Democracy Destroyed The First 100 Days of Nazi Rule

Day 54, Friday 24 March 1933: Hindenburg signs the Enabling Act; it is published and takes effect the same day

Day 54 of 100

Hindenburg signs the Enabling Act; it is published and takes effect the same day

Hindenburg signed the ‘Law to Remedy the Distress of People and Reich’, countersigned by Hitler, Frick, Neurath and Schwerin von Krosigk; it was printed in the Reichsgesetzblatt that evening and came into force on promulgation. The Centralverein, the largest Jewish organisation, denied foreign atrocity reports while acknowledging ‘political excesses’ against Jews. Labour exchanges counted about 5.9 million unemployed, and a Berlin jury sentenced the banker Hintze to twelve years for killing the singer Gertrud Bindernagel.

A typed page with Articles 4 and 5 of a law, followed by five handwritten signatures under official titles.
The second page of the Enabling Act, dated ‘Berlin, den 24. März 1933’, with the signatures of Hindenburg, Hitler, Frick, von Neurath and Schwerin von Krosigk. Dated this day Adalbert. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Passed by the Reichstag and approved by the Reichsrat on 23 March, the Enabling Act was signed by the Reich President on the morning of Friday 24 March, after the Chancellor and the ministers Frick, von Neurath and Schwerin von Krosigk had countersigned it. A news agency reported that it was printed late that evening; it was the sole content of number 25 of the Reichsgesetzblatt, and under its own Article 5 it took effect on the day of promulgation. The constitutional lawyer Hans Schneider later observed that no law had ever passed through the Weimar procedure for constitutional amendments so quickly.

The Act was limited to four years and was to lapse on 1 April 1937, or earlier if the present government were replaced by another. It did not lapse: the Reichstag extended it in January 1937 and again in January 1939, and in May 1943 a decree issued by Hitler simply directed the government to go on exercising the powers it conferred.

Laws and decrees

Signed Law, Reich President (countersigned by the Reich Chancellor and the Ministers of the Interior, Foreign Affairs and Finance) RGBl. I S. 141

Gesetz zur Behebung der Not von Volk und Reich

Law to Remedy the Distress of People and Reich (Enabling Act)

Allowed the Reich government for four years to enact laws itself, including the budget and laws departing from the constitution, and to conclude treaties without the consent of the legislative bodies.1,2

Read the full text in German and English

Published Decree, Reich President RGBl. I S. 143 (Nr. 26, issued 24 March 1933)

Zweite Verordnung des Reichspräsidenten zur Förderung der Verwendung inländischer tierischer Fette und inländischer Futtermittel

Second Reich President's decree to promote the use of domestic animal fats and fodder

Published with decrees of 23 March on margarine manufacture and on customs: the duty on margarine rose from 30 to 75 Reichsmarks per 100 kilograms from 29 March, and oil fruits, oilseeds and oil cake were brought into the maize monopoly.3,7

Read the full text in German and English

Politics and power

Government, terror and persecution

  1. Government Berlin

    Enabling Act signed, published and in force

    After countersignature by Hitler and the ministers Frick, von Neurath and Graf Schwerin von Krosigk, Hindenburg signed the Enabling Act on Friday morning. It was promulgated the same day in the Reichsgesetzblatt and, under its Article 5, took effect on promulgation.1,2,3,4

  2. Parliament 16:45, Berlin, Tempelhof

    Hindenburg receives the Reichstag presidium; Hitler flies to Munich

    The Reich President received the newly elected Reichstag presidium: President Göring and the vice-presidents Esser, Gräf and Zörner. At 16:45 Hitler took off from Tempelhof airport in a Junkers aircraft for Munich, accompanied by the Nazi Party’s press chief, Dr Dietrich.5

  3. Opposition Berlin

    Severing released

    The former Prussian interior minister Carl Severing, the Social Democrat detained outside the Reichstag on 23 March, was set free but ordered to remain at the authorities’ disposal. Informed quarters insisted that his arrest, like those of the former minister Hermes and of the Reich Commissioner for job creation, Günther Gereke, had criminal rather than political grounds.5,6,7

    Sources disagree. A wire report datelined Berlin, 24 March, says he was released that day; another report says he was held for only a few hours on 23 March and was able to take part in the vote.

  4. Persecution Berlin

    Jewish organisations deny foreign atrocity reports

    The Central Association of German Citizens of Jewish Faith (Centralverein), which described itself as the largest organisation of Germany’s 565,000 Jews, declared foreign reports of mutilated bodies at the Weissensee cemetery and of mass mistreatment to be invented, while acknowledging ‘political excesses’ against Jews during the upheaval. The League of National German Jews told its members to oppose any attempt to influence German affairs from abroad.6,7

  5. The states Breslau

    Mayors of Breslau and Waldenburg suspended

    On orders of the Prussian Interior Minister, the district president in Breslau suspended the city’s lord mayor, Dr Wagner of the State Party, and put the lawyer Dr Rebitzki, a Nazi Party member, in charge; the ministry insisted the step was taken purely for reasons of expediency. Mayor Schubert of Waldenburg was also suspended. In Berlin, Flügel stepped down as chairman of the German Civil Servants’ Federation, at his own request.4

Everyday life

What else was happening in Germany

  1. Economy

    Just under six million registered unemployed

    The Reich Institution for Labour Exchanges reported that seasonal relief had continued in the first half of March: on 15 March about 5,935,000 unemployed were registered. Recipients of unemployment insurance fell by about 84,000 to 858,000, but the number on crisis relief rose to about 1,535,000.8

  2. Crime Berlin

    Twelve years for Hintze

    The jury court at Landgericht III sentenced the banker Wilhelm Hintze, who had shot his wife, the opera singer Gertrud Bindernagel, on 23 October 1932, to twelve years’ penal servitude and ten years’ loss of civil rights for manslaughter, as the prosecutor had asked.9

  3. Radio Berlin

    Dismissed radio engineer and his wife found dead

    Walter Schäffer, chief engineer of the Reich Radio Company until his dismissal about two weeks earlier, and his wife took their lives with gas in Berlin. Grief at the loss of his post and nervous strain were reported as the reasons.10

  4. Economy

    Margarine to cost more

    The new fats decrees raised the duty on margarine and gave the government powers over its manufacture, including the use of colouring, butter flavouring and preservatives and compulsory labelling of raw materials, as well as powers to require domestic tallow in soap and candles.7

Voices

All such allegations are pure invention. … For weeks the German people has been undergoing a political upheaval of enormous scale. In the course of it there have also been political excesses against Jews.

Centralverein deutscher Staatsbürger jüdischen Glaubens, Central Association of German Citizens of Jewish Faith Public statement issued in Berlin on 24 March 1933 in response to foreign press reports of atrocities against Jews, printed in German newspapers the next day; it went on to credit the Reich and state governments with restoring order. Translated by this site.6

More pictures

A typed page headed with the title of the law and the date, followed by numbered articles.
The first page of the Enabling Act: ‘Gesetz zur Behebung der Not von Volk und Reich. Vom 24. März 1933’, Articles 1 to 3. Dated this day Adalbert. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Sources

  1. Gesetz zur Behebung der Not von Volk und Reich (24.03.1933) documentArchiv.de, Full text, signatories, note on promulgation and on the extensions (RGBl. 1937 I S. 105, 1939 I S. 95, 1943 I S. 295)
  2. Hans Schneider, ‘Das Ermächtigungsgesetz vom 24. März 1933’, Vierteljahrshefte für Zeitgeschichte 1 (1953), Heft 3 Institut für Zeitgeschichte, Section II.6 (signature and promulgation) and III.5 (time limit and extensions)
  3. Deutscher Reichsanzeiger und Preußischer Staatsanzeiger, 27 March 1933 Deutsche Digitale Bibliothek, Deutsches Zeitungsportal, p. 1, Reichsverlagsamt notices: RGBl. I Nr. 25 and Nr. 26, both issued 24 March 1933
  4. Solinger Tageblatt, 25 March 1933 Deutsche Digitale Bibliothek, Deutsches Zeitungsportal, p. 4: 'Ermächtigungsgesetz in Kraft'; mayors of Breslau and Waldenburg suspended; chairman of the Beamtenbund resigns
  5. Marbacher Zeitung, 25 March 1933 Deutsche Digitale Bibliothek, Deutsches Zeitungsportal, p. 2, 'Berlin, 24. März': Reichstag presidium received; Hitler flies to Munich
  6. Bergedorfer Zeitung, 25 March 1933 Deutsche Digitale Bibliothek, Deutsches Zeitungsportal, p. 5, 'Der Zentralverein gegen ausländische Greuelmeldungen' (Berlin, 24 March)
  7. Erzgebirgischer Volksfreund, 25 March 1933 Deutsche Digitale Bibliothek, Deutsches Zeitungsportal, p. 2: circular of the Verband nationaldeutscher Juden; margarine duty and fats decrees (Berlin, 24 March)
  8. Verbo Schussen-Bote, 24 March 1933 Deutsche Digitale Bibliothek, Deutsches Zeitungsportal, p. 6, report of the Reichsanstalt für Arbeitsvermittlung for 1-15 March 1933
  9. NS-Kurier (Stuttgart), 24 March 1933 Deutsche Digitale Bibliothek, Deutsches Zeitungsportal, p. 3, 'Zuchthaus für Bankier Hintze' (Berlin, 24 March)
  10. Riesaer Tageblatt und Anzeiger, 24 March 1933 Deutsche Digitale Bibliothek, Deutsches Zeitungsportal, p. 7, death of Walter Schäffer, former chief engineer of the Reichs-Rundfunk-Gesellschaft

Spotted a mistake? Send a correction.

Tip: use the left and right arrow keys to move between days.