Which Nazi decree of February 1933 suspended key civil liberties in Germany?

The Reichstag Fire Decree suspended key civil liberties in Germany in February 1933.

Officially called the Decree of the Reich President for the Protection of People and State, the Reichstag Fire Decree was issued on 28 February 1933, one day after the Reichstag building burned. Adolf Hitler’s cabinet presented the fire as evidence of an alleged communist threat, and President Paul von Hindenburg signed the decree at Hitler’s request.

The measure suspended freedom of expression, freedom of the press, freedom of assembly, privacy of communications, and protections against arbitrary searches and arrests. It also allowed the central government to intervene in Germany’s federal states. These powers enabled mass arrests of political opponents, especially Communists and Social Democrats.

The decree remained in force throughout the Nazi dictatorship and provided a legal framework for repression. It is not the same as the Enabling Act of March 1933, which allowed Hitler’s government to make laws without parliamentary approval. Together, the two measures helped destroy Germany’s constitutional democracy.