FIRST FILM w. AUDIO of HITLER SPEECH in Chemnitz, 1931 and ENABLING ACT speech of March 23, 1933

Episode 323

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Fox Toenende Wochenschau

1933

Adolf Hitler's March 1933 Reichstag speech as Chancellor is also known as the Enabling Act speech. Due to the Reichstag chamber being unusable following the fire on 27-28 February, the speech took place in the Kroll Opera House. This speech marked Hitler's second appearance before the Reichstag after the Day of Potsdam and led to a parliamentary vote that, for an initial period of four years, suspended the separation of powers outlined in the Weimar Constitution, effectively abolishing democracy in Germany. The Enabling Act came into effect one day later. The speech resembled a programmatic government declaration, encapsulating key elements of National Socialist policy.

For most parliamentarians, this was the first opportunity to see and hear Hitler in person, as this was Hitler's first appearance in the Reichstag. Members of the Communist Party of Germany (KPD) were not represented, as all its members were either in custody or in hiding, while some members of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) had also signed off on vacation. SA and SS members present contributed to the intimidation of the parliamentarians.[2] The approximately 50-minute speech, delivered by Hitler in a brown shirt, is noteworthy in retrospect for predicting the essential features of later Nazi policies, including the "Lebensraum" expansion policy, unitarization, the suppression of political opponents, the coordination (Gleichschaltung), and the departure from Roman law.

As the Chancellor appointed by the Reich President, Hitler requested and received parliamentary approval for this constitutional breach.

The speech can be roughly divided into three parts: First, Hitler recapitulates the history of the German Reich from the November Revolution to the present, describing this development as illegitimate and holding it responsible for the crises and grievances in the Reich. Subsequently, in the longest part of the speech, he lists certain grievances as particularly urgent and explains how the Reich government under his leadership intends to address these problems. Finally, Hitler returns to the Enabling Act, explaining why it is necessary to effectively end the previously described Reich crisis.

Escape of Wilhelm II on 10 November 1918: The former Emperor on the platform of the Belgian-Dutch border crossing in Eysden shortly before his departure into Dutch exile.

The speech was rebutted by Otto Wels of the Social Democratic Party. Hitler returned to the podium to rebut Wels; notably this was the only time after 1932 that Hitler took part in a public debate.

At the beginning of his speech, Hitler recaps the history of the German Reich, starting with the overthrow of the monarchical government under Kaiser Wilhelm II. during the November Revolution. In this revolution, "Marxist organizations" allegedly seized "executive power" by dethroning the monarch, "dismissing the imperial and state authorities," and thus "breaking the constitution." As the Marxists lacked the support of the German people for this act, they allegedly justified their actions with the "war guilt lie" – Hitler's term for the false claim that Germany alone was responsible for World War I. According to Hitler, the Marxists' misuse of the "war guilt lie" led to the subsequent "severe oppression of the German people," willingly accepted by the victorious powers of World War I. The German acknowledgment of the "war guilt lie" provided the opportunity for the victorious powers to impose harsh conditions on Germany through the "Versailles Dictate," initiating a "time of boundless misfortune" for the German people. Up to the present, all promises of the "November criminals" have proven to be "conscious deceptions" or at least "equally condemnable illusions," and the achievements of the revolution have been "infinitely sad" for the "overwhelming majority" of the people. The decline of the "political and economic inheritance" of the Reich could not recover even fourteen years after the proclamation of the Weimar Republic; instead, the "line of development continued downward." Despite government propaganda, the German people would increasingly recognize this failure and turn away from the responsible organizations and the Weimar Constitution. This became evident with the Reichstag election in March 1933, when the previously "terribly suppressed" National Socialists obtained a relative majority (plurality) of 43.9%. Thus, the German people had given their approval to the "national revolution" and the elimination of the "powers ruling since November 1918."