Decree of the Reich President for the Protection of People and State

An emergency order issued in Germany on 28 February 1933 after the Reichstag fire, suspending key civil liberties and enabling widespread political repression.

Article 48 of the Weimar Constitution: A constitutional provision allowing the German president to take emergency measures and suspend certain rights. The decree invoked Article 48 to justify suspending constitutional protections.
Reichstag fire: A fire that destroyed the German parliament building in Berlin on the night of 27 February 1933. The government presented the fire as evidence of an imminent communist uprising.
German Communist Party: A major German political party, known as the KPD, that was outlawed by the Nazi regime in 1933. The decree enabled mass arrests and suppression of communist organizers and publications.
Weimar Constitution: The constitution of the German Republic from 1919 to 1933, establishing parliamentary government and civil rights. The decree suspended rights that the constitution otherwise protected.
Protective custody: Imprisonment without ordinary criminal charges or a court trial, used by Nazi authorities against political opponents. The decree's suspension of legal safeguards enabled detention under this label.
Paul von Hindenburg: German president from 1925 until his death in 1934 and a former field marshal. Hindenburg signed the emergency order as president under Article 48.
Social Democratic Party of Germany: A German political party, known as the SPD, that opposed Nazi rule and was banned in 1933. The decree's restrictions weakened the SPD before the regime outlawed it.
Enabling Act of 1933: A law passed on 23 March 1933 allowing Hitler's cabinet to legislate without the Reichstag for four years. Unlike the decree's emergency suspension of rights, the act transferred legislative power to the cabinet.
Gleichschaltung: The Nazi regime's coordination of German institutions and public life under centralized party control. The decree helped clear political obstacles to imposing Nazi control across institutions.
Adolf Hitler: Leader of the Nazi Party who became German chancellor in January 1933 and dictator by 1934. Hitler's government proposed the decree and used it to suppress opponents.

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