Establishment of Hitler's Dictatorship and Its Legality Essay

Issued on March 24th, 1933, and officially named the “Law for Removing the Distress of the People and the Reich”, the Enabling Act essentially meant the end of democracy in Germany, establishing the legal dictatorship of Hitler, by giving him “the power to make laws without the approval of either the Reichstag or the President” . But why would the Reichstag vote for a dictator, and in effect, vote themselves out of existence? In order to ensure that the Reichstag voted in favor of the Enabling Act, Hitler used the method of intimidation and terror to coerce them – when the members of the Reichstag met in the Kroll Opera House to vote, “the [armed] SA and SS men lined up at the exits” 4 menacingly.

Hitler was assisted during this time by a group called Nazis. They were his main supporters and they approved of every decision he made. The Nazis made it their goal to help Adolf Hitler as much as they could. “On March 23, the Nazis proposed new legislation known as the Enabling Bill, a sweeping measure empowering the new government to enact laws without the approval of the Reichstag” (Rice, Earle). This new bill would enable Hitler to do anything that he wanted without his decisions being denied or facing consequences for them. “The Enabling Law granted Hitler absolute powers for a period of four years” (Rice, Earle). Hitler took this opportunity and used it to his

Act was passed on March twenty third. Hitler’s dictatorial efforts were approved and was now

During World War I, Hitler connected to serve in the German armed force. Notwithstanding craftsmanship, Hitler demonstrated an early enthusiasm for German patriotism, dismissing the power of Austria-Hungary. Hitler later indicated these years as the time when he initially developed his hostile to Semitism. On November 8, 1923, Hitler and the SA (Sturmabteilung) raged an open meeting of 3,000 individuals at a huge lager lobby in Munich. During his achievement, Hitler took full control over the administrative and official branches of government, Hitler and his political partners set out on a deliberate concealment of the staying political restriction. On July 14, 1933, Hitler's Nazi Party was announced the main lawful political gathering in Germany. Hindenburg reluctantly consented to designate Hitler as chancellor with a specific end goal to advance political offset. Hitler likewise designed the entry of the Enabling Act, which gave his office full administrative forces for a time of four years and permitted deviations from the constitution. Germany withdrew from the League of Nations, and Hitler reported a huge extension of Germany's military. The Great Depression in Germany gave a political chance to Hitler. As head of state, Hitler got to be incomparable administrator of the military. Somewhere around 1939 and 1945, Nazis and their

What or even who was accountable for Hitler’s rise to power? Many believe that there was only one contributing factor for his rise to power. Some state that Hitler could not have risen to power in any other than Germany, implying that he was nothing more than a product of German culture. From others perspective they believe that Hitler made himself dictator by means of his political genius. And yet still theirs others that profess it was the weak democratic government of the Weimar Republic or Germany’s social and economic scene in the 1930’s that made the people restless and prepared for a dictator to come to power. Hitler 's rise to power cannot be attributed to one event, but a mixture of factors including events happening outside Germany, the strengths of the Nazi party, and the weaknesses of other parties within Germany. Hitler used these factors to his advantage and in 1933 he legitimately gained power to become chancellor. One reason for his rise to power being the political and economic chaos of the 1920’s and the 1930’s joined forces with German culture that enabled Hitler to rise to power. Both play an comparable part. Hand in hand, both reasons fit together like pieces of a puzzle, to create a unique situation for Hitler’s rise.

On March 23rd, the Enabling Act was passed. This dispersed Germany’s constitution for a period of four years, allowing the Nazis to write laws in order to deal with the problems the country was facing. When the end of 1933 came, the Nazis were well on their way to establishing a totalitarian and Fascist government. On August 2nd, 1934, Adolf’s dream was finally realized when he abolished the presidency and named himself der Führer, the sole leader of Germany.

In 1929 Hitler and the Nazi party came to power by the vote of ordinary people. Because of stock market crash in 1929 the message of the Nazi party appealed to Germans more than ever. The Nazi propaganda was very easy to accept by offering hope, and its provision of a scapegoat, the Jews, and Communists. Although Hitler lost to Hindenburg he became a much more popular as a result and the Nazis came to hold more than one third of the seats in the parliament. Hindenburg disliked Hitler, but he advised that Hitler could be kept under control, so he named him chancellor. Once Hitler had a position of power he used the Nazi majority he declared a national state of emergency. Germany soon became a one party police state as all non-Nazis were forced out of office and freedoms were taken away. All opposing parties were banned and their leaders were jailed. On March 23, 1993 the Enabling Act was passed (Jackel 56). This law would hand over the constitutional functions of the Reichstag to Hitler, including power to make laws, control the budget and approve treaties

As Chancellor of Germany, one of Hitler’s first decisions was to get the Enabling Act passed; this had a huge impact on the people of Germany. “Shortly after the bill became law, Joseph Goebbels wrote that Hitler now had full power to push Germany forward. He made no mention of the Cabinet. In fact, there was no Cabinet input in the sense that a modern Cabinet would expect to function.” (“History Learning Site”). The Enabling Act made Hitler the de facto dictator of Germany. However, Hitler did not to have the intention

Members were taking the law into their own hands and this gave the impression of a revolution from below. The Enabling Law was the constitutional foundation stone of the Third Reich. In purely legal terms the Weimar Constitution was not dissolved in 1945, and the Enabling Law provided a legal basis for the dictatorship which evolved from 1933. Gleichschaltung could never allow the existence of other political parties. Nazism openly rejected democracy and any concessions to alternative opinions. Instead, it aspired to establish authoritarian rule within a one party state. The regions had a very strong tradition in Germany. This contradicted Nazi ideas to create a fully unified country. Nazi activists had already exploited the climate of February-March 1933 to intimidate opponents and to infiltrate federal governments. A law of March 1933 dissolved regional parliaments and reformed them with acceptable majorities, allowing the Nazis to dominate regional state governments. In January 1934, regional parliaments were abolished. The governments of all the states were subordinated.

Power is a double-edged sword. It has the capacity to do positive things and be a good force, but often turns into a slippery slope. Powerlessness is similar in fashion as it serves a purpose to elevate the notion of power, acting as a sort of byproduct of power, but is often a forced position that puts the “participant” at the bottom of the totem pole.

1933: Enabling act was passed by Hitler on March 23rd. This gave him ultimate power to make any laws without consent of anyone not even the government: Reichstag. The Nazi party lost the parliamentary election so he had the cabinet help set up the Enabling Act plan. President von Hindenburg agreed to give Hitler this power for only about four years because of Germany's current desperate state. Germany needed a strong leader that could make good decisions fast. Civil liberties such as habeas corpus were suspended by Hitler. He also used his power raid communist offices and arresting

Adolf Hitler was appointed Chancellor in 1933, that same year the ‘Enabling Act’ was passed and Germany transformed from a Democracy into a Dictatorship. Hitler had three main plans in his vision of Germany. Firstly he was to rebuild Germany’s economy, secondly he was to make Germany a powerful nation again and thirdly he was to create a ‘pure German’ society by getting rid of racial minority groups, especially Jews. When the Nazi party came to power in 1933, Germany was changed forever. These three main aims dramatically impacted the German people in many ways; they lost their right to freedom of speech, were forced to live as Hitler ordered and they were forced to agree with

On February 27, 1933, the Reichstag building burned down and a retarded Dutch boy claiming he worked for the communists was arrested for arson. There is evidence to prove that the Nazis themselves had set the fire, but in any case, Hitler used the incident to persuade Hindenburg to restrict all individual rights and declare that the central government could oust any state government failing to maintain order. Hitler systematically took control of all of the state governments this way. Hitler 's private army, the S.A., roamed the streets terrorizing political opponents. Even so, the Nazis only won 43.9 percent of the vote in 1933. To gain a two-thirds majority Hitler formed an alliance with the Nationalist party, and declared the communist party illegal.

As a result of the Wall Street Crash unemployment in Germany grew exponentially. Many workers had lost their jobs and therefore lots turned to communism, but this frightened wealthy businessmen and so they financed Hitler's campaigns. Furthermore, many middle-class people, alarmed by the obvious failure of the Weimar Government, decided

And effectively allow him to establish a dictatorship. The Nationalists were prepared to support him in this, but even then Hitler wouldn’t have the two thirds of the votes needed. After he got his enabling act, the Reichstag had in effect voted itself out of existence. It had voted to introduce a Nazi dictatorship. Now that Hitler had dictorial powers, he proceeded to extend his control further.