Английская Википедия:1934 German referendum
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A referendum on merging the posts of Chancellor and President was held in Nazi Germany on 19 August 1934, seventeen days after the death of President Paul von Hindenburg. The German leadership sought to gain approval for Adolf Hitler's assumption of supreme power. The referendum was associated with widespread intimidation of voters, but little direct vote manipulation. Hitler used the resultant large "yes" vote to claim public support to succeed Hindenburg as the de facto head of state of Germany. In fact, he had assumed presidential powers immediately upon Hindenburg's death and used the referendum to legitimise that move and take the title Шаблон:Lang (Führer and Reich Chancellor).
Background
Hitler's rise to power
Weimar President Paul von Hindenburg appointed Hitler to the office of Chancellor on 30 January 1933.Шаблон:Sfn After his appointment, he wanted the Reichstag to pass an "enabling act" to allow his government to pass laws directly, without the support of the Reichstag.Шаблон:Sfn Lacking the two-thirds supermajority necessary to pass such an act, Hindenburg dissolved the Reichstag on 31 January.Шаблон:Sfn In the resulting election, the Nazis won 43.9% of the vote.Шаблон:Sfn Including his allies, Hitler enjoyed the support of 60% of the deputies,Шаблон:Sfn but needed the support of the Catholic Centre Party to reach the required threshold to pass the Enabling Act.Шаблон:Sfn After securing their support by promising to respect the rights of the Catholic Church, it passed 441–94.Шаблон:Sfn With its passage, Hitler had become a dictator,Шаблон:Sfn but Hindenburg retained the ability to dismiss Hitler.Шаблон:Sfn
Elections in Nazi Germany
The Weimar Constitution allowed the President to refer legislation passed by the Reichstag to a referendum. A referendum would also be held if 10% of eligible voters proposed an initiative.Шаблон:Sfn On 14 July 1933, the German cabinet used the Enabling Act to pass the "Law concerning the Plebiscite",Шаблон:Sfn which permitted the cabinet to call a referendum on "questions of national policy" and "laws which the cabinet had enacted".Шаблон:Sfn While the Weimar provisions allowing for referenda were not explicitly repealed, subsequent legislation made it clear those provisions would not be used.Шаблон:Sfn
On 12 November 1933, the cabinet used this authority to hold a referendum on withdrawing from the League of Nations.Шаблон:Sfn Officially, 95.1% of voters supported withdrawal on a turnout of 96.3%.Шаблон:Sfn While there was undoubtedly considerable pressure to vote in the affirmative,Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn historians Hedwig Richter and Ralph Jessen argue that "fraud and manipulation were not so prevalent as to fundamentally distort the results. This has been repeatedly confirmed by regional studies of the procedure of actual elections and by the records of private individuals."Шаблон:Sfn
The referendum
On 1 August, with Hindenburg's death imminent, Hitler had the cabinet pass the Law Concerning the Head of State of the German Reich. It stipulated that upon Hindenburg's death, the offices of President (head of state) and Chancellor (head of government) would be merged.Шаблон:Sfn Hindenburg died the following day. Three hours later, Hitler issued a decree announcing that he had assumed the president's powers in accordance with the new law.Шаблон:Sfn He also called for a referendum to approve his actions.Шаблон:Sfn
Conduct
Voters were asked the question:Шаблон:Sfn Шаблон:Blockquote
The government used widespread intimidation and electoral fraud to secure a large "yes" vote. This included stationing storm troopers at polling stations and forcibly escorting clubs and societies to polling stations. In some places, polling booths were removed, or banners reading "only traitors enter here" hung over the entrances to discourage secret voting. In addition, many ballot papers were pre-marked with "yes" votes, spoiled ballot papers were frequently counted as having been "yes" votes and many "no" votes were recorded to have been in favour of the referendum question. The extent of the fraud meant that in some areas, the number of votes recorded to have been cast was greater than the number of people able to vote.Шаблон:Sfn
However, the Nazis also made little effort to prevent either the casting or tabulation of negative or invalid votes in districts that were known to have large populations of Jews, Poles and other ethnic minorities. As was the case in the November 1933 elections, the first held after the Nazis seized full power, the leadership considered the expected unfavourable results in such areas to be useful in their propaganda as proof of disloyalty to the Reich.
The relative lack of support in Hamburg in 1933 prompted Hitler to declare a national holiday on 17 August 1934 so that he could address the German people directly over the 4.3 million registered radio sets.Шаблон:Sfn
The referendum itself, as well as all efforts to make Hitler head of state, violated the Enabling Act. Although it gave Hitler the right to pass laws that were contrary to the constitution, it stated that the president's powers were to remain "undisturbed", which has long been interpreted to forbid any attempt to tamper with the presidency. The constitution had also previously been amended in 1932 to make the president of the High Court of Justice (Erwin Bumke by 1934), not the chancellor, first in the line of succession to the presidency and even then only on an interim basis until fresh elections.Шаблон:Sfn
Results
Officially, "yes" easily won with slightly less than 90% of the vote.Шаблон:Sfn Support for merging the offices of president and chancellor was greatest in East Prussia, where official figures show that 96% voted in favour.Шаблон:Sfn Support was lowest in urban districts. It was least strong in Hamburg, where just under 80% voted affirmatively (20.4% against).Шаблон:Sfn In Berlin, 18.5% of votes were negative and every district reported a negative vote share greater than 10%. In the former Communist stronghold of Wedding, just under 20% voted against.Шаблон:Sfn Overall support for the government was lower than in the referendum of 12 November 1933, when the government had received support from 95.1% of the total electorate.Шаблон:Sfn
Some in the Nazi leadership were disappointed by the results of the referendum.Шаблон:Sfn For instance, Joseph Goebbels' diary entry for 22 August speaks of the referendum as a failure: "Initial results: very bad. Then better. Finally over 38 million for the Führer. I expected more. The Catholics failed Rosenberg!"Шаблон:Sfn Nevertheless, historian Ian Kershaw argues that even after accounting for the manipulation of the voting process, the results "reflected the fact that Hitler had the backing, much of it fervently enthusiastic, of the great majority of the German people."Шаблон:Sfn
References
Footnotes
Sources
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- Шаблон:Cite web
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