German election, 1933
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The 8th German Reichstag election of the Weimar Republic was held on March 5, 1933, shortly after the Reichstag building had burned, and was the last election to be held in Germany before World War II. Because of the success of the Nazi Party and its ally in the poll, its leader and Chancellor of Germany, Adolf Hitler, was able to pass the Enabling Act, which effectively gave him the power of a dictator.
The election took place shortly after the Reichstag fire, in which the German parliament was set alight, allegedly by a Dutch Communist, Marinus van der Lubbe. This event had the joint effect of lowering the popularity of the Communist Party (KPD), and enabling Hitler to persuade President Paul von Hindenburg to pass the Reichstag Fire Decree. This emergency law removed many civil liberties and allowed the arrest of the leaders of the KPD shortly before the election, suppressing the Communist vote and consolidating the position of the Nazis. Hence, the fire is widely believed to have had a major effect on the outcome of the election. As replacement, and for 10 years to come, the new parliament used the Kroll Opera house for its meetings.
However, despite achieving a much better result than in the November 1932 election, the Nazis did not do as well as Hitler had hoped, polling 43.9%, rather than the 50+% that he had expected. Therefore, he was forced to maintain his coalition with the Nationalist German National People's Party (DNVP) to control a majority. In addition to this, Hitler needed a two-thirds majority to pass the Enabling Act (a law which allowed him to pass laws without consulting the Reichstag), which he gained by persuading the Centre Party to vote with him. The bill was passed on March 23. Only the Social Democrats opposed the measure, which came into effect on March 27. Moreover, Social Democratic representation was suppressed, because some Social Democratic deputies that were elected to the Reichstag were prevented from taking their seats by the Nazi SA. Had the Communist Party participated, its representatives would have contributed 17% of the Reichstag votes. Instead, their representatives were under arrest for their suspect role in the Reichstag Fire. Though the Enabling Act was only meant to be effective for four years, it was formally prolonged twice. The powers gained from the bill allowed the KPD and Social Democratic Party (SPD) to be outlawed, and firmly established Germany as a dictatorship.
| Party | Vote percentage (change) | Seats (change) | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| National Socialist German Workers Party (NSDAP) | 43.9% | +10.8% | 288 | +92 |
| Social Democratic Party (SPD) | 18.3% | -2.1% | 120 | -1 |
| Communist Party (KPD) | 12.3% | -4.6% | 81 | -19 |
| Centre Party (Z) | 11.2% | -0.7% | 74 | +4 |
| German National People's Party (DNVP)[1] | 8.0% | -0.3% | 52 | +/-0 |
| Bavarian People's Party (BVP) | 2.7% | -0.4% | 18 | -2 |
| German People's Party (DVP) | 1.1% | -0.8% | 2 | -9 |
| Christian Social People's Service (CSVD) | 1.0% | -0.1% | 4 | -1 |
| German Democratic Party (DDP) | 0.9% | -0.1% | 5 | +3 |
| German Farmers Party | 0.3% | -0.1% | 2 | -1 |
| Agricultural League | 0.2% | -0.1% | 1 | -1 |
| Other | 0.0% | -0.9% | 0 | +/-0 |
| Totals | 100.0% | 647 | +63 | |
- ^ actually as "Kampffront Schwarz-Weiß-Rot" ("fight front Black-White-Red"), a coalition with Stahlhelm and Landbund)
[edit] External links
- http://www.gonschior.de/weimar/Deutschland/RT8.html – Detailed Statistics (German)
- http://www.dhm.de/lemo/html/nazi/innenpolitik/wahl33/index.html – German Historic Museum (German)
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