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Analysis of a political speech

The historical speech of Otto Wels which was before the Centre Party, the Nazi Party and the German National People’s Party had voted for the Enabling Act in 1933. On the 27th February 1933 Hitler wanted to have the “Enabling Act” passed by a two third majority of the Reichstag.

This “Enabling Act” would allow him to pass laws without asking the Reichstag for their consent. Otto Wels was the leader of the parliamentary group “SPD” and used his political rank to speak to the Reichstag and the German citizens. He spoke to them because he wanted to declare the SPD’s opposition to the Enabling Act as well as the persecution of more than 40.000 Communists and Social Democrats since the burning of the Reichstag.

The leader of the parliamentary group “SPD” held that speech on the 23rd of March 1933 to the members of the Reichstag. The speech had taken place in the Kroll Opera House in Berlin because the Reichstag was burned some days before. The Kroll Opera House was also used for the vote on the Enabling Act.

The atmosphere in the Kroll Opera House could be described as very tensed because of the different opinions between the parties. The audience was mostly made up of National Socialists. On this day only 94 SPD members were seated in the Kroll Opera House.

The speaker Otto Wels who was born on the 15th of September 1873 in Berlin was the leader of the “SPD”. He didn’t like the idea of an Enabling Act, so he was hated by the National Socialists who aimed with the help of this Enabling Act for a takeover.

The speech is a reaction to the Enabling Act. The original version is divided up of more than 3 paragraphs. The speaker’s language is characterized by a grave and dramatic way of speaking which supports his message giving a gravity to his commitment to the democratic way of rule.

The speaker often refers to the burning of the Reichstag and that the Nazis were beaten by Communists. He absolutely refuses to sign the Enabling Act and want’s the German citizens to trust him in that decision and do the same. He warns of the consequences the Enabling Act will have.

The consequences would be that the civil rights will be overridden and Hitler (the power) will be allowed to take certain actions for example: killing more and more Communists and Social Democrats without asking the Reichstag for any permission. This Enabling Act became a cornerstone of Adolf Hitler's seizure of power because he was able to create new decrees and laws.

Otto Wels addresses this statement to the Reichstag, the new government and the people of Germany who’s he wanted to explain that there is a democratic alternative to the upcoming Nazi rule. He describes the “critic” to the German people as something not bad or wrong but he says that it’s very good to prevent something bad in future.

Wels is amazed and compares that never before control has been eliminated by elected representatives of the people such as now and maybe in the upcoming future. The rights, the Enabling Act will give to Hitler would be not according to the democratic spirit of the constitution.

They are highly limited in their opinions and political views and that’s why Hitler’s takeover is probably illegal in his eyes.

All in all, Otto Wels is insisting that the Social Democrats will never stop believing in a democratic constitution and his aim is to appeal to the people’s sense of right and wrong. He says again that the Nazis will never gain enough power to take away their creative and indestructible ideas, even if the Weimar Constitution isn’t socialistic, of a socialistic and democratic way of rule and constitution.

In my eyes Otto Wels held one of the most important and courageous speeches in the history of WW2.



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