1938 German parliamentary election and referendum explained

Country:Nazi Germany
Flag Year:1938
Type:legislative
Previous Election:1936 German parliamentary election and referendum
Previous Year:1936
Election Date:
Next Year:
East 1949
Seats For Election:All 814 seats in the Reichstag
Majority Seats:408
Registered:49,634,569 9.2%
Turnout:49,435,623 (99.6%) 0.6pp
Leader1:Adolf Hitler
Party1:Nazi Party
Last Election1:98.8%, 741 seats
Seats1:814
Seat Change1: 73
Popular Vote1:48,905,004
Percentage1:99.1%
Swing1: 0.3pp
Government
Before Election:Hitler cabinet
Before Party:NSDAP
Posttitle:Government after election
After Election:Hitler cabinet
After Party:NSDAP

Parliamentary elections were held in Germany (including recently annexed Austria) on 10 April 1938.[1] They were the final elections to the Reichstag during Nazi rule and took the form of a single-question referendum asking whether voters approved of a single list of Nazi and pro-Nazi guest candidates for the 814-member Reichstag,[2] as well as the recent annexation of Austria. Turnout in the election was officially 99.6% with 99.1% voting 'yes' in Germany and Austria.

The elections were held largely to rally official support from the new Ostmark (Austrian) province, although further elections for 41 seats were held in the recently annexed Sudetenland on 4 December.[1] NSDAP candidates and "guests" officially received 97.32% of the votes.[3]

The recently completed cruise ship was anchored in international waters near the United Kingdom to serve as a floating polling station for German and Austrian citizens living in the UK. On 10 April 1938, 1,978 voters (including 806 Austrians) were ferried from Tilbury, east of London. Only ten voted against annexation.[4]

Results

See also: 1938 Austrian Anschluss referendum.

Sudetenland

Aftermath

The new Reichstag, the last of the German Reich, convened for the first time on 30 January 1939, electing a presidium headed by incumbent President of the Reichstag Hermann Göring. It convened only a further seven times, the last on 26 July 1942; among the measures passed was a renewal of the Enabling Act of 1933 for additional four years and a law giving Hitler power of life and death over every citizen.

On 25 January 1943, Hitler postponed elections for a new Reichstag until after the war, with the inaugural to take place after another electoral term, subsequently on 30 January 1947—by which point the body, and the Nazi state, had ceased to exist. They were the final elections held in a united Germany prior to 1990 after German reunification.[5]

External links

Notes and References

  1. [Dieter Nohlen]
  2. Web site: Reichstagshandbücher, 1938/1: Verzeichnis der Mitglieder des Reichstags. . Bayerische Staatsbibliothek. 2012-09-04.
  3. Zimmermann, Volker: Die Sudetendeutschen im NS-Staat. Politik und Stimmung der Bevölkerung im Reichsgau Sudetenland (1938–1945). Essen 1999.
  4. Web site: The Wilhelm Gustloff Story . www.wilhelmgustloffmuseum.com . 4 March 2020.
  5. Max Domarus (2007) The Essential Hitler: Speeches and Commentary, Bolchazy-Carducci, p292