History As Reminder: March Madness

In the last parliamentary elections of the Weimar Republic in March 1933, the Nazis polled 44% of the vote – not enough for a majority but enough to put down any future political resistance. Within two weeks Adolph Hitler proposed the Enabling Act, a temporary dissolution of the constitution while he dealt with the ‘problems’ facing the nation. The Reichstag passed the proposal 441 to 84. There would be no more elections nor a constitution to keep Hitler in check. The Reichstag had, in effect, voted away its own power.

Capitalizing on the nation’s instability, the temporary became permanent. Hitler took the opportunity to purge anyone whom he disliked or had crossed him; within a matter of weeks it had become illegal to criticize the government. A new secret police force, the Gestapo, immediately began arresting ‘unreliable’ persons, and Dachau, the first concentration camp, was opened to imprison them. Trade unions were banned, freedom of the press curtailed, and all other political parties declared illegal. Germany had become a one-party state with Hitler its leader, and soon its dictator.