Was Germany a democratic country during World War II?

Answer 1

In 1871 the newly united Germany acquired the Reichstag, a national parliament elected by all resident male Germans aged 25+. However, the Chancellor and the other ministers saw themselves as the Kaiser's sevants. Moreover, the powers of the Reichstag were somewhat limited. In particular, the military budget was only presented to it once every ten years!

Answer 2

When Hitler came to power on January 30, 1933, Germany was a democracy, albeit a very fragile one due to Germany's use of the proportional represtation voting system . This led to many small parties receiving an electoral mandate and making it difficult to form stable coalition goverments, let alone for one party to receive an absolute majority. Another problem was the general public's distrust of the political system

After being made Chancellor on 30 January, 1933, Hitler callously set about dismantling Germany's democratic institutions, at first restricting other political parties before banning them outright and persecuting political opponents. The death of German democracy came about in several unforeseen steps:

February 1, 1933: Hitler asked President Hindenburg to disolve the Reichstag, ostensibly to hold new elections. With its parliament dissolved there were no politicians to control Hitler.

February 27/28, 1933: Reichstag fire: The immediate response to the fire was the enactment of the Verordnung des Reichspräsidenten zum Schutz von Volk und Staat (Decree of the Reichspresident for the protection of the nation and state) on February 28, 1933. This decree abrogated the German constitution and paved the way for the persecution of political opponents of the Nazi party by the police and the SA. The decree specifically allowed for the arrest of people without reason. That same day, Göring ordered the arrest of communist members of the Reichstag and of the individual Landtags (state legislatures).

Due to the huge numbers of arrests, by the middle of May 1933, over 100,000 political opponents in Prussia alone had been arrested and incarcerated, there were soon not enough places in prison and the authorities had to set up improvised detention centres, these detention centres became the prototypes for the concentration camps that were to follow.

Hitler further consolidated his power base in the 8th election to the Reichstag on 5 March, 1933, which was also the last election in which other parties were allowed to particpate, achieving 43.9% of the popular vote. It is noteworthy that despite the persecution of political opponents and their incarceration that 41.9% of the popular vote went to parties that were vehemently opposed to the Nazi Party (Social Democratic Party, Communist Party, Party of the Centre).

The election on 5 March, 1933 was not a free election, as the political activities of the other parties had been restricted by emergency decrees, many members of the Communist and Social Democratic Parties were interned and the election campaign was marred with violence instigated by Hitler's SA.

March 24, 1933: With the help of other parties (still naively underestimating Hitler and still believing that with only three Nazis in the government, they could control him), Hitler passed the Ermächtigungsgesetz (Enabling Act). This Act effectively gave Hitler the power to circumvent all political checks and balances by allowing the government to pass laws without the agreement of the Reichstag or ratification by the second chamber, the Reichsrat, and without being signed into law by the Reichspresident.

June 22, 1933: Banning of the Social Democrats and disbandment of all other parties: On June 22, 1933 the SPD was ruled as a "subversive and anti-German " party and banned. In light of this ruling all other parties chose to disband voluntarily rather than suffer the fate of the SPD.

July 14, 1933: With no effective political opposition to stop him, Hitler passed das Gesetz gegen die Neubildung von Parteien (Act prohibiting the Formation of New Parties).

In less than six months, Germany had become a Dictatorship.

Answer 3

No, Germany was NOT democratic. Germany was a dictatorship lead by Adolf Hitler.

Answer 4

nope

Answer 5

No