partners the Nazis could not immediately obtain the two-thirds majority
necessary to alter the constitution by an Enabling Law to destroy democratic
government. Yet, after a well stage-managed opening of the Reichstag in the
Garrison Church in Potsdam on 21 March, Hitler was able to convince the
Centre party and other smaller right-wing parties that they should support his
plans. By preventing communists and twenty-one Social Democrats from
attending the Reichstag on the evening of 23 March, Hitler ensured the passing
of the Enabling Law, with only the Social Democrats courageous enough to
speak and vote against the destruction of democracy in Germany. Henceforth,
Hitler could pass any ‘law’ he wanted, without regard for parliamentary
approval. In any event, the latter soon became meaningless: in the course of the
early summer of 1933, all parties except the NSDAP were either outlawed (the
KPD being the first to go) or disbanded themselves (the Centre Party formally
dissolving itself on 5 July 1933). On 14 July 1933 the ‘Law against the
formation of new parties’ effectively established a one-party state.
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