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Federal elections were held in Germany on 5 March 1933. The ruling Nazi Party, led by Adolf Hitler – Chancellor since 30 January – registered a large increase in votes, again emerging as the largest party by far. Nevertheless, they failed to obtain an absolute majority in their own right, despite the massive suppression of Communist and Social Democratic politicians, and needed the votes of their coalition partner, the German National People's Party (DNVP), for a Reichstag majority. To gain absolute power, Hitler instead succeeded in passing the Enabling Act on 23 March with the support of all non-socialist parties, which effectively made Hitler dictator of Germany (though still subject to President Hindenburg's blessing), and rendered the Reichstag powerless. Within months, the Nazis banned all other parties and dissolved the Reichstag to replace it by a rubberstamp parliament with only Nazi party list representatives, making the March 1933 elections the last multi-party elections held in Germany before the end of World War II and the formation of the German Bundestag in 1949, and the last to cover the whole country before reunification in 1990. ==Background== The election took place after the Nazi ''Machtergreifung'' of 30 January when President Paul von Hindenburg had appointed Hitler Chancellor, who immediately urged the dissolution of the Reichstag and the arrangement of new elections. In early February, the Nazis "unleashed a campaign of violence and terror that dwarfed anything seen so far." Storm troopers began attacking trade union and Communist Party (KPD) offices and the homes of left-wingers.〔Evand, Richard J., ''The Coming of the Third Reich'', Penguin Press, New York, 2004, p.317〕 In the second half of February, the violence was extended to the Social Democrats, with gangs of brownshirts breaking up Social Democrat meetings and beating up their speakers and audiences. Issues of Social Democratic newspapers were banned.〔''Evans, ''ibid.'', pp. 318–320.〕 Twenty newspapers of the Centre Party, a party of Catholic Germans, were banned in mid-February for criticizing the new government. Government officials known to be Centre Party supporters were dismissed from their offices, and stormtroopers violently attacked party meetings in Westphalia.〔Evans, ''ibid.'', p. 322.〕 Six days before the scheduled election date, the German parliament building was set alight in the Reichstag fire, allegedly by the Dutch Communist Marinus van der Lubbe. This event reduced the popularity of the KPD, and enabled Hitler to persuade President Hindenburg to pass the Reichstag Fire Decree as an emergency decree according to Article 48 of the Weimar Constitution. This emergency law removed many civil liberties and allowed the arrest of Ernst Thälmann and 4,000 leaders and members of the KPD〔Evans, ''ibid.'', p. 331.〕 shortly before the election, suppressing the Communist vote and consolidating the position of the Nazis. The KPD was "effectively outlawed from 28 February 1933", although it was not completely banned until the day after the election.〔Evans, ''ibid.'', p.336.〕 While at that time not as heavily oppressed as the Communists, the Social Democrats were also restricted in their actions, as the party's leadership had already fled to Prague and many members were acting only from the underground. Hence, the fire is widely believed to have had a major effect on the outcome of the election. As replacement, and for 10 years to come, the new parliament used the Kroll Opera House for its meetings. The resources of big business and the state were thrown behind the Nazis' campaign to achieve saturation coverage all over Germany. Brownshirts and SS patrolled and marched menacingly through the streets of cities and towns. A "combination of terror, repression and propaganda was mobilized in every... community, large and small, across the land."〔Evans, ''ibid.'', p. 339.〕 To further ensure the outcome of the vote would be a Nazi majority, Nazi organizations "monitored" the vote process. In Prussia 50,000 members of the SS, SA and Stahlhelm were ordered to monitor the votes as deputy sheriffs by acting Interior Minister Hermann Göring. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「German federal election, March 1933」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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