23 March 1933
On this day in 1933 Adolph Hitler becomes Führer of Germany with the passage of the Enabling Act of 1933 by the Reichstag.
Under the Act, Hitler’s government acquired the authority to pass laws without either parliamentary consent or control. These laws could even deviate from the Constitution.
The Act eliminated the Reichstag as active players in German politics. Together with the Reichstag Fire Decree, which curtailed basic civil liberties and transferred state powers to the Reich government, the Act transformed Hitler’s government into a legal dictatorship.
The Act also effectively removed Presidential oversight, as President Hindenburg’s representative had stated that the aged president was withdrawing from day-to-day affairs of government and that presidential collaboration on the laws decreed as a result of the Enabling Act would not be required.
Category Zero 