rdharma (981 posts)
Eighty years ago today - The Law that 'enabled' Hitler's Dictatorship
Eighty years ago today - The Law that 'enabled' Hitler's Dictatorship
Eighty years ago, Germany's parliament passed the "Enabling Act." From that point on, Adolf Hitler could enact laws without the need of parliamentary approval. Only one party valiantly resisted.
On March 23, 1933, Adolf Hitler stepped inside the Kroll Opera House in Berlin. Dressed in the brown uniform of the Schutzstaffel (SS), the chancellor of Germany made his way past the enthusiastic parliamentarians of his National Socialist party.
It was there that members of Germany's parliament found refuge in late February after the Reichstag, or parliamentary building, was set aflame under mysterious circumstances. The opera house was quickly outfitted as the new meeting chambers for Germany's parliament.
Historians still debate whether the Reichstag fire was set by communists or by the Nazi party as a ploy
For opposition parties, however - chiefly the Social Democrats - the halls of the Kroll Opera were nothing less than a gauntlet. Manning every entry and exit were members of the Sturmabteilung (SA), or Storm Troopers, who, alongside the "brown shirts," insulted and intimidated opposition members.
http://www.dw.de/the-law-that-enabled-hitlers-dictatorship/a-16689839
tblue (13,217 posts)
1. Never give ANYONE absolute power.
Or even enormous power. No. Every official must be answerable to someone who must be answerable to someone too. And they all must stay within the law. Ergo, no DRONES!!!
Libertas1776 (2,759 posts)
2. Salute to the Social Democrats...
Salute to the Social Democrats, the Socialists, and democratically elected Communists of the world. In the face of such evil they had the courage to resist en masse. This reminds me of the so called "Vichy 80," the body of French Parliamentarians who voted against the dissolution of the French Third Republic in favor of Marshal Petain's authoritarian collaborationist French State aka Vichy France. Those defiant ones were primarily leftists, socialists etc. and a few Independents & Christian Democrats too. (Like in Germany, the elected communists had their rights revoked before the vote too place.)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Vichy_80
Our names almost sound alike. WE'RE HEROES!</DUmode>
rdharma (981 posts)
4. I'm glad you noticed that!
Last edited Sat Mar 23, 2013, 03:52 PM USA/ET - Edit history (1)
Next time some rightie wants to babble that "Nazis were socialists" BS....... tell them about the REAL socialists of Germany.
The Communists had already been banned in Germany by this time. The Democratic Socialists were banned soon after.
Libertas1776 (2,759 posts)
7. Exactly
The name "National Socialist German Workers Party" was basically all about brand appeal. It jumps out at the German voter. It sounds like a party they would vote for as center left and left of center parties were popular. There was nothing, however, remotely socialist or worker friendly about the Nazis. Anything remotely tangible to that effect were mere bread crumbs and even then those crumbs were hollow inside, backed up by fraud and lies. The reality is that the Communists, the Socialists, the Social Democrats, the labor unions, etc, aka the real McCoy, were the first to be banned and their major figures jailed and sent to the camps.
blah blah blah
Meanwhile, the modern US Democrat party wants your guns, education, retirement and healthcare and all they give you in return is Chicago, Detroit and California.
10.The first obligation of every citizen must be to work both spiritually and physically. The activity of individuals is not to counteract the interests of the universality, but must have its result within the framework of the whole for the benefit of all. Consequently we demand:
11.Abolition of unearned (work and labour) incomes. Breaking of debt (interest)-slavery.
12.In consideration of the monstrous sacrifice in property and blood that each war demands of the people, personal enrichment through a war must be designated as a crime against the people. Therefore we demand the total confiscation of all war profits.
13.We demand the nationalisation of all (previous) associated industries (trusts).
14.We demand a division of profits of all heavy industries.
15.We demand an expansion on a large scale of old age welfare.
16.We demand the creation of a healthy middle class and its conservation, immediate communalization of the great warehouses and their being leased at low cost to small firms, the utmost consideration of all small firms in contracts with the State, county or municipality.
17.We demand a land reform suitable to our needs, provision of a law for the free expropriation of land for the purposes of public utility, abolition of taxes on land and prevention of all speculation in land.
18.We demand struggle without consideration against those whose activity is injurious to the general interest. Common national criminals, usurers, profiteers and so forth are to be punished with death, without consideration of confession or race.
19.We demand substitution of a German common law in place of the Roman Law serving a materialistic world-order.
20.The state is to be responsible for a fundamental reconstruction of our whole national education program, to enable every capable and industrious German to obtain higher education and subsequently introduction into leading positions. The plans of instruction of all educational institutions are to conform with the experiences of practical life. The comprehension of the concept of the State must be striven for by the school [Staatsbuergerkunde] as early as the beginning of understanding. We demand the education at the expense of the State of outstanding intellectually gifted children of poor parents without consideration of position or profession.
21.The State is to care for the elevating national health by protecting the mother and child, by outlawing child-labor, by the encouragement of physical fitness, by means of the legal establishment of a gymnastic and sport obligation, by the utmost support of all organizations concerned with the physical instruction of the young.
22.We demand abolition of the mercenary troops and formation of a national army.
23.We demand legal opposition to known lies and their promulgation through the press. In order to enable the provision of a German press, we demand, that: a. All writers and employees of the newspapers appearing in the German language be members of the race; b. Non-German newspapers be required to have the express permission of the State to be published. They may not be printed in the German language; c. Non-Germans are forbidden by law any financial interest in German publications, or any influence on them, and as punishment for violations the closing of such a publication as well as the immediate expulsion from the Reich of the non-German concerned. Publications which are counter to the general good are to be forbidden. We demand legal prosecution of artistic and literary forms which exert a destructive influence on our national life, and the closure of organizations opposing the above made demands.
24.We demand freedom of religion for all religious denominations within the state so long as they do not endanger its existence or oppose the moral senses of the Germanic race. The Party as such advocates the standpoint of a positive Christianity without binding itself confessionally to any one denomination. It combats the Jewish-materialistic spirit within and around us, and is convinced that a lasting recovery of our nation can only succeed from within on the framework: The good of the state before the good of the individual.[11]
25.For the execution of all of this we demand the formation of a strong central power in the Reich. Unlimited authority of the central parliament over the whole Reich and its organizations in general. The forming of state and profession chambers for the execution of the laws made by the Reich within the various states of the confederation. The leaders of the Party promise, if necessary by sacrificing their own lives, to support by the execution of the points set forth above without consideration.
Stupid teahadists! As if any of that has any relationship to the modern Democratic party.
jwirr (20,793 posts)
10. This is why the tea party idiots are so wrong about what they call our president. Fools all of them.
John2 (1,349 posts)
15. I don't think it
Last edited Sat Mar 23, 2013, 05:44 PM USA/ET - Edit history (2)
would happen here unless you had a Civil War like before in this country. Americans have enjoyed too much freedom to be passive about anything if you push them far enough. That is the mistake many on the right make. There was no way the Civil War could have been avoided like Lincoln finally came to terms with during it. A man like John Brown was not crazy. The man followed his conscious and was willing to give up his own life for what he thought was right. That is why I believe anytime people start talking about restricting other Americans' rights in this country, they are putting this country on a dangerous path.
Egalitarian Thug (6,551 posts)
25. It already has. It is less crude, the violence is more remote and covert,
it is on a scale not easily comprehensible to normal people, and they've been much less naked in asserting their will. Add to this the highly successful conditioning of Americans at large to unquestioningly accept more and more authority and the "necessity" of restricting their freedoms, and we see the results right here on a nominally liberal community message board.
For many, it can't be a police state unless there are tanks on the streets with troops wearing Hugo Boss, yet they do not question that the police are able to search anyone for any, or no reason, and all across the nation, they make baseless arrests, beat, and kill people for nothing more than being the wrong color, exercising their rights, taking a picture, etc.
Enabling Act, Patriot Act, National Defense Authorization Act, and so on, what's the difference?
OSHA, IRS, EPA, Dept of Education, Dept of Energy, ObamaCare, the FCC...
Oh wait! Those are things you WANT the government to exert dictatorial power with.
treestar (38,871 posts)
26. It has not
Egalitarian Thug (6,551 posts)
28. Well that settles it, then.
Egalitarian Thug (6,551 posts)
31. Thanks for providing a living demonstration of the point above.
Add to this the highly successful conditioning of Americans at large to unquestioningly accept more and more authority and the "necessity" of restricting their freedoms, and we see the results right here on a nominally liberal community message board.
For many, it can't be a police state unless there are tanks on the streets with troops wearing Hugo Boss, yet they do not question that the police are able to search anyone for any, or no reason, and all across the nation, they make baseless arrests, beat, and kill people for nothing more than being the wrong color, exercising their rights, taking a picture, etc.
Making America a worse place every day.
Name one RW site where Michael Bloomberg has a fan following, let alone the kind you see on DU.
treestar (38,871 posts)
32. Ridiculous
It is not a police state. You can challenge police actions in court.
How about the ruinous cost of challanging any government bureaucracy in court?
GreenEyedLefty (743 posts)
27. People who think it could never happen here are fools
The Weimar constitution was modeled after our own. Hitler's takeover wasn't precisely illegal - it was "extra-legal." He was helped along by a supportive judiciary. What was terrifying to me was the efficiency... Hitler and his supporters created a parallel "government" complete with ministries, police and an army which took over seamlessly. I wonder if the German people knew what hit them, at least at first...
Kinda like Obama's "We can't wait!" power grab.
HiPointDem (14,118 posts)
37. interesting as that's exactly what bill gates is doing in his takeover of public education --
creating parallel institutions for teacher training, accreditation, etc.
BG doesn't have the power to threaten your children with being confiscated by the state if you tell him to ****-off.
valerief (35,197 posts)
9. Reichstag was their "Pearl Harbor". nt
Unlike the banking crisis when Obama's council is drowning in bankers.
Nye Bevan (10,100 posts)
11. Terrible analogy. The Nazis were behind the Reichstag fire so they could use it as a pretext
for seizing absolute power.
Please don't tell me that you think FDR engineered the Pearl Harbor attacks.
It was a pun, DUmbass.
She was mocking the "9/11 was this generation's Pearl Harbor" statements.
You idiots can't even agree with each other without starting a fight.
Spitfire of ATJ (5,937 posts)
18. What's funny is Lucas was accused of being anti-Bush with Star Wars...
The Right went nuts as he showed the rise of the Emperor through the use of a false flag.
He told them, "No, it's the rise of Hitler".
They went silent after that hoping nobody would notice.
santamargarita (2,589 posts)
20. It's going to take decades to get rid of that...
Last edited Sat Mar 23, 2013, 06:06 PM USA/ET - Edit history (1)
******* ****ing Bush's damage to OUR country.
There's not a sole on this planet I hate more than that rotten sonuvabitch!!!
When did Bush order the execution of a 16-year old US citizen?
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022556504
