discuss the implication of the existence and use of Article

discuss the implication of the existence and use of Article 48 for Hitler and the Nazi party. Does Article 48 create a precedent for later Nazi rule? If so, how so? If not, why not?

Solution

Solution :

Hitler and the Nazi party came legally to power in 1933 . The Weimar constitution contained a clause , Article 48 , which allowed the president to take extreme measures to preserve security in the face of emergency . Taking advantaage of the Reichstag fire , Hitler persuaded the then president to use Article 48 to ban opposition and after a new election parliament , the Reichstag , passed an enabling act which have dictatorial power to Hitler and the Reich cabinet . In this way a legal dictatorship was created . Thus the existence and use of Article 48 for Hitler and the Nazi party gave way to the establishment of legal dictatorship in Germany .

Article 48 did create a precedent for later Nazi rule because it allowed the president to take extreme measures in the face of emergency . The Reichstag fire incident was used as evidence by the Nazi Party that communists were plotting against the German government. The event is seen as pivotal in the establishment of Nazi Germany. Adolf Hitler, who was sworn in as Chancellor of Germany four weeks before the Reichstag fire incident , urged President Paul von Hindenburg to pass an emergency decree to suspend civil liberties in order to counter the ruthless confrontation of the Communist Party of Germany. After passing the decree, the government instituted mass arrests of communists, including all of the Communist Party parliamentary delegates. With their bitter rival communists gone , the Nazi Party went on to become majority in the parliament and this enabled Hitler to consolidate his power.