Democracy Destroyed The First 100 Days of Nazi Rule

Day 89, Friday 28 April 1933: SA and SS given their own disciplinary law; Wolfgang Köhler's protest appears in print

Day 89 of 100

SA and SS given their own disciplinary law; Wolfgang Köhler’s protest appears in print

The cabinet passed and published a one-sentence law putting SA and SS men under a disciplinary code to be issued by Hitler as supreme SA leader, approved the return of military courts and turned the aviation commissariat into a ministry for Göring. In the Deutsche Allgemeine Zeitung the psychologist Wolfgang Köhler defended his dismissed Jewish colleagues in what was later called the last openly anti-Nazi article published in Germany. Frick named von Tschammer und Osten Reich Sports Commissioner, and the Reichsbahn showed off a road trailer that could carry railway wagons to the door.

Head-and-shoulders portrait of a man with swept-back grey hair in a suit
Wolfgang Köhler, one of the founders of Gestalt psychology and director of the Psychological Institute at Berlin University. For context Historical Library, Swartmore College /The National Academies Press / CC BY-SA 2.5. CC BY-SA 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons

The disciplinary law gave the party’s armed formations a public-law status of their own, with punishment of their members’ breaches of discipline governed by rules set by Hitler. On the same day Göring, as Prussian interior minister, reminded the police that only the regular police authorities could make arrests and that “commissioners for special duties” had no power to order them.

Laws and decrees

Politics and power

Government, terror and persecution

  1. Government Berlin

    Disciplinary law for the SA and SS

    The Reich cabinet passed a law placing members of the SA and SS under a public-law disciplinary authority, according to regulations to be issued by the Reich Chancellor as supreme SA leader. It was signed by the Reich Chancellor and the Reich Interior Minister and promulgated the same day; the official explanation said it was to allow breaches of discipline and order to be punished.1,2,3

  2. Military Berlin

    Military courts to return; Göring becomes aviation minister

    The cabinet also passed a law reintroducing military jurisdiction, expected to take effect on 1 October, heard the Reich Labour Minister’s plan for job creation, and accepted a presidential decree converting the Reich Commissariat for Aviation into a Ministry of Aviation under Göring.2

  3. Terror Berlin

    Göring: only the police may arrest

    In a decree published on 28 April, Göring stated that only the regular police authorities had the power to arrest, acting on their own assessment and on orders only from him, his state secretary or their responsible superiors; “commissioners for special duties” did not count. Police detention on suspicion of corruption was to stop. He threatened to punish breaches without mercy.3

  4. Terror early morning, Berlin-Charlottenburg

    Mass police raid in Charlottenburg

    In the early morning a special police unit, the Kommando z. b. V. Wecke, sealed off several large blocks of flats in a part of Charlottenburg the police described as a Communist stronghold, using about 600 men. Searches were expected to last into the afternoon; the police reported finding some rifles, other weapons and Communist leaflets.4

  5. Opposition Berlin

    Wolfgang Köhler’s “Conversations in Germany”

    The Deutsche Allgemeine Zeitung printed an article by Wolfgang Köhler, director of the Psychological Institute at Berlin University, protesting against the dismissal of Jewish scholars such as the physicist James Franck and defending the patriotism of those who would not join the Nazi Party. Expecting to be arrested, Köhler and members of his institute spent the night playing chamber music; no one came.6

  6. Opposition Berlin

    Salaried employees’ union federation dissolves itself

    An extraordinary congress of the General Free Federation of Salaried Employees (AfA-Bund), the white-collar partner of the free trade unions, met in Berlin. After a short report by its chairman Stähr, delegates of the member unions voted to dissolve the federation with effect from 30 April.5

Everyday life

What else was happening in Germany

  1. Sport Berlin

    A Reich Sports Commissioner

    Interior Minister Frick appointed von Tschammer und Osten Reich Sports Commissioner at the Reich Interior Ministry, a new post with authority over German sport.2

  2. Transport Berlin, Anhalter Bahnhof

    A railway wagon on rubber tyres

    At the Anhalter Bahnhof, in front of the Reichsbahn’s director-general Dorpmüller, invited guests and the press, the railway demonstrated its first road vehicle for carrying whole goods wagons, the “mobile siding” invented by Reichsbahn official Culemeyer and built with the Gotha wagon works: two low chassis on sixteen rubber-tyred wheels, pulled by a motor tractor, to deliver wagons from door to door.7

  3. Society Berlin

    Bank clerks’ association bars Jews

    The German Bank Employees’ Association (Deutscher Bankbeamtenverein) announced that it would no longer accept Jews as members.3

  4. Births and deaths Berlin

    Horst Faas born in Berlin

    Horst Faas was born in Berlin. He grew up during the war and, like all German boys, had to join the Hitler Youth. As a photographer for the Associated Press he became known above all for his coverage of the Vietnam War, which brought him the first of his two Pulitzer Prizes.8

Voices

They believe that only the quality of a human being should determine his worth, that intellectual achievement, character, and obvious contributions to German culture retain their significance whether a person is Jewish or not.

Wolfgang Köhler, psychologist, director of the Psychological Institute, Berlin University From “Gespräche in Deutschland”, Deutsche Allgemeine Zeitung, 28 April 1933, describing friends who refused to join the Nazi Party; English translation as published by Mary Henle (1978)6

More pictures

Portrait photograph of a man in uniform with a moustache
Hans von Tschammer und Osten, appointed Reich Sports Commissioner on 28 April 1933, in a portrait from 1938. For context E. Bieder, Berlin. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Sources

  1. Gesetz betreffend die Dienststrafgewalt über die Mitglieder der SA. und SS. vom 28. April 1933 documentArchiv.de, text after RGBl. 1933 I S. 230, with note on promulgation
  2. Biberacher Zeitung, 29 April 1933 Deutsche Digitale Bibliothek, Zeitungsportal, p. 3, cabinet report and "Ernennung des Reichssportkommissars" (Berlin, 28 April)
  3. Erzgebirgischer Volksfreund, 29 April 1933 Deutsche Digitale Bibliothek, Zeitungsportal, p. 6, "Preußischer Erlaß über Zuständigkeit bei Verhaftungen" and the SA/SS law; p. 5, item on the Bankbeamtenverein (all Berlin, 28 April)
  4. Freiberger Anzeiger und Tageblatt, 29 April 1933 Deutsche Digitale Bibliothek, Zeitungsportal, p. 6, "Großrazzia in Charlottenburg" (Berlin, 28 April)
  5. Weißeritz-Zeitung, 29 April 1933 Deutsche Digitale Bibliothek, Zeitungsportal, p. 15, "Auflösung des Afa-Bundes" (Berlin, 28 April)
  6. One Man Against the Nazis — Wolfgang Köhler Mary Henle, American Psychologist 33 (October 1978); copy in the MPG.PuRe repository, pp. 939–940
  7. Der Rottumbote, 29 April 1933 Deutsche Digitale Bibliothek, Zeitungsportal, p. 6, "Güterwagen frei ins Haus" (Berlin, 28 April)
  8. Horst Faas, AP combat photographer, dies at 79 Associated Press, in the Portland Press Herald, 11 May 2012

Spotted a mistake? Send a correction.

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