75th Anniversary of the Third Reich
As grim anniversaries go, today's is pretty good. Seventy-five years ago, Reichspräsident Paul von Hindenburg, at the urging of fellow conservatives, appointed Adolf Hitler Reichskanzler, paving the way for the eventual legal takeover of the German government by the National Socialists, or as they are also known, the Nazis.
Often termed the "Seizure of Power" or Machtergreifung, it is important to remember that the coming to power of the National Socialists in Germany was all very proper and legal. In what must surely be one of the biggest political underestimations or blunders of all time, the German conservatives thought they could rein Hitler and his party in and, in essence, control them by appointing Hitler to this post with conservative Franz von Papen as Vice Chancellor. How wrong they were.
Soon, the burning of the Reichstag by a disturbed Dutch communist would give the Nazis the opening they needed to pass an Enabling Act (again legal), giving Hitler emergency dictatorial powers over the German Reich.
It is perhaps timely to reflect upon the legality of the Third Reich's beginnings and see how easy it was for a democracy to become a dictatorship in a so-called time of emergency.
Often termed the "Seizure of Power" or Machtergreifung, it is important to remember that the coming to power of the National Socialists in Germany was all very proper and legal. In what must surely be one of the biggest political underestimations or blunders of all time, the German conservatives thought they could rein Hitler and his party in and, in essence, control them by appointing Hitler to this post with conservative Franz von Papen as Vice Chancellor. How wrong they were.
Soon, the burning of the Reichstag by a disturbed Dutch communist would give the Nazis the opening they needed to pass an Enabling Act (again legal), giving Hitler emergency dictatorial powers over the German Reich.
It is perhaps timely to reflect upon the legality of the Third Reich's beginnings and see how easy it was for a democracy to become a dictatorship in a so-called time of emergency.
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