What was the decree for the protection of people and state

But then the Great Depression hit, sending the U. The sudden slump caused massive social upheaval, which the Nazis exploited to gain further political traction. By , the Nazis won The economic unrest of the early s meant that no single political party had a majority in the Reichstag, so fragile coalitions held the nation together.

Faced with political chaos, President Paul von Hindenburg dissolved the Reichstag again and again. Frequent elections followed.

The Nazis aligned with other right-leaning factions and gradually worked their way up to 33 percent of the vote —but were unable to reach a full majority. In January , Hindenburg reluctantly appointed Hitler as chancellor on the advice of Franz von Papen, a disgruntled former chancellor who believed the conservative bourgeois parties should ally with the Nazis to keep the Communists out of power. March 5 was set as the date for another series of Reichstag elections in hopes that one party might finally achieve the majority.

Meanwhile, the Nazis seized even more power, infiltrating the police and empowering ordinary party members as law enforcement officers.

Thus, restrictions on personal liberty, on the right of free expression of opinion, including freedom of the press, on the right of assembly and the right of association, and violations of the privacy of postal, telegraphic, and telephonic communications, and warrants for house searches, orders for confiscations as well as restrictions on property are permissible beyond the legal limits otherwise prescribed.

In addition, the sentence may include the confiscation of property. Whoever provokes or incites an act contrary to the public welfare is to be punished with a penitentiary sentence, under mitigating circumstances, with imprisonment of not less than three months.

This would allow them to rule unopposed and unhindered by coalition governments. On 27 February , as the campaign moved into its final, frantic days, the Reichstag, the German Parliament building, was set on fire and burnt down.

An atmosphere of panic and terror followed the event. The Nazi Party used the atmosphere of panic to their advantage, encouraging anti-communism. This hysteria helped to turn the public against the communists, one of the Nazis main opponents, and people were imprisoned.

This decree suspended the democratic aspects of the Weimar Republic and declared a state of emergency. This decree gave the Nazis a legal basis for the persecution and oppression of any opponents, who were be framed as traitors to the republic. People could be imprisoned for any or no reason. The decree also removed basic personal freedoms, such as the freedom of speech, the right to own property, and the right to trial before imprisonment.

Through these aspects the Nazis suppressed any opposition to their power, and were able to start the road from democracy to a dictatorship. The atmosphere of uncertainty following the Reichstag Fire secured many voters for the Nazi party. The SA also ran a violent campaign of terror against any and all opponents of the Nazi regime.

Many were terrified of voting of at all, and many turned to voting for the Nazi Party out of fear for their own safety. The elections were neither free or fair. The Nazis secured Despite this improvement, the Nazis still did not command a majority in the Reichstag. This new law gave Hitler the power to rule by decree rather than passing laws through the Reichstag and the president. If passed, the law would establish the conditions needed for dictatorial rule.

The law needed two thirds of the Reichstag to vote for it to pass. The SA and the SS had also been on a month long campaign of violence to scare or imprison other opponents to the party. They had placed many in the first concentration camp , Dachau , which opened just a few days before the vote on the 20 March After Hitler had promised to protect the interests of the Catholic Church, the party conceded and supported the bill.

Only the SPD opposed it. Although President Hindenburg and the Reichstag continued to exist, Hitler could now govern by decree. Carried out primarily by the SS and the Gestapo, over people were murdered and hundreds more were arrested.

In August there were approximately , members of the SA. By June this had grown to over 3,, members. They were often given a free rein on their activities and were violent and difficult to control. In consequence, Germany has been placed under a system of martial law, a decree having been signed which aims at the total destruction of communism.

The day after the German parliament Reichstag building burned down due to arson, President Hindenburg issues the Decree for the Protection of People and the Reich. Though the origins of the fire are still unclear, in a propaganda maneuver, the coalition government made up of Nazis and the Nationalists blamed the Communists.

The Reichstag Fire Decree permitted the regime to arrest and incarcerate political opponents without specific charge, dissolve political organizations, and to suppress publications. It also gave the central government the authority to overrule state and local laws and overthrow state and local governments.