President Paul von Hindenburg, on Hitler’s advice, issued the Decree for the Protection of the People and the State (Reichstag Fire Decree), suspending key constitutional rights and enabling central authorities to override state and local governments—an early administrative-legal foundation of Nazi rule.
The Reichstag passed the Law to Remedy the Distress of the People and the Reich (Enabling Act), allowing the Reich government to legislate without parliamentary consent, accelerating the dismantling of constitutional constraints and facilitating sweeping administrative restructuring.
The First Law on the Coordination of the States with the Reich dissolved and reconstituted most state parliaments (Landtage) to match the March 1933 Reichstag election results (excluding Communist seats), helping the Nazis and allies obtain working majorities at the state level.
The Second Law on the Coordination of the States with the Reich established the office of Reichsstatthalter (Reich Governor), appointed by the central government to supervise and control state administrations—key to subordinating federal states to the Reich.
The Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service authorized dismissal of political opponents and excluded many Jews and others from public employment, aligning the administrative apparatus with Nazi ideological and party priorities.
The Law Against the Formation of Parties declared the NSDAP the only legal political party, criminalizing efforts to organize alternatives and further integrating governance with party monopoly.
The Law to Secure the Unity of Party and State legally bound the Nazi Party to the state, treating it as a public-law corporation and deepening institutional overlap between party offices (including SA leadership) and government functions.
The Law on the Reconstruction of the Reich abolished the sovereignty of the German states, eliminated state parliaments, and centralized authority in the Reich government; Reich Governors were placed under the administrative supervision of the Reich Interior Ministry.
The Law on the Abolition of the Reichsrat dissolved the upper chamber representing the states, eliminating their remaining formal participation in national legislation and administration.
The Law Concerning the Head of State of the German Reich provided for combining the offices of Reich President and Reich Chancellor, preparing an institutional basis for Hitler to concentrate executive authority after Hindenburg’s death.
At the Nazi Party rally in Nuremberg, the regime adopted the Reich Citizenship Law and the Law for the Protection of German Blood and German Honour, restructuring the legal-administrative meaning of citizenship and embedding racial categories into state governance.
Following the Anschluss, the Law on the Reunification of Austria with the German Reich declared Austria a province of the German Reich, extending Nazi administrative structures and central authority into newly absorbed territory.
After occupying the Czech lands, Hitler issued a decree creating the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, a dual administrative arrangement combining German authority (including a Reich Protector) with a subordinated local administration.
After Germany’s defeat, the Allied Control Council enacted Control Council Law No. 1, repealing major Nazi laws and formally dismantling key legal instruments that had underpinned Nazi governmental and administrative restructuring.
German Government and Administrative Restructuring under Nazism (1933–1945)
