Der Fuehrer - Hitler's Rise to Power (1944) - Heiden

THE REICHSTAG FIRE 575most bombastic speeches, promised that the new government would'restore the primacy of politics,' which may have been intended to meanthat politics was more important than the constitution. ThenHindenburg, for whose benefit the whole show was probably put on,arose with difficulty from his place and descended into the crypt; thoseassembled could peer through the open door and watch him as he stooddeep in thought at the tomb of Frederick the Great. The ceremony wasaccompanied by the tramping, singing, and shouting of the S.A. and theStahlhelm. After the scene at the tomb, the assemblage drove back toBerlin; at the Kroll Opera House, near the Reichstag, the newparliament met for its first business session, again chose Goring aspresident, and resolved to hear Hitler's government statement two dayslater, on March 23. It was already a rump parliament. Of theCommunists, most of whom were imprisoned, none, of course, hadappeared; more than twenty Social Democrats were absent, most ofthem under arrest or in flight.From this Reichstag the government demanded dictatorial powers.The idea of one year had long since been shelved; the parliament was togo into retirement for four years, ceding the right of legislation to thegovernment. The sole restriction on the government's power was that itcould not modify or abolish the Reichstag or the Reichsrat — the semiparliamentarybody representing the individual German states. ThePresident, now that there was again a legislative majority in theReichstag, automatically receded into the background; this wasexpressly confirmed and underlined when he was deprived of his right— a mere formality under normal conditions— to sign laws. Thegovernment itself fought bitterly over this dictatorship law; in thecabinet session of March 20, it was not unanimously accepted. Later,this ennabling law was several times extended, but historically the firstdraft has remained the foundation of the National Socialist Reich. Itsmost important provisions were:Article 1. Laws can be passed, not only by the procedure provided inthe constitution, but also by the Reich government. . . . Article 2. Thelaws decreed by the Reich government can deviate from the Reichconstitution in so far as they do not apply to the