Enabling Act of 1933 — German law which transferred power from the Reichstag and the Weimar President to Adolf Hitler and his Cabinet
The Enabling Act dismantled Weimar constitutional checks, granting Hitler legislative authority and enabling the legal foundation of Nazi totalitarian rule.
Key Facts
- Official German title
- Gesetz zur Behebung der Not von Volk und Reich
- Year enacted
- 1933
- Power transferred from
- Reichstag and Weimar President
- Power transferred to
- German Cabinet, chiefly Chancellor Adolf Hitler
- Constitutional effect
- Overrode checks and balances of the Weimar constitution
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
The fragile Weimar Republic faced severe political instability, economic crisis, and rising extremism in the early 1930s. Adolf Hitler was appointed Chancellor in January 1933, and his government sought a legal mechanism to consolidate executive power and bypass parliamentary and presidential constraints enshrined in the Weimar constitution.
The Enabling Act of 1933, formally titled the Law to Remedy the Distress of People and Reich, was passed and granted the German Cabinet—most crucially Chancellor Adolf Hitler—the authority to enact and enforce laws without the participation of the Reichstag or President Paul von Hindenburg, effectively suspending normal constitutional governance.
With the Enabling Act in force, Hitler's government dismantled the remaining democratic institutions of the Weimar Republic, banned opposition parties, and consolidated one-party rule. The law provided the legal framework for the Nazi dictatorship, accelerating the transformation of Germany into a totalitarian state under Hitler's uncontested authority.
Political Outcome
Hitler and the German Cabinet gained the power to legislate without the Reichstag or presidential approval, ending effective parliamentary democracy in Germany.
Legislative power shared between Reichstag and the President under the Weimar constitution
Legislative and executive power concentrated in the Chancellor and Cabinet, bypassing constitutional checks