arts in exile

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  The President of the Reich Paul von Hindenburg leaves the polling station in Kanonierstrasse in Berlin.

  Bundesarchiv, Bild 102-14378, photographer: Pahl, Georg 

  5 March 1933

  Reichstag elections
  The NSDAP does not manage to gain the absolute majority it expected, but is the strongest party with 43.9% of the vote.
• 13 March 1933

  Joseph Goebbels is appointed Reich Minister of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda.
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  Decree issued by the Reich President to fight "Treacherous Attacks Against the Government of the National Uprising"
  

  Reichsgeseztesblatt, issue from 22 March 1933, Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin

  21 March 1933

  The Reich President issues a decree for "Defence from Treacherous Attacks Against the Government of the National Uprising"
  The decree allows the severe punishment of anyone expressing criticism of any kind against the government. It is replaced on 20 December 1934 with the Treachery Act (Heimtückengesetz).
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  Prisoners levelling a road in Dachau concentration camp

  Bundesarchiv, Bild 152-01-24, photographer: not stated

  22 March 1933

  Opening of Dachau, the first concentration camp
  The camp is initially used to imprison political opponents of the Nazis. From 1935, however, new groups of prisoners such as Jehovah’s Witnesses, homosexuals and emigrants are interned here.
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  Speech by Adolf Hitler before the Reichstag on the Enabling Act at the Kroll Opera House in Berlin

  Bundesarchiv, Bild 102-14439, photographer: Pahl, Georg

  23 March 1933

  The Enabling Act, which the Nazis call the "Law to Remedy the Distress of People and Reich", is passed
  The aim of this Act is to eliminate the powers of the parties. The law requires a 2/3 majority, and can only be passed with massive pressure from armed SA and SS men in the chamber.
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  Adolf Hitler and Joseph Goebbels during a visit to the Neubabelsberg Ufa studios

  Bundesarchiv, Bild 183-1990-1002-500, photographer: not stated

  End of March 1933

  In a speech to the umbrella organisation of German filmmakers, Joseph Goebbels calls for "racial contours" in film, which the Nazis largely regard as a propaganda medium
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  Clip from Erik Charell's musical film Der Kongress tanzt, which, with the participation of numerous later émigrés, was released in German cinemas in 1931

  © Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau Stiftung, Wiesbaden

  29 March 1933

  Just one day after Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels declared that he no longer wanted to see employees with Jewish heritage in the film industry, the board of UFA decides to annul contracts with prominent Jewish employees "where possible". 
  Following that, the producer Erich Pommer, the directors Erik Charell and Ludwig Berger as well as the scriptwriters Franz Schulz, Robert Liebmann and Dr. Hans Müller are fired on the spot.
• 29 March 1933

  The "Reich Law for the Imposition and Implementation of the Death Penalty"
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  Film still from Das Testament des Dr. Mabuse (D 1932/33)

  © Praesens-Film AG, Zürich  

  29 March 1933

  The feature film The Testament of Dr. Mabuse is banned
  The film by director Fritz Lang is banned by the Board of Film Censors even before its scheduled release on this date. After meeting with Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels at the beginning of April, during which the latter is said to have offered Lang the “top position in German film”, the director goes into exile in Paris.
• March/April 1933

  A number of decrees deal with the treatment of refugees to Switzerland.