Page "Gleichschaltung" Paragraph 6

# One day after the Reichstag fire on February 27, 1933, President of Germany Paul von Hindenburg, acting at Hitler's request and on the basis of the emergency powers in article 48 of the Weimar Constitution, issued the Reichstag Fire Decree.

This decree suspended most human rights provided for by the constitution and thus allowed for the arrest of political adversaries, mostly Communists, and for general terrorizing by the SA, the Nazi paramilitary force, of other voters before the upcoming election.