Dictatorship and the German Constitution: 1933-1937

Abstract

notion of the state or the fulfilment of his duties, but he pledges personal allegiance and unreserved obedience to the person of the Fiihrer himself. No longer is technical qualification for the office the exclusive condition of appointment, but proof of political reliability is equally and in 96 Compare the gradual development in the following statutes: i., 2., and 3. Gesetz zur Vtberleitung der Rechtspflege auf des Reich of February I6, of December 5, 1934, and of January 24, I935 (RGB. (I934) I, 9I, 1214; id. (I935) I, 68). 97 most notorious among them is the Peoples Court (Volksgerichtshof), established by the act of April 24, 1933 art. III, ? I-5 (RGB. I, 345); see Loewenstein, Law in the Third Reich, 45 Yale L. J. 779, 8o8 (2936); by the act of April 14, I936 (RGB. I, 369), these tribunals of the star chamber type were transformed into ordinary courts in the terms of the Judicature Act. special courts (Sondergerichte) were established by Ordinance of March 21, I933 (RGB. I, 136). 98 See Loewenstein, Law in the Third Reich, 45 Yale L. J. 779, 8o8, n. I04 (I936). Id. at 809. 566 This content downloaded from 157.55.39.10 on Mon, 08 Aug 2016 06:01:24 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms THE GERMAN CONSTITUTION: 1933-1937 practice even more important.00?? new Public Officials Act of January 26, I937, declares in its first sentence: The German public official executes the will of the state and of the National Socialist Party. legal pretext of the identity of state and party serves to cover the fact that the once politically neutral civil service has officially surrendered to the patronage of the party to such an extent that at present no appointment, except for minor officials, is possible unless the applicant is a tested member of the party and has undergone special training in the party doctrine. older officials are rapidly being replaced by party members. membership card as technical qualification for office is responsible, according to reports of unbiased observers, for the decay of administrative efficiency in almost all walks of public life. Space again forbids any detailed description of the status of public officials in the Third Reich. It should be noted, however, that persons of non-German blood and those married to a partner of non-German blood are no longer eligible for office.101 Furthermore, vested rights of the officials which have contributed so much both under the Empire and the Republic to the prestige and security of the civil service are no longer recognized. Even the new Public Officials Act of I937 which takes great pains to return at least on paper to the traditional concepts of the civil service contains so many political reservations and pitfalls that security of tenure continues to depend on political conformity. On the other hand the new act benefits from the relentless process of weeding out the politically unreliable public officials during the last years. Since judges and academic teachers are equally subjected to the requirements of civil service it is obvious that political reliability of no category of officials escapes a continuous scrutiny. Thus one of the main objectives in stabilizing the regime is reached in that public officials are made political tools. It should be added that the number of administrative offices and beneficiaries of party and state have inordinately increased under the totalitarian Third Reich.