First Law for the Protection of the Republic Erstes Gesetz zum Schutze der Republik | |
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Reichstag of the Weimar Republic | |
Citation | RGBl. I S. 585 |
Passed | 21 July 1922 |
Enacted | 23 July 1922 |
Signed by | President Ebert
Interior Minister Köster Justice Minister Radbruch |
Signed | 21 July 1922 |
Date of expiry | 23 July 1929 |
Introduced by | Reichsrat |
Voting summary |
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Status: Expired |
The Law for the Protection of the Republic (German: Gesetz zum Schutze der Republik) was the name of two laws of the Weimar Republic that banned organisations opposed to the "constitutional republican form of government" along with their printed matter and meetings. Politically motivated acts of violence such as the assassination of members of the government were made subject to more severe punishments, and a special state court was established to enforce the law's provisions.
The immediate cause for enacting the first law was the assassination of Foreign Minister Walther Rathenau on 24 June 1922 by members of the right-wing extremist group Organisation Consul. The First Law for the Protection of the Republic, passed in July 1922, was extended for two years in 1927 and expired in 1929. The slightly modified Second Law for the Protection of the Republic was in effect from 1930 to 1932.
The first law violated the Weimar Constitution in several regards, most notably because the new state court was technically an illegal special court set up alongside the German High Court. The law could be enacted only because it passed in the Reichstag by a two-thirds majority, the margin that was required to change the constitution. The second law did not contain any unconstitutional elements and passed by a simple majority.