Article 48 was an article in the constitution of the Weimar Republic of Germany (1919–1933) that allowed the President to rule by decree without the consent of the Reichstag (parliament). Article 48 was used by Adolf Hitler in 1933 to establish a dictatorship, ending the Weimar Republic and ushering in the Third Reich.
The drafters of the Constitution likely intended Article 48 to be used for "emergencies" along the lines of the civil unrest that plagued Germany in 1918 and 1919. However, as the German economic situation began to deteriorate after the outbreak of the Great Depression in early 1930, successive governments found it impossible to achieve a parliamentary majority for any policy, whether proposed by the left, center, or right. It became impossible to obtain a parliamentary majority as the extremist parties on the Left and Right gained power. (Communist and NAZI parties were the Left and the Right) The power to rule by decree became increasingly used not in response to a specific emergency but as a substitute for parliamentary leadership. The excessive use of the decree power and the fact that successive chancellors were no longer responsible to the Reichstag likely played a significant part in the loss of public confidence in constitutional democracy, in turn leading to the rise of the extremist parties.
On January 30, 1933, Adolf Hitler was named Chancellor of Germany. Lacking a majority in the Reichstag, Hitler formed a coalition government and, not long afterwards called elections for March 5. Six days before the election, on February 27, the Reichstag Fire damaged the house of Parliament in Berlin. Claiming that the fire was the first step in a Communist revolution, the Nazis used the fire as a pretext to get President von Hindenburg to sign the Reichstag Fire Decree (Presidential Decree for the Protection of People and State).
Under the decree, issued by von Hindenburg on the basis of Article 48, the government was given authority to curtail constitutional rights including free expression of opinion, freedom of the press, rights of assembly, and the privacy of postal, telegraphic and telephonic communications. Constitutional restrictions on searches and confiscation of property were likewise suspended.
The Reichstag Fire Decree was one of the first steps the Nazis took toward the establishment of a one-party dictatorship in Germany. With several key government posts in the hands of Nazis and with the constitutional protections on civil liberties suspended by the decree, the Nazis were able to use police power to suppress, intimidate, and arrest their opposition, in particular the Communists. Hitler's subversion of the Constitution under Article 48 thus had the mark of legality.
Though the March 5 elections did not bring the Nazis their much-desired majority in the Reichstag, the Nazis were able to maneuver on March 23, 1933 the passage of the Enabling Act by the required two-thirds parliamentary majority, effectively abrogating the authority of the Reichstag and placing its authority in the hands of the Cabinet. The Reichstag Fire Decree was the basis of later decrees that abolished the political parties other than the NSDAP and strengthened Hitler's dictatorial power.
The NSADP is the strangely named National Socialist (but not communist) "Arbeiters" (Workers) Democratic Party - - the NAZI's. It was not socialist. It was not democratic. It was national, and I suppose it was a workers party since it put many people to work - - on war.
The Sturmabteilung or SA (German for "Storm department", usually translated as "stormtroopers"), functioned as a paramilitary organization of the NSDAP — the German Nazi party. It played a key role in Adolf Hitler's rise to power in the 1930s. Once Hitler assumed power in 1933, this "Brown shirt" organization of thugs became expendable. At the end of June 1934, Hitler eliminated the leadership - - simply killed them. They were merely low brow, strong arm pawns in Hitler's power move.