Article 48 was a measure in the constitution of the Weimar Republic of Germany (1919–1933) that allowed the President to rule by decree without the consent of the Reichstag (parliament). Legislation passed under this article of the constitution was referred to as Notverordnung (emergency decree). Article 48 was used by Adolf Hitler in 1933 to establish a dictatorship, ending the Weimar Republic and ushering in the Third Reich. The period of German history from 1919 to 1933 is known as the Weimar Republic (German Weimarer Republik, IPA: []). It is named after the city of Weimar where a national assembly convened to produce a new constitution after the German Monarchy and German Empire were abolished following the nations... 1919 (MCMXIX) was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ... 1933 (MCMXXXIII) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ... The Reichstag (German for Imperial Diet) was the parliament of the Holy Roman Empire, the North German Confederation, and of Germany until 1945. ... â–¶ (help· info) (April 20, 1889 – April 30, 1945) was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 and Führer (Leader) of Germany from 1934 to his death by suicide. ... 1933 (MCMXXXIII) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ... Dictatorship, in contemporary usage, refers to absolute rule by a leadership (usually one dictator) unrestricted by law, constitutions, or other social and political factors within the state. ... Nazi Germany, or the Third Reich, commonly refers to Germany in the years 1933–1945, when it was under the firm control of the totalitarian and fascist ideology of the Nazi Party, with the Führer Adolf Hitler as dictator. ...

Origins of Article 48

The drafters of the Constitution likely intended Article 48 to be used for "emergencies" along the lines of the civil unrest that plagued Germany in 1918 and 1919. However, as the German economic situation began to deteriorate after the outbreak of the Great Depression in early 1930, successive governments found it impossible to achieve a parliamentary majority for any policy, whether proposed by the left, center, or right. Revolutionaries at machine gun posts, Berlin, November 1918 The German Revolution is a series of events that occurred in 1918-1919, culminating in the overthrow of the Kaiser and the establishment of the democratic Weimar Republic. ... The Great Depression was a massive global economic recession (or depression) that ran from 1929 to approximately 1939. ...

During late spring 1930, Chancellor Heinrich Brüning found his government unable to obtain a parliamentary majority for its financial reform bill. Brüning asked President Paul von Hindenburg to invoke Article 48 in order to pass the bill and thereby give Brüning's government the authority to act without the consent of the Reichstag. While von Hindenburg gave his authority, the Reichstag repudiated the bill by a slight majority on July 18, 1930. Under Article 48, this vote by a majority of the Reichstag invalidated the presidential decree. Faced with a breakdown of parliamentary rule at a time when the economic situation demanded action, Brüning asked von Hindenburg to dissolve parliament and call for new elections. 1930 (MCMXXX) is a common year starting on Wednesday. ... Various governments have a Chancellor who serves as some form of junior or senior minister. ... Dr. Heinrich Brüning (November 26, 1885–March 30, 1970) was a German politician and Chancellor of Germany. ... Paul von Hindenburg (full name Paul Ludwig Hans Anton von Beneckendorff und von Hindenburg) (October 2, 1847 – August 2, 1934) was a German Field Marshal and statesman. ... July 18 is the 199th day (200th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 166 days remaining. ... 1930 (MCMXXX) is a common year starting on Wednesday. ...

The election produced increased representation in the Reichstag for both the Communists and Nazis at the expense of the moderate middle-class parties. Forming a parliamentary majority became even more difficult for Brüning, and his government ruled repeatedly by invoking Article 48 between 1930 and 1932. Subsequent governments under chancellors Franz von Papen and Kurt von Schleicher during the tumultuous year 1932 obtained President von Hindenburg's decree of legislation under Article 48 when they too found it impossible to obtain a parliamentary majority as the extremist parties on the Left and Right gained power. The Communist Party of Germany (in German, Kommunistische Partei Deutschlands – KPD) was formed in December of 1918 from the Spartacist League, which originated as a small factional grouping within the Social Democratic Party (SPD) opposed to the First World War on the grounds that it was an imperialist war in... The Nazi swastika The National Socialist German Workers Party (German: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei), better known as the NSDAP or the Nazi Party was a political party that was led to power in Germany by Adolf Hitler in 1933. ... Franz Joseph Hermann Michael Maria von Papen (October 29, 1879–May 2, 1969) was a German politician and diplomat associated with the Centre Party. ... Kurt von Schleicher (4 April 1882–30 June 1934) was a German general and the last Chancellor of Germany during the era of the Weimar Republic. ... 1932 (MCMXXXII) is a leap year starting on Friday. ...

The invocation of Article 48 by successive governments helped seal the fate of the Weimar Republic. While Brüning's first invocation of Notverordnung may have been well-intentioned, the power to rule by decree became increasingly used not in response to a specific emergency but as a substitute for parliamentary leadership. The excessive use of the decree power and the fact that successive chancellors were no longer responsible to the Reichstag likely played a significant part in the loss of public confidence in constitutional democracy, in turn leading to the rise of the extremist parties.

Nazi use of Article 48

On January 30, 1933, Adolf Hitler was named Chancellor of Germany. Lacking a majority in the Reichstag, Hitler formed a coalition government and, not long afterwards called elections for March 5. Six days before the election, on February 27, the Reichstag Fire damaged the house of Parliament in Berlin. Claiming that the fire was the first step in a Communist revolution, the Nazis used the fire as a pretext to get President von Hindenburg to sign the Reichstag Fire Decree (officially the Verordnung des Reichspräsidenten zum Schutz von Volk und Staat (Presidential Decree for the Protection of People and State). January 30 is the 30th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1933 (MCMXXXIII) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ... â–¶ (help· info) (April 20, 1889 – April 30, 1945) was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 and Führer (Leader) of Germany from 1934 to his death by suicide. ... The German title Bundeskanzler is also the title of the Chancellor of Austria, and the title of a Swiss federal official (Federal Chancellor of Switzerland). ... March 5 is the 64th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (65th in leap years). ... February 27 is the 58th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... The Reichstag fire was a pivotal event in the establishment of Nazi Germany. ... Communism - Wikipedia /**/ @import /w/skins-1. ... The Reichstag Fire Decree (Reichstagsbrandverordnung in German) is the common name of the decree issued by German president Paul von Hindenburg in direct response to the Reichstag fire of February 27, 1933. ...

Under the decree, issued by von Hindenburg on the basis of Article 48, the government was given authority to curtail constitutional rights including free expression of opinion, freedom of the press, rights of assembly, and the privacy of postal, telegraphic and telephonic communications. Constitutional restrictions on searches and confiscation of property were likewise suspended.

The Reichstag Fire Decree was one of the first steps the Nazis took toward the establishment of a one-party dictatorship in Germany. With several key government posts in the hands of Nazis and with the constitutional protections on civil liberties suspended by the decree, the Nazis were able to use police power to suppress, intimidate, and arrest their opposition, in particular the Communists. Hitler's subversion of the Constitution under Article 48 thus had the mark of legality.

Though the March 5 elections did not bring the Nazis their much-desired majority in the Reichstag, the Nazis were able to maneuver on March 23, 1933 the passage of the Enabling Act by the required two-thirds parliamentary majority, effectively abrogating the authority of the Reichstag and placing its authority in the hands of the Cabinet. The Reichstag Fire Decree was the basis of later decrees that abolished the political parties other than the NSDAP and strengthened Hitler's dictatorial power. March 5 is the 64th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (65th in leap years). ... The Reichstag is both an institutional assembly and a specific building. ... March 23 is the 82nd day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (83rd in Leap years). ... 1933 (MCMXXXIII) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ... This article is about the German law passed in 1933 at the beginning of the Third Reich. ... The Nazi swastika The National Socialist German Workers Party (German: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei), better known as the NSDAP or the Nazi Party was a political party that was led to power in Germany by Adolf Hitler in 1933. ...

Text of Article 48

Notes

1. ^  The German term Land often translates to the English "province" or "state". Even in imperial times (as is the case today), Germany was a federation of semi-autonomous Länder. During the period of the Weimar Constitution, the provinces were: Preußen (Prussia), Bayern (Bavaria), Sachsen (Saxony), Württemberg, Baden, Hessen-Darmstadt, Mecklenburg-Schwerin, Mecklenburg-Strelitz, Oldenburg, Braunschweig, Anhalt, Hamburg, Bremen, Lübeck, Waldeck, Schaumburg-Lippe, Lippe-Detmold, and Thüringen.
2. ^  Reich translates literally as "empire". The term persisted even after the end of the monarchy in 1918. The German state's official name was therefore Deutsches Reich through the Weimar Republic and the Third Reich to the end of World War II.

A federation (from the Latin fÅ“dus, covenant) is a state comprised of a number of self-governing regions (often themselves referred to as states) united by a central (federal) government. ... The Weimar Constitution in booklet form. ... The German Monarchy existed formally from 1871 to 1918. ... Nazi Germany, or the Third Reich, commonly refers to Germany in the years 1933–1945, when it was under the firm control of the totalitarian and fascist ideology of the Nazi Party, with the Führer Adolf Hitler as dictator. ... Combatants Allied Powers Axis Powers Commanders {{{commander1}}} {{{commander2}}} Strength {{{strength1}}} {{{strength2}}} Casualties 17 million military deaths 7 million military deaths World War II, also known as the Second World War, was a mid-20th century conflict that engulfed much of the globe and is accepted as the largest and deadliest...

See also

• Machtergreifung
• Reichstag Fire Decree
• Enabling Act

Machtergreifung is a German word meaning seizure of power. ... The Reichstag Fire Decree (Reichstagsbrandverordnung in German) is the common name of the decree issued by German president Paul von Hindenburg in direct response to the Reichstag fire of February 27, 1933. ... This article is about the German law passed in 1933 at the beginning of the Third Reich. ...

External links

• Selected articles of Weimar constitution

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