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

576 DER FUEHRERinstitutions of the Reichstag and the Reichsrat. Article 3. The lawsdecreed by the Reich government are drawn up by the Chancellor andreported in the Reichstag's law journal. . . . Article 4. Treaties of theReich with foreign states, which relate to subjects of Reich legislation,do not, for the duration of the validity of this law, require the consent ofthe bodies participating in the legislation. . . . Article 5. This law . . .expires on April 1, 1937; it furthermore expires if the present Reichgovernment is replaced by another.The present Reich government was the one in which, according toHitler's word of honor, all the ministers appointed on January 30 shouldkeep their places indefinitely; Hugenberg later maintained that if aminister should resign for political reasons, those who remained wouldno longer be the 'present Reich government.'Passage of the law constitutionally required a two-thirds majority ofthe Reichstag, or, rather, two thirds of the deputies must be present, twothirds of those present must vote for the law. A sufficiently large groupof deputies, who under the pressure of terror might not indeed havedared openly to oppose the law, could, by remaining absent, havereduced the attendance figure to less than the required two thirds; since81 Communists had been forcibly removed, the 120 Social Democratsand approximately 15 members of the Center would have sufficed —and there was assuredly enough secret rage among the Center to activate15 men. The 73 men of the Center and the associated 19 of the BavarianPeople's Party had it in their power to deny Hitler's government thelegal basis for dictatorship, either by an open vote or by remainingabsent. Hitler believed it necessary to lure the Center by threats andpromises. He told Kaas that all parties which consented to the dictatorshiplaw would be united in a working committee, and thus in asense constitute a reduced and refined parliament, to which thegovernment would be responsible for its acts. He even promised toconfirm his promise in writing. Kaas waited in vain for the letter. TheReichstag met on March 23. Kaas approached the government benchand asked about the letter. Hitler answered amiably that it was writtenand in the hands of Minister of the Interior Frick who had to countersignit. Kaas went to Frick and asked