On 23 March 1933 the German Reichstag approved the so-called Enabling Act (Gesetz zur Behebung der Not von Volk und Reich). Formally titled the "Law to Remedy the Distress of People and Reich," the measure transferred legislative power from the Reichstag to the Reich government for a period of four years, allowing the cabinet to enact laws, including ones that deviated from the constitution, without parliamentary approval. In practice, the law concentrated authority in Adolf Hitler’s hands and provided legal cover for the dismantling of democratic institutions. The Enabling Act followed a rapid consolidation of power after Hitler became chancellor on 30 January 1933. The Reichstag fire on 27 February 1933 and the subsequent Reichstag Fire Decree suspended key civil liberties and permitted the arrest of political opponents. In the weeks before the vote, the Nazi government used emergency powers, intimidation, and the detention of many Communist and Social Democratic deputies to reduce effective opposition. The government also negotiated with conservative, nationalist, and Catholic Centre Party leaders to secure the two-thirds majority in the Reichstag required to amend the constitution. The parliamentary session on 23 March took place in the Kroll Opera House, not the Reichstag building, which was still being repaired after the fire. SA and SS personnel guarded the building and the surrounding streets. The absence and deliberate exclusion of Communist deputies—many arrested or in hiding—and the coerced compliance of some Centre Party and other non-Nazi deputies made the vote outcome highly likely. The law passed with 444 votes in favor, 94 against (the Social Democrats were the principal organized opposition), and one abstention. Legally, the Enabling Act amended Article 48 of the Weimar Constitution by granting the cabinet full legislative authority, allowing it to enact laws, including those that altered the constitution, without parliamentary participation. It also stipulated that laws enacted by the cabinet could deviate from the constitution as long as the institutions of the Reichstag, Reichsrat, and the offices of the president remained formally intact. In practice, these safeguards proved illusory: the act removed meaningful parliamentary oversight and paved the way for subsequent measures that centralized power in the Nazi state. After the law’s passage, the Nazi government moved quickly to outlaw opposition parties, neutralize state governments, coordinate institutions under Nazi control (Gleichschaltung), and subordinate the judiciary and civil service. By mid-decade, Germany had been transformed into a one-party totalitarian state. The Enabling Act is therefore widely regarded by historians as the legal instrument that enabled the Nazi regime’s transformation from a legal-rational government to a dictatorship. Scholars emphasize both the legal mechanism and the broader context of coercion and political bargaining that produced the law. Debates continue about the relative importance of legalism versus brute force in the Nazi seizure of power, but the Enabling Act remains central in accounts of how the regime used ostensibly legal means to legitimize and consolidate authoritarian rule. The vote is also remembered for the ostracism of dissenting Social Democratic deputies, who voted against it and later faced repression. The Enabling Act’s passage on 23 March 1933 is a pivotal moment in 20th-century history because it demonstrates how constitutional forms and emergency powers can be exploited to dismantle democracy. Its legacy is frequently cited in comparative studies of how legal instruments and emergency measures can be used to undermine constitutional order.