¹ This article covers developments down to November, 1935. For general accounts of the changes introduced under the Hitler régime, see Meissner, Otto and Kaisenberg, Georg, Staats- und Verwaltungsrecht im Dritten Reich (Berlin, 1935)Google Scholar, and Wertheimer, Mildred S., “The Nazi Revolution in Germany,” in New Governments in Europe (New York, 1934), pp. 126–260Google Scholar.

² See Wells, R. H. “Reichsreform and Prussian Verwaltungsreform in 1932,” in this Review, Vol. 27 (1933), pp. 237–243Google Scholar.

³ See Poetzsch-Heffter, Fritz, “Vom Deutschen Staatsleben,” Jahrbuch des öffentlichen Rechts, Vol. 22 (1935), pp. 158–164Google Scholar.

⁴ Ibid., pp. 129–138.

⁵ Gesetz zur Behebung der Not von Volk und Reich, usually cited as the Ermächtigungsgesetz, RGBl., I, p. 141Google Scholar.

⁶ The Reichsrat was abolished in 1934. After Hindenburg's death, the presidential powers were transferred to Hitler as chancellor. The Reichstag has survived—chiefly as an “auditorium.”

⁷ Gesetz über den Neuaufbau des Reiches, usually cited as the Neuaufbaugesetz, RGBl., I, p. 75Google Scholar. See Medicus, F. A., “Der Neuaufbau des Reichs nach dem Gesetz vom 30. Januar und der ersten Durchführungsverordnung vom 2. Februar 1934,” Archiv des öffentlichen Rechts, new series, Vol. 25 (1934), pp. 62–82Google Scholar.

⁸ Reichsstatthaltergesetz, RGBl., I, p. 65Google Scholar. See Pfundtner, Hans, “Das Reichsstatthaltergesetz vom 30. Januar 1935,” Reichsverwaltungsblalt, Vol. 56 (1934), pp. 85–87Google Scholar.

⁹ The Vorläufiges Gesetz zur Gleichschaltung der Länder mit dem Reich, March 31, 1933 (RGBl., I, p. 153), provided that the state legislatures, with the exception of the newly elected Prussian Landtag, should be dissolved and reconstituted according to the results of the Reichstag election of March 5. All Communist mandates were cancelled and, subsequently, the same procedure was applied to the Social Democratic seats. (Verordnung zur Sicherung der Staatsführung, July 7, 1933, RGBl., I, p. 462.) The other political parties “voluntarily” went out of existence, and a law was passed prohibiting all parties except the National Socialist. (Gesetz gegen die Neubildung von Parteien, July 14, 1933, RGBl., I, p. 479). State legislatures thus became one-party chambers. The dissolution of the Reichstag on October 14, 1933, automatically carried with it the dissolution of all the state legislatures. By Hitler's direction, no new state legislative elections were held, and no attempt was made to reconstitute the Landtage on the basis of the Reichstag election of November 12, 1933. See Medicus, op. cit., p. 70.

¹⁰ State cabinet legislation was authorized by the temporary Gleichschaltungsgesetz of March 31, 1933, lex cit., Arts. 1–3.

¹¹ Erste Verordnung über den Neuaufbau des Reiches, Feb. 2, 1934, RGBl., I, p. 81.

¹² Zweites Gesetz zur Gleichschaltung der Länder mit dem Reiche, April 7, 1933, RGBl., I, p. 173. For a full discussion of this law, see Carl Bilfinger, “Das Reichsstatthaltergesetz,” Archiv des öffentlichen Rechts, new series, Vol. 24 (1933), pp. 131–165. This law and its amendments were repealed by the Reichsstatthaltergesetz of January 30, 1935, RGBl., I, p. 65Google Scholar. See Meissner and Kaisenberg, op. cit., pp. 80–84. In the German Empire, Alsace-Lorraine had been under a Statthalter.

¹³ RGBl., I, p. 65.

¹⁴ Neuaufbaugesetz, lex cit., Art. 3.

¹⁵ Erlass des Führers und Reichskanzlers über die Ernennung und Entlassung der Landesbeamten, February 1, 1935, RGBl., I, p. 73. The ministers have delegated some of their appointing powers to the national governors. See, for example, the Minister of the Interior's Anordnung über die Ernennung und Entlassung der Beamten der allgemeinen und inneren Verwaltung, February 14, 1935, RGBl., I, p. 201.

¹⁶ The Prussian minister president has likewise delegated his appointing authority. See Göring, 's Erlass über Beamtenernennungen, February 6, 1935Google Scholar, Preussische Gesetzsammlung, p. 13.

¹⁷ Erste Verordnung über den Neuaufbau des Reiches, February 2, 1935, Art. 5, RGBl., I, p. 81Google Scholar.

¹⁸ Zweites Gesetz zur Gleichschaltung der Länder mit dem Reiche, lex cit., Art. 5; Reichsstatthaltergesetz, lex cit., Art. 9.

¹⁹ However, the Prussian commissionership was not formally abolished until the end of June. Verordnung des Reichspräsidenten zur Wiederherstellung normaler Regierungsverhältnisse in Preussen, June 30, 1933, RGBl., I, p. 423.

²⁰ Erlass des Führers und Reichskanzlers über die Ausübung der Befugnisse des Reichsstatthalters in Preussen, January, 30, 1935, RGBl., I, p. 75Google Scholar.

²¹ Personal unions were authorized by the second Gleichschaltungsgesetz, lex cit., Art. 5. See also the Prussian Gesetz üher die Gleichschaltung der Rechtsverhältnisse der Staatsminister mil den Rechtsverhältnissen der Reichsminister, April 26, 1933, Preuss. GS., p. 123Google Scholar.

²² See Hitler, 's Erlass über die Aufgaben des Reichsministerium für Wissenschaft, Erziehung, und Volksbildung, May 11, 1934, RGBl., I, p. 375Google Scholar.

²³ Reichsministerialblatt, Vol. 63 (1935), p. 433Google Scholar; Ministerial-Blatt für die Preussische innere Verwaltung, Vol. 96 (1935), p. 548Google Scholar.

²⁴ Reichsministerialblatt, Vol. 62 (1934), p. 681Google Scholar. For the present, the budgets of the two departments remain separate and the legal status of the officials is unchanged; but, in accordance with a decree of July 19, 1934 (Erste Verordnung zur Vereinheitlichung und Verbilligung der Verwaltung, RGBl., I, p. 719Google Scholar), national officials are under obligation to give their services for Prussian affairs and vice versa.

²⁵ Köttingen, Arnold, “Die Entwicklung des öffentlichen Rechts in Preussen,” Jahrbuch des öffentlichen Rechts, Vol. 22 (1935), pp. 290–293, 300–312Google Scholar.

²⁶ Gesetz über die Erweiterung der Befugnisse der Oberpräsidenten, Dec. 15, 1933, Preuss. GS., p. 477Google Scholar.

²⁷ Zweile Verordnung über den Neuaufbau des Reichs, RGBl., I, p. 1190Google Scholar.

²⁸ The provincial governors are nationally appointed and are in the service of the Reich administration as well as that of Prussia and of the provinces. Their functions—national, state, and local—are substantially the same as those of the Reichsstatthalter and state cabinets in the non-Prussian Länder.

²⁹ Gesetz über die Aufhebung des Reichsrats, RGBl., I, p. 89Google Scholar. Although the Enabling Act had safeguarded the Reichsrat from cabinet legislation, the Law Concerning the New Structure of the Reich was passed by the Reichstag and Reichsrat in the form of a constitutional amendment. Art. 4 of that law provided that the cabinet might make new constitutional law. Hence, the abolition of the Reichsrat by cabinet law may be justified under Art. 4. See Medicus, op. cit., p. 80.

³⁰ Verordnung über die deutsche Staatsangehörigkeit, Feb. 5, 1934, RGBl., I, p. 85Google Scholar. See also the Reichsbürgergesetz, Sept. 15, 1935, RGBl., I, p. 1146Google Scholar.

³¹ Poetzsch-Heffter, op. cit., p. 154; Deutsche Verwaltung, Vol. 11 (1934), p. 153Google Scholar.

³² See Holtz, Dietrich, “Die Rechtsnatur der deutschen Länder,” Deutsche Verwaltung, Vol. 11 (1934), pp. 195–197Google Scholar.

³³ For an excellent translation of the more important acts and decrees, see Pollock, J. K. and Heneman, H. J., The Hitler Decrees (rev. ed., Ann Arbor, 1934)Google Scholar. See also the great collection, in seven volumes, edited by Pfundtner, Hans, Neubert, Reinhard, and Medicus, F. A., Das neue Deutsche Reichsrecht (Berlin, 1933 ffGoogle Scholar.); and the summary by Schwarz, Otto and Noack, Erwin, Die Gesetzgebung des Dritten Reiches (Berlin, 1934)Google Scholar.

³⁴ The economic legislation alone is large in quantity and highly significant. See Wertheimer, Mildred S., “The Economic Structure of the Third Reich,” Foreign Policy Reports, Vol. 10 (1934), pp. 182–192Google Scholar.

³⁵ RGBl., I, p. 49. See also Wells, R. H., “Municipal Government in National Socialist Germany,” in this Review, Vol. 29 (1935), pp. 652–658Google Scholar.

³⁶ Gesetz über den Deutschen Gemeindetag, Dec. 15, 1933, RGBl., I, p. 1065Google Scholar. See also Marx, F. M., “The New Roof over German Local Government,” National Municipal Review, Vol. 23 (1934), pp. 255–257, 270CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

³⁷ Der Gemeindetag, Vol. 29 (1935), pp. 184–185Google Scholar.

³⁸ See Meissner and Kaisenberg, op. cit., pp. 282–295.

³⁹ See Blachly, F. F. and Oatman, M. E., The Government and Administration of Germany (Baltimore, 1928), Chap. 13Google Scholar.

⁴⁰ Drittes Gesetz zur Überleitung der Rechtspflege auf das Reich, RGBl., I, p. 68Google Scholar.

⁴¹ See MacFarland, C. S., The New Church and the New Germany (New York, 1934)Google Scholar, and Douglass, P. F., God Among the Germans (Philadelphia, 1935)Google Scholar.

⁴² Konkordat zwischen dem Heiligen Stuhl und dem Deutschen Reiche, RGBl., II, p. 679Google Scholar.

⁴³ Geselz über die Verfassung der Deutschen Evangelischen Kirche, RGBl., I, p. 471Google Scholar.

⁴⁴ Erlass über die Zusammenfassung der Zuständigkeiten des Reichs und Preussens in Kirchenangelegenheiten, July 16, 1935, RGBl., I, p. 1029Google Scholar.

⁴⁵ Gesetz über das Beschlussverfahren in Rechtsangelegenheiten der Evangelischen Kirche, June 26, 1935, RGBl., I, p. 774Google Scholar.

⁴⁶ See R. H. Wells, German Cities; A Study of Contemporary Municipal Politics and Administration (Princeton, 1932), p. 156Google Scholar.

⁴⁷ See Kandel, I. L., “Education in Nazi Germany,” Annals of the American Academy, Vol. 182 (Nov., 1935), pp. 153–163CrossRefGoogle Scholar; and an unsigned note, “The Development of German Education, 1934–35,” International Education Review, Vol. 4 (1935), pp. 297–300Google Scholar.

⁴⁸ On National Socialist civil service legislation, see Marx, F. M., “German Bureaucracy in Transition,” in this Review, Vol. 28 (1934), pp. 467–480Google Scholar; and the same author in Civil Service Abroad (New York, 1935), pp. 260–274Google Scholar.

⁴⁹ See, for example, Gesetz zur Überleitung des Forst- und Jagdwesens auf das Reich, July 3, 1934, RGBl., I, p. 534Google Scholar; Gesetz zur Überleitung des Bergwesens auf das Reich, March 1, 1935, RGBl., I, p. 315Google Scholar; Gesetz über die Vereinheitlichung des Gesundheitswesens, July 3, 1934, RGBl., I, p. 531Google Scholar; Gesetz über die Landespolizei, March 29, 1935, RGBl., I, p. 460Google Scholar; and the numerous laws and decrees summarized in Schwarz and Noack, op. cit., passim.

⁵⁰ Gesetz über die Vereinigung von Mecklenburg-Strelitz mit Mecklenburg-Schwerin, December 16, 1933, RGBl., I, p. 1065Google Scholar. Under the German Empire, these two states had separate grand-dukes but a common legislature. They were, in effect, “political Siamese twins.” After the Revolution of 1918, the two Mecklenburgs were entirely separated.

⁵¹ Gesetz über die vorläufige, Verwaltung des Saarlandes, January 30, 1935, RGBl., I, p. 68Google Scholar. Before the Versailles Treaty, the Saar belonged partly to Prussia and partly to Bavaria.

⁵² With one exception, these boundary corrections were made in 1934 and 1935. See RGBl., II, passim. The Prussia-Lippe boundary correction was completed before Hitler came to power. See Preuss. GS., 1931, p. 118Google Scholar. For other territorial changes under the Weimar Republic, see Wells, R. H., German Cities, pp. 16–21Google Scholar.

⁵³ Frick, Wilhelm, Der Neubau des Dritten Beichs (Berlin, 1934)Google Scholar. This is a speech delivered by Frick to the officers of the Reichswehr on November 15, 1934.

⁵⁴ The Staatsrat is now an appointed, advisory body. Gesetz über den Staatsrat, July 8, 1933, Preuss. GS., p. 241Google Scholar.

⁵⁵ Deutsche Verwaltung, Vol. 11 (1934), p. 187Google Scholar.

⁵⁶ The Saar is counted above although technically it is not a Land. The Länder, arranged in order of size, are Prussia, Bavaria, Württemberg, Mecklenburg, Baden, Saxony, Thuringia, Hesse, Oldenburg, Brunswick, Anhalt, Lippe, Hamburg, Schaumberg-Lippe, Lübeck, and Bremen.

⁵⁷ The Prussian provinces are East Prussia, Pomerania, Brandenburg, Lower Silesia, Upper Silesia, Prussian Saxony, Schleswig-Holstein, Hannover, Westphalia, the Rhine Province, and Hesse-Nassau. For most purposes, the city of Greater Berlin and the Hohenzollern Territory in South Germany have the status of provinces. The Border Province is not listed because its administration has recently been merged with that of Brandenburg. See Gesetz über die Vereinheitlichung der Verwaltung der Provinz Brandenburg und der Provinz Grenzmark Posen-West Preussen, June 27, 1935, Preuss. GS., p. 87.

⁵⁸ In the recent revision of the Reichstag election law, the number of election districts and unions of districts was left unchanged. There are still 35 Wahlkreise and 16 Wahlkreisverbände. See Gesetz zur Änderung der Anlage des Reichswahlgesetzes, Sept. 5, 1935, RGBl., I, p. 1137.