How did the Nazis abolish Germany’s state governments after passing the Enabling Act?
After securing the Enabling Act in March 1933, which granted the government the authority to issue decrees independently of the Reichstag and the president, the Nazi regime systematically dismantled Germany’s federal structure through a process of political coordination known as Gleichschaltung.12
Hitler utilized these overriding powers to carry out a revolution under the guise of legality. The abolition of Germany’s state governments was achieved through a series of decrees that culminated in the Law for the Reconstruction of the Reich, enacted on January 30, 1934. This legislation formally abolished the Land (state) diets and transferred the sovereign powers previously held by the Länder (states) directly to the central Reich government. This effectively ended the federalist system of the Weimar Republic and centralized all political authority within the Third Reich.12