The Reichstag (, " Diet of the

Realm A realm is a community or territory over which a sovereign rules. The term is commonly used to describe a monarchical or dynastic state. A realm may also be a subdivision within an empire, if it has its own monarch, e.g. the German Empire. Etymo ...

"), officially the Greater German Reichstag () after 1938, was the national

parliament In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...

from 1933 to 1945. Following the

Nazi seizure of power The rise to power of Adolf Hitler, dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945, began in the newly established Weimar Republic in September 1919, when Hitler joined the '' Deutsche Arbeiterpartei'' (DAP; German Workers' Party). He quickly rose t ...

and the enactment of the

Enabling Act of 1933 The Enabling Act of 1933 ( German: ', officially titled ' ), was a law that gave the German Cabinet—most importantly, the chancellor, Adolf Hitler—the power to make and enforce laws without the involvement of the Reichstag or President Pa ...

, it functioned purely as a

rubber stamp A rubber stamp is an image or pattern that has been carved, molded, laser engraved, or vulcanized onto a sheet of rubber. Rubber stamping, also called stamping, is a craft in which some type of ink made of dye or pigment is applied to a rub ...

for the actions of

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...

's dictatorshipalways by unanimous consentand as a forum to listen to Hitler's speeches. In this purely ceremonial role, the Reichstag convened only 20 times, the last on 26 April 1942. The President of the Reichstag () throughout this period was

Hermann Göring Hermann Wilhelm Göring (or Goering; ; 12 January 1893 – 15 October 1946) was a German Nazism, Nazi politician, aviator, military leader, and convicted war criminal. He was one of the most powerful figures in the Nazi Party, which gov ...

. During this period, the Reichstag was sometimes derisively referred to by the German public as the "''teuerste Gesangsverein Deutschlands''" (the most expensive singing club in Germany) due to frequent singing of the national anthem during sessions. To avoid holding scheduled elections during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, in 1943 Hitler extended the term of office of the current Reichstag (elected in late 1938 to serve in 1939–1943) to serve a special eight-year term to end on 30 January 1947.

History

Background

In 1920–1923 and from 1930 on, the

Weimar Republic The Weimar Republic, officially known as the German Reich, was the German Reich, German state from 1918 to 1933, during which it was a constitutional republic for the first time in history; hence it is also referred to, and unofficially proclai ...

's democratically elected '' Reichstag'' was frequently circumvented by two legal instruments: * The use of special powers granted to the

President of Germany The president of Germany, officially titled the Federal President of the Federal Republic of Germany (),The official title within Germany is ', with ' being added in international correspondence; the official English title is President of the F ...

under an Emergency Decree in

Article 48 Article 48 of the Weimar constitution, constitution of the Weimar Republic of Germany (1919–1933) allowed the President of Germany (1919–1945), Reich president, under certain circumstances, to take emergency measures without the prior consen ...

of the

Weimar Constitution The Constitution of the German Reich (), usually known as the Weimar Constitution (), was the constitution that governed Germany during the Weimar Republic era. The constitution created a federal semi-presidential republic with a parliament whose ...

* The use of

Enabling act An enabling act is a piece of legislation by which a legislative body grants an entity which depends on it (for authorization or legitimacy) for the delegation of the legislative body's power to take certain actions. For example, enabling act ...

s (which were seen as constitutional since they were passed by a two-thirds majority, the same as was required for an amendment), especially during 1919–1923 and then finally in

1933 Events January * January 11 – Australian aviator Sir Charles Kingsford Smith makes the first commercial flight between Australia and New Zealand. * January 17 – The United States Congress votes in favour of Philippines independen ...

. The former practice became more and more common after 1930. Due to the

proportional representation Proportional representation (PR) refers to any electoral system under which subgroups of an electorate are reflected proportionately in the elected body. The concept applies mainly to political divisions (Political party, political parties) amon ...

voting system, it was extremely difficult for a government to have a stable majority. Frequently, when a Chancellor was voted out of office, his successor could not be assured of a majority. As a result, Chancellors often tried to use Article 48 simply to conduct government business. Following the

Reichstag fire The Reichstag fire (, ) was an arson attack on the Reichstag building, home of the German parliament in Berlin, on Monday, 27 February 1933, precisely four weeks after Adolf Hitler was sworn in as Chancellor of Germany. Marinus van der Lubbe, ...

on 27 February 1933, Hitler persuaded President

Paul von Hindenburg Paul Ludwig Hans Anton von Beneckendorff und von Hindenburg (2 October 1847 – 2 August 1934) was a German military and political leader who led the Imperial German Army during the First World War and later became President of Germany (1919� ...

to issue the Decree for the Protection of People and State, which suspended most of the

civil rights Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' political freedom, freedom from infringement by governments, social organizations, and private individuals. They ensure one's entitlement to participate in the civil and ...

enshrined in the constitution. When elections in March did not yield a Nazi majority, Hitler had to rely on his coalition partner, the

German National People's Party The German National People's Party (, DNVP) was a national-conservative and German monarchy, monarchist political party in Germany during the Weimar Republic. Before the rise of the Nazi Party, it was the major nationalist party in Weimar German ...

(DNVP), to command a majority in the Reichstag. At the new Reichstag's first session, Hitler introduced the

, which allowed the government to enact laws on its own authority for a four-year period. With certain exceptions (which were in practice disregarded), those laws could deviate from articles in the constitution. Though formally only the Government as a whole could enact laws, Hitler in effect exercised that right by himself. The Nazis used the provisions of the Reichstag Fire Decree to arrest all deputies from the

Communist Party of Germany The Communist Party of Germany (, ; KPD ) was a major Far-left politics, far-left political party in the Weimar Republic during the interwar period, German resistance to Nazism, underground resistance movement in Nazi Germany, and minor party ...

(KPD) and detain several deputies from the

Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties Form ...

(SPD). Several other SPD deputies saw the writing on the wall and fled into exile. Ultimately, the Enabling Act passed by a margin of 444–94, with only the SPD voting against it. However, the session took place in such an intimidating atmosphere that even if all 81 KPD deputies and 120 SPD deputies had been present, the Enabling Act would have still passed by more than the two-thirds majority required. Before the summer was out, all other parties had either been banned or intimidated into closing down (some were even intimidated into joining the Nazis), and the

Nazi Party The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party ( or NSDAP), was a far-right politics, far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that created and supported the ideology of Nazism. Its precursor ...

was the only legally permitted party in Germany to all intents and purposes, Germany had become a one-party state with the passage of the Enabling Act. With the formal ban of opposition parties by the " Law Against the Formation of Parties" (14 July 1933), the provision of Article 48 that allowed the Reichstag to demand the cancellation of the emergency measures was effectively negated. In the parliamentary elections of 12 November 1933, voters were presented with a single list from the Nazi Party under far-from-secret conditions (see below). The list carried with 92.1 percent of the vote. As a measure of the great care Hitler took to give his dictatorship the appearance of legal sanction, the Enabling Act was subsequently renewed by the Reichstag in 1937 and 1941. The Reichstag only met 12 times between 1933 and 1939, and enacted only four laws — the "

Law on the Reconstruction of the Reich The Law on the Reconstruction of the Reich () of 30 January 1934, was a sweeping constitutional change to the structure of the German state by the government of Nazi Germany. It was one of the key pieces of legislation that served as the basis f ...

" of 1934 (which turned Germany into a highly centralized state) and the three "

Nuremberg Laws The Nuremberg Laws (, ) were antisemitic and racist laws that were enacted in Nazi Germany on 15 September 1935, at a special meeting of the Reichstag convened during the annual Nuremberg Rally of the Nazi Party. The two laws were the Law ...

" of 1935. All passed unanimously. It would only meet eight more times after the start of the war. On 30 January 1939, in the aftermath of

Kristallnacht ( ) or the Night of Broken Glass, also called the November pogrom(s) (, ), was a pogrom against Jews carried out by the Nazi Party's (SA) and (SS) paramilitary forces along with some participation from the Hitler Youth and German civilia ...

and rising international tensions, Adolf Hitler made a speech proclaiming that a war would lead to the " annihilation of the Jewish race in Europe." On 1 September 1939 Hitler addressed the Reichstag, announcing the

invasion of Poland The invasion of Poland, also known as the September Campaign, Polish Campaign, and Polish Defensive War of 1939 (1 September – 6 October 1939), was a joint attack on the Second Polish Republic, Republic of Poland by Nazi Germany, the Slovak R ...

and the beginning of

Building

The original

Reichstag building The Reichstag (; ) is a historic legislative government building on Platz der Republik in Berlin that is the seat of the German Bundestag. It is also the meeting place of the Federal Convention, which elects the President of Germany. The Ne ...

() was unusable after the

, so the Kroll Opera House was modified into a legislative chamber and served as the location of all parliamentary sessions during the

Third Reich Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a totalitarian dictat ...

. It was chosen both for its convenient location facing the Reichstag building and for its

seating capacity Seating capacity is the number of people who can be seated in a specific space, in terms of both the physical space available and limitations set by law. Seating capacity can be used in the description of anything ranging from an automobile that ...

. The Kroll Opera House was devastated by Allied bombing on 12 November 1943 (coincidentally, the tenth anniversary of the first Nazi Reichstag's election). It was then essentially destroyed in the

Battle of Berlin The Battle of Berlin, designated as the Berlin Strategic Offensive Operation by the Soviet Union, and also known as the Fall of Berlin, was one of the last major offensives of the European theatre of World War II. After the Vistula–Od ...

in 1945.

Elections and plebiscites in Nazi Germany

The federal election in March 1933 was the last all-German election prior to World War II that was competitive. From then on, while elections were still held, voters were presented with a single list comprising Nazis and "guests" of the party. These "guests", however, fully supported Hitler in any event. Elections during this time were not secret; voters were often threatened with severe reprisals if they failed to vote or dared to vote no. Under the circumstances, the Nazi list carried with well over 90 percent of the vote each time. Until enactment of the Nuremberg Laws in 1935, Jews, Poles and other ethnic minorities still held nominal citizenship rights. Not only were they allowed to vote, but in districts known to have large populations of minorities the Nazis often abstained from engaging in tactics used elsewhere to compel the electorate to vote in favour of the regime. In essence, the Nazis tacitly encouraged minorities to vote against them so that their

propaganda Propaganda is communication that is primarily used to influence or persuade an audience to further an agenda, which may not be objective and may be selectively presenting facts to encourage a particular synthesis or perception, or using loaded l ...

could cite the relatively unfavourable results in districts known to have large minority populations as proof of disloyalty to the Reich. Following the enactment of the Nuremberg Laws, Jews and other ethnic minorities were excluded from the electoral process altogether and the number of negative and invalid votes recorded fell dramatically – from more than five million in the referendum held in 1934 to barely half a million in the vote held in 1936. Of the three elections held during this period, only the first was held independently. The other two were held alongside special referendums. The most famous of these was the plebiscite on the

Anschluss The (, or , ), also known as the (, ), was the annexation of the Federal State of Austria into Nazi Germany on 12 March 1938. The idea of an (a united Austria and Germany that would form a "German Question, Greater Germany") arose after t ...

with Austria in 1938. That vote officially recorded a 99.7% "yes". Following the Anschluss, the Reichstag became the ''Großdeutsche Reichstag'' (roughly translated the Greater German Reich Diet). In accordance with the provisions of the Weimar Republic electoral law of 1933, one seat was granted for each block of 60,000 votes. Because voter turnout was very high, and also because of new territories added to the Reich, and finally because the voting age was lowered (a compensatory measure adopted prior to the 1936 election to prevent the electorate from shrinking in size as a consequence of the Nuremberg Laws), the Reichstag grew to significantly greater and greater proportions. Finally, there were 855 deputies; Adolf Hitler was No. 433, elected to the Reichstag constituency 24

Upper Bavaria Upper Bavaria (, ; ) is one of the seven administrative regions of Bavaria, Germany. Geography Upper Bavaria is located in the southern portion of Bavaria, and is centered on the city of Munich, both state capital and seat of the district gove ...

–

Swabia Swabia ; , colloquially ''Schwabenland'' or ''Ländle''; archaic English also Suabia or Svebia is a cultural, historic and linguistic region in southwestern Germany. The name is ultimately derived from the medieval Duchy of Swabia, one of ...

. * 1933, 5 March: General parliamentary elections immediately following the Seizure of Power. Six days before the scheduled election date, the German parliament building burned in the

. Opposition parties were thwarted in their campaigns. The Nazi Party won 33 of the 35 direct seats from parliamentary districts and 43.9% of the overall vote, giving the Nazis together with the DNVP (8.0% of the votes) a slight majority of seats. * 1933, 12 November:

Parliamentary elections A general election is an electoral process to choose most or all members of a governing body at the same time. They are distinct from by-elections, which fill individual seats that have become vacant between general elections. General elections ...

and

referendum A referendum, plebiscite, or ballot measure is a Direct democracy, direct vote by the Constituency, electorate (rather than their Representative democracy, representatives) on a proposal, law, or political issue. A referendum may be either bin ...

on the withdrawal of Germany from the

League of Nations The League of Nations (LN or LoN; , SdN) was the first worldwide intergovernmental organisation whose principal mission was to maintain world peace. It was founded on 10 January 1920 by the Paris Peace Conference (1919–1920), Paris Peace ...

. All Reichstag delegates are now Nazi Party members or sympathizers. According to formal results, 92% of the voters approved the referendum proposal. * 1934, 19 August: Special Plebiscite to retrospectively approve Adolf Hitler's assumption of the powers of the President, following the death of

. 88.1% of the voters voted yes. * 1936, 29 March: General parliamentary elections and referendum retrospectively approving the

Remilitarization of the Rhineland The remilitarisation of the Rhineland (, ) began on 7 March 1936, when military forces of Nazi Germany entered the Rhineland, which directly contravened the Treaty of Versailles and the Locarno Treaties. Neither France nor Britain was prepared f ...

. The election and the Rhineland occupation were combined in a single question. * 1938, 10 April: General parliamentary elections and referendum retrospectively approving the annexation of Austria

. Elected to serve for a four-year term beginning in 1939, it convened for the last time in early 1942. * 1938, 4 December: Parliamentary by-election for newly acquired territory of

Sudetenland The Sudetenland ( , ; Czech and ) is a German name for the northern, southern, and western areas of former Czechoslovakia which were inhabited primarily by Sudeten Germans. These German speakers had predominated in the border districts of Bohe ...

. Like the previous occasions, the Nazis won all seats in this last election under their rule.

Last session

The Reichstag convened for the last time in the Kroll Opera House on 26 April 1942. It unanimously passed a decree proclaiming Hitler "Supreme Judge of the German People", officially allowing him to override the judiciary and administration in all matters. Any last remnants of the privileges of the Reichstag's members were removed and the Führer became ''de jure'' the final decision-maker, with the power of life and death over every German citizen. In practice, this merely legitimized a situation that had been in place since 1933. For all intents and purposes, this extended the provisions of the Enabling Act indefinitely. On 25 January 1943, five days before the expiration of the current Reichstag's term of office, the inauguration of a new body was postponed for another electoral term until 30 January 1947. This was to avoid holding elections while the war was still under way. Because of Germany's defeat in the war, the 1938 elections were the last for the German Reichstag ever and would be the last all-German elections until the first elections for a reunified Germany in

1990 Important events of 1990 include the Reunification of Germany and the unification of Yemen, the formal beginning of the Human Genome Project (finished in 2003), the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope, the separation of Namibia from South ...

References

Notes

External links

* * * {{Wikisource-inline, Adolf Hitler's Address to the Reichstag (26 April 1942) Historical legislatures in Germany Politics of Nazi Germany Reichstag (legislative body) 1933 establishments in Germany 1945 disestablishments in Germany