NAZIPOWER TRANSFORM BY EMERGENCY LAWS

January 30
The National Socialist German Workers‘ Party (Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei; NSDAP), more commonly known as the Nazi Party, assumes control of the German state when German President Paul von Hindenburg appoints Nazi Party leader (Führer) Adolf Hitler as Chancellor at the head of a coalition government of “National Renewal.” The Nazis and the German Nationalist People’s Party (Deutschnationale Volkspartei; DNVP) are members of the coalition.

February 27
The German parliament (Reichstag) building burns down due to arson. The government falsely portrays the fire as part of a Communist effort to overthrow the state.

February 28
In the Decree of the Reich President for the Protection of People and State, President von Hindenburg grants emergency powers to the Nazi/DNVP coalition government under Adolf Hitler. Popularly known as the Reichstag Fire Decree, and justified by a profoundly exaggerated threat of a German Communist uprising, the decree suspends civil rights in Germany and allows for imprisonment without trial. It also gives the central government the authority to overrule state and local laws and overthrow state and local governments.

March 5
The last elections take place in Nazi Germany. Despite possessing the coercive powers of the state, the Nazi Party receives less than half (43.9%) of the popular vote. As a result, the Nazi Party remains in coalition with the DNVP to achieve a majority in the German parliament.

March 9-11
Under authority of the Reichstag Fire Decree, the Nazi/DNVP coalition government overthrows the German state governments (Länderregierungen) and installs provisional Reich commissars who are directly subordinate to the central government.

March 22
Outside the town of Dachau, Germany, the SS (Schutzstaffel, Protection Squads) establishes the first SS-managed concentration camp to incarcerate political opponents of the regime. Dachau is the only concentration camp to remain in operation from 1933 until 1945.

March 23
The German parliament passes the Law for Rectification of the Distress of Nation and Reich (Gesetz zur Behebung der Not von Volk und Reich), commonly known as the Enabling Act (Ermächtigungsgesetz). This law allows Hitler, as Chancellor, to initiate and sign legislation into law without obtaining parliamentary consent. The act effectively establishes a dictatorship in Germany.

April 1
Members of the Nazi Party and its affiliated organizations (such as the SS, SA, and the Hitler Youth) organize and implement a nationwide boycott of Jewish-owned businesses in Germany.

April 7
The German government issues the Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service (Gesetz zur Wiederherstellung des Berufsbeamtentums), which excludes Jews and political opponents from all civil service positions. The law initially exempts those who had worked in the civil service since August 1, 1914, those who were veterans of World War I, or those with a father or son killed in action in World War I.