Echoes of Nazi Elections

The echoes are getting louder. We are not Germany of the 1930s but totalitarian and fascist would-be dictators across time operate with consistent goals and exploit opportunities. President Trump is not hiding his desire to end free and open elections. He wants to solidify his kleptocracy with its fascist undercurrents. Knowing how the Weimar Republic collapsed in February and March of 1933 may give us insights. It seems, after all, that it is giving insights to those working towards Trump’s agenda. 

The Reichstag Fire   On February 27, 1933, Germany’s Parliament, the Reichstag, was set on fire. Although a singular arsonist was blamed and executed (Dutch Communist Marinus van der Lubbe) evidence suggests the Nazis set the fires. 

It was one week before the federal elections and Hitler was desperate to gain a majority of the vote that had consistently been denied him. Hitler may have been unaware of the planned attack on the Reichstag and became enraged when he arrived on scene. Hermann Göring, President of the Reichstag, (whose paramilitary unit was seen in the vicinity) rushed over and convinced Hitler to let him team up with SA to destroy Hitler’s opposition on the Left. Hitler, seemingly taking the attack as a personal affront, ranted, “Now there’s no mercy…every communist functionary will be shot where he’s found. The Communist members of the Reichstag must be hanged this very night!”  It was chilling. 

The Berlin police hesitated that night, but the arson attack ultimately gave Hitler the opportunity to establish a police state. It would take time to take over and coordinate German police forces which were decentralized and locally controlled. 

Steps Towards a Police State   When Hitler had been given power in January 1933 the process of police radicalization began. Police were rewarded for targeting Hitler’s enemies (Social-Democrats, Communists…). Ten days before the Reichstag fire, Göring instructed Prussian police forces (where Berlin is) to work with right-wing paramilitaries to suppress Communists and indeed kill them if necessary. There would only be punishments for failing to do so. 

Less than a week before the Reichstag fire, paramilitaries (especially the SA “brownshirts”) were deputized as “auxiliary policemen”. (Note the white armband on the SA thug patrolling with the policeman in the Nazi propaganda photo used for this entry). As they roamed the streets they rounded up any perceived enemies and created the first network of “wild” concentration camps. Officially they were patrolling to make the streets safe to vote (for the Nazis) in the upcoming March 5 elections, but few were fooled that their intent was to intimidate. 

Emergency Power   The next day Chancellor Hitler convinced President Hindenburg to use Article 48 of the Weimar constitution to rule by decree (not through the Reichstag) to “re-establish law and order”. The cynical “Decree for the Protection of Volk and State” (Reichstag Fire Decree) suspended civil rights; forbade Communist meetings; allowed the central government to overrule state and local laws and even overthrow state and local governments; targeted the media, the courts; allowed for government intervention in private life without warrants. President Hindenburg approved a vague “protective custody” law to imprison political dissenters. 4,000 were arrested that night. Within weeks, 25,000 were arrested and tortured. 40,000 fled Germany. A threshold had been crossed in the name of “national security” and everyone knew it. 

Police Radicalization   German police were now given large budgets, received new weaponry and training, and were no longer constrained by the constitution. Hearings before a judge were no longer required. Police were encouraged to settle old scores and arrest real or perceived enemies of the state under the “protective custody” decree. Violence became the norm, a spectacle reinforcing Hitler’s assertion that the nation was under attack and that only the Nazis could act to save them because they had no compassion for those “enemies”. 

Elections   On March 5, 1933, elections were held in this atmosphere of intimidation and fear. And still, the Nazi Party received only 43.9% of the vote (only 31.3% in Berlin). Hitler, denying the election results, declared victory and annulled Communist seats in the Reichstag (having blamed them for the arson attack). Within days, the Reichstag Fire Decree was used to replace state officials and even overthrow the state government of Bavaria. 

Silencing Free Speech   On March 21, 1933, Hitler issued the Decree Against Malicious Attacks which criminalized criticism of Hitler and stopped criminal investigations of Nazi officials as the new Parliament was seated (with a choreographed propaganda day centered on Hindenburg and the German Army). That same day the news announced the opening of two new concentration camps in Dachau, near Munich (run by the SS) and Oranienburg in Berlin (run by the SA). 

Hitler Enabled to Become Dictator   On March 24, the Nazis forced through a “Law to Remove the Distress of the People and the State” (The Enabling Act) in the Reichstag that gave Hitler dictatorial power.

My Turn   We need to be concerned and at the same time confident. I am cautious to draw direct parallels between Germany in the 1930s and us. There are too many different circumstances and contexts that do not apply. However, the echoes are getting louder. President Trump and his acolytes are not hiding the fact that they are heavily funding and arming a paramilitary force, with orders to violate constitutional rights and safeguards. Steve Bannon said they will be deployed around voting places in November (echoes of March 1933). They are serious and are “justifying” these moves in ways that echo the 1930s. 

Unlike the 1930s, however, our police forces (though in Minneapolis overwhelmed by the sheer numbers and brutality of ICE) are still protecting their communities. The military still operates in its traditional role – something that is quite different from the German military back then. The Judiciary is still upholding the Constitution and political opposition is strong. We have time to prepare because we recognize that we are at a turning point in the process. 

But we can no longer wish away or ignore what our government is doing. Intimidation and anti-constitutional ideas and initiatives will continue to escalate. We are in the thick of it. 

We need to remain calm, firm, and unified. We need to pay attention to the power of peaceful protest and the examples of democratic power and dignity demonstrated in places like Oregon and Minnesota. We must continue to pressure our leaders to resist the construction of extra-legal ICE concentration camps in warehouses across the U.S. 

Our responses, rooted in our Republic's history, is working and is a powerful force given to us by those who came before. Each community has the power to say no. That has worked in our past and will continue to work in the present. 

Beyond Outrage   Why were we shocked that the president posted a vicious racist image this week? Have we not been paying attention? There was nothing new here. We need to get beyond outrage and acknowledge what we know and ask better questions to get out of this mess. The question is not, “Did you see that Trump posted something racist?” but “Why did the president post something so disgusting?” "What did he think he was doing?"

If we recognize that it might be because he believes his base are racists, then we can engage our fellow citizens. We get to ask, “Is it true what the president thinks of you?” “He says he represents you and your voice, is this true?” I suspect we (and they) might be surprised (for the most part) when they say no. Many decent people feel the need to be defensive. We feel the need to invite them back into the neighborhood. You did notice that there was a backlash even from his base? 

Let’s have confidence in what we know is right and wrong and give space and dignity to our neighbors who need to be free to reclaim that. 

We the people, in all of our diversity and contradictions, believe in freedom and dignity. Peaceful protests and civic engagement in the coming weeks and months is our power. It is the glue that binds us in our experiment against tyranny.