![Ja dem Fuehrer](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d1/Ja_dem_Fuehrer.jpg)
A referendum on merging the posts of
Chancellor and
President
President most commonly refers to:
*President (corporate title)
* President (education), a leader of a college or university
* President (government title)
President may also refer to:
Automobiles
* Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...
was held in
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...
on 19 August 1934,
[ Dieter Nohlen and Philip Stöver (2010) ''Elections in Europe: A Data Handbook'', p. 762, .] seventeen days after the death of President
Paul von Hindenburg
Paul Ludwig Hans Anton von Beneckendorff und von Hindenburg (; abbreviated ; 2 October 1847 – 2 August 1934) was a German field marshal and statesman who led the Imperial German Army during World War I and later became President of Germany fr ...
. The German leadership sought to gain approval for
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...
's assumption of supreme power. The referendum was associated with widespread
intimidation of voters, and Hitler used the resultant large "yes" vote to claim public support for his activities as the ''de facto''
head of state
A head of state (or chief of state) is the public persona who officially embodies a state Foakes, pp. 110–11 " he head of statebeing an embodiment of the State itself or representatitve of its international persona." in its unity and l ...
of Germany. In fact, he had assumed these offices and powers immediately upon Hindenburg's death and used the referendum to legitimise that move and take the title (
Führer
( ; , spelled or ''Fuhrer'' when the umlaut is not available) is a German word meaning "leader" or " guide". As a political title, it is strongly associated with the Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler.
Nazi Germany cultivated the ("leader princip ...
and
Reich
''Reich'' (; ) is a German noun whose meaning is analogous to the meaning of the English word "realm"; this is not to be confused with the German adjective "reich" which means "rich". The terms ' (literally the "realm of an emperor") and ' (lit ...
Chancellor).
Background
Hitler had known as early as April 1934 that Hindenburg would likely be dead by the end of the year. He spent much of the runup working to get the armed forces to support him as Hindenburg's successor.
[William Shirer, ''The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich'' (Touchstone Edition) (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1990)] Hitler was aware that with the passage of the
Enabling Act
An enabling act is a piece of legislation by which a legislative body grants an entity which depends on it (for authorization or legitimacy) the power to take certain actions. For example, enabling acts often establish government agencies to carr ...
and the banning of parties other than the Nazis in 1933, Hindenburg was the only check on his power, through his right to dismiss Hitler from office. This fact was brought home earlier in 1934. In the wake of escalating Nazi excesses, Hindenburg threatened to declare martial law unless Hitler took immediate steps to end the tension. Hitler responded by ordering the
Night of the Long Knives
The Night of the Long Knives (German: ), or the Röhm purge (German: ''Röhm-Putsch''), also called Operation Hummingbird (German: ''Unternehmen Kolibri''), was a purge that took place in Nazi Germany from 30 June to 2 July 1934. Chancellor Ad ...
, in which several
SA leaders, most notably
Ernst Röhm, were murdered along with several of Hitler's other past rivals.
[
On 1 August, with Hindenburg's death imminent, Hitler had the cabinet pass the "Law Concerning the Highest State Office of the Reich", which merged the offices of ]president
President most commonly refers to:
*President (corporate title)
* President (education), a leader of a college or university
* President (government title)
President may also refer to:
Automobiles
* Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...
(head of state) and chancellor (head of government) under the title of Leader and Chancellor (''Führer und Reichskanzler
( ; , spelled or ''Fuhrer'' when the umlaut is not available) is a German word meaning "leader" or "guide". As a political title, it is strongly associated with the Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler.
Nazi Germany cultivated the ("leader principl ...
''). Hindenburg died the following day, and two hours later, Hitler issued a decree announcing that in accordance with the new law, he had assumed the president's powers. He publicly argued that the presidency had become so linked with Hindenburg that the title should not be used again.
Immediately after Hindenburg's death on 2 August, defence minister and commander-in-chief Werner von Blomberg
Werner Eduard Fritz von Blomberg (2 September 1878 – 13 March 1946) was a German General Staff officer and the first Minister of War in Adolf Hitler's government. After serving on the Western Front in World War I, Blomberg was appointed chi ...
ordered all members of the ''Reichswehr
''Reichswehr'' () was the official name of the German armed forces during the Weimar Republic and the first years of the Third Reich. After Germany was defeated in World War I, the Imperial German Army () was dissolved in order to be reshape ...
'' (armed forces) to take an oath to Hitler
The Hitler Oath (German: or Führer Oath)—also referred in English as the Soldier's Oath—refers to the oaths of allegiance sworn by the officers and soldiers of the German Armed Forces and civil servants of Nazi Germany between the years 193 ...
.[
When Hindenburg dictated his testament in May, he included as his "last wish" for Hitler to restore the Hohenzollern monarchy. His son, ]Oskar von Hindenburg
Oskar Wilhelm Robert Paul Ludwig Hellmuth von Beneckendorff und von Hindenburg (31 January 1883 – 12 February 1960) was a German ''Generalleutnant''. The son and aide-de-camp to Field Marshal and Reich President Paul von Hindenburg had consid ...
, passed the testament on to Vice Chancellor Franz von Papen, who, in turn, gave it to Hitler on 14 August. The next day, 15 August, Hitler had it published without any indication of Hindenburg's "last wish".[ H. A. Winkler (2006), ''Germany: The Long Road West, Volume II (1933–1990)'' (Oxford University Press), pp. 38–39.]
Conduct
Voters were asked the question:
:The office of the President of the Reich is unified with the office of the Chancellor. Consequently all former powers of the President of the Reich are transmitted to the Führer and Chancellor of the Reich Adolf Hitler. He himself nominates his substitute.
:Do you, German man and German woman, approve of this regulation provided by this Law?[Min Shu (27 May 2014)]
"Consolidating Leadership: Referendums in Nazi Germany and Postwar France"
lecture notes for Introduction to Direct Democracy (Waseda University
, mottoeng = Independence of scholarship
, established = 21 October 1882
, type = Private
, endowment =
, president = Aiji Tanaka
, city = Shinjuku
, state = Tokyo
, country = Japan
, students = 47,959
, undergrad = 39,382
, postgrad ...
), p. 4
The government used widespread intimidation and electoral fraud to secure a large "yes" vote. This included stationing storm troopers at polling stations and forcing clubs and societies to march to polling stations escorted by Nazi storm troopers and then to vote in public. 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 premarked 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.
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. It was the last national vote in which Jews and other minorities were allowed to cast ballots before they were stripped of citizenship the following year by the enactment of the Nuremberg Laws
The Nuremberg Laws (german: link=no, Nürnberger Gesetze, ) were antisemitic and racist laws that were enacted in Nazi Germany on 15 September 1935, at a special meeting of the Reichstag convened during the annual Nuremberg Rally of ...
.
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.[
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, not the chancellor, first in the line of succession to the presidency and even then only on an interim basis until fresh elections.][
]
Results
Support for merging the offices of president and chancellor was greatest in East Prussia, where official figures show that 96% voted in favour. Support was lowest in urban districts. It was least strong in Hamburg
(male), (female) en, Hamburger(s),
Hamburgian(s)
, timezone1 = Central (CET)
, utc_offset1 = +1
, timezone1_DST = Central (CEST)
, utc_offset1_DST = +2
, postal ...
, where just under 80% voted affirmatively (20.4% against). In Aachen, 18.6% voted against. In Berlin
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...
, 18.5% of votes were negative and every district reported negative vote share greater than 10%. In the former Communist stronghold of Wedding
A wedding is a ceremony where two people are united in marriage. Wedding traditions and customs vary greatly between cultures, ethnic groups, religions, countries, and social classes. Most wedding ceremonies involve an exchange of marriage vo ...
, it was 19.7% against.[ The extent of the intimidation influenced the size of the "yes" vote.] Overall support for the government was lower than in the referendum of 12 November 1933. Where the referendum of 1933 had received support from 89.9% of the total electorate, that of 1934 had only 84.3% support.[ The regional variation, however, was identical to that in the referendum of 1933.][
Some in the Nazi leadership were disappointed by the results of the referendum.] 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!" Nevertheless, historian Ian Kershaw
Sir Ian Kershaw (born 29 April 1943) is an English historian whose work has chiefly focused on the social history of 20th-century Germany. He is regarded by many as one of the world's leading experts on Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany, and is pa ...
has judged 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" at the time.
References
{{Authority control
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
1934 elections in Germany
Referendums in Germany
August 1934 events