Orchestrating the 5th March elections Flashcards
Calling the 5th March elections
1) Hitler got Hindenburg to call another General Election for March 1933.
2) Now that he was in power, Hitler did not want to seize absolute power by revolution but by rigging the election to give the Nazis an overall majority through the legitimacy of the Weimar government.
Goering’s actions as Minster of the Interior in Prussia
1) He purged the Prussian civil service and police of people opposed to the NSDAP, replacing them with Nazis.
2) He recruited 50,000 auxiliary pro-Nazi police which were attached to the SS and SA units to break up rival political meetings and rallies.
3) He issued the ‘shooting decree’ which allowed police to use firearms when dealing with political opposition.
The Reichstag Fire (February 1933)
1) Six days before the March elections, a Dutch Communist Van der Lubbe was sighted wandering around the Reichstag building when it caught fire and burnt to the ground. He had a public trial, was found guilty and was hanged in 1934.
2) Goering arrested 4,000 communists on the night of the Reichstag fir, which essentially prepared a list of the names and addresses of all the key KPD members.
The Reichstag fire decree
1) Hitler, Goering, and the Nazis used the Reichstag fire as a motive to attack the communist party, their biggest rivals, across all of Germany.
2) Hitler asked for an ‘Emergency Fire Decree’ and Hindenburg agreed. This enacted article 48 of the constitution which allowed Hitler to muffle political opponents and key enemies.
Election day
1) The Nazis gained 288 seats and 43% of the popular vote.
2) Hitler kept the communist leaders who were in jail on the ballot paper to split the lest-wing vote.
3) The SA were at every polling booth to intimidate voters.
The Enabling act
The Enabling act gave Hitler the power to enact laws without the consent of the Reichstag.
How did the Nazis pass the enabling act
1) To achieve the 2/3 majority that they needed the Nazis firstly banned the Communist leaders from parliament and openly labeled them as Germany’s enemy.
2) There were barely any Socialists or Social Democrats at the hearing because they were either in hospital or had fled the country due to intimidation.
The Nazis tactic of intimidation
1) The SS surrounded the Reichstag buildings where line of SA members would shout abuse at non-NSDAP figures.
2) The head of the Social Democrats was threatened with violence because he made a speech which stated that he did not support the enabling act.
3) As a result, Hitler won his required 2/3 by controlling the center.
