1933 in Germany

← 1932 1931 1930 1933 in Germany → 1934 1935 1936
Decades:	1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s
See also:	Other events of 1933 History of Germany  • Timeline  • Years

27 February – Reichstag fire: Germany's parliament building in Berlin, the Reichstag, is set on fire.

Events in the year 1933 in Germany.

Incumbents

National level

• President: Paul von Hindenburg
• Chancellor:
  • Kurt von Schleicher (until 28 January 1933)
  • Adolf Hitler (from 30 January 1933)

Events in Germany

21 March: President Paul von Hindenburg meets Hitler on "Day of Potsdam"

• 30 January – Nazi leader Adolf Hitler is appointed Chancellor of Germany by President of Germany Paul von Hindenburg.
• 1 February – Adolf Hitler gives his "Proclamation to the German People" in Berlin.
• 27 February – The Reichstag, Germany's parliament building in Berlin, is set on fire under controversial circumstances.
• 28 February – The Reichstag Fire Decree is passed in response to the Reichstag fire, nullifying many German civil liberties.
• 1 March – Hundreds are arrested as the Nazis round up their political opponents.
• 5 March – German federal election, March 1933: National Socialists gain 43.9% of the votes.
• 8 March – Nazis occupy the Bavarian State Parliament and expel deputies.
• 12 March – Hindenburg bans the flag of the republic and orders the Imperial and Nazi flag to fly side by side.
• 15 March – Hitler proclaims the Third Reich.
• 20 March – Dachau, the first Nazi concentration camp, is completed (it opens 22 March).
• 21 March – Jewish organizations announce an economic boycott of German goods.
• 23 March – The Reichstag passes the Enabling Act ("The law for removing the distress of people and the Reich"), making Adolf Hitler dictator of Germany, curbing its own power.
• 26 March – Air minister Hermann Göring denies that Germany's Jews are in danger.

1 April: Nazi soldiers hang a poster on the window of Jewish-owned business, that says: "German, protect yourself. Do not buy from Jews".

• 1 April – The recently elected Nazis under Julius Streicher organise a one-day boycott of all Jewish-owned businesses in Germany.
• 7 April – The Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service is passed, forcing all "non-Aryans" to retire from the legal profession and civil service.
• 21 April – Germany outlaws the kosher ritual shechita.
• 26 April – The Gestapo is established in Germany.
• 27 April – Der Stahlhelm veterans organisation joins the Nazi Party.

10 May: In Germany, the Nazis stage massive public book burnings.

• 1 May - parades held to celebrate May Day, which had been declared "national workers' day" and a public holiday by the Nazi government. Hitler and Hindenburg attend the parade in Berlin.
• 2 May - all Trade Unions closed down, their headquarters and records were seized, and their leaders attacked and imprisoned.
• 10 May – Nazi book burnings are staged publicly throughout Germany.
• 26 May – The Nazi Party introduces a law to legalise eugenic sterilisation.
• 2 June – The Nazi authorities form the 'Expert Committee on Questions of Population and Racial Policy' under Reich Interior Minister Wilhelm Frick.
• 21 June – All non-Nazi political parties are forbidden.
• 25 June – The Wilmersdorfer Tennishallen delegates convene in Berlin to protest against the persecution of Jehovah's Witnesses in Nazi Germany.
• 14 July – Forming new political parties is forbidden. The Law for the Prevention of Hereditarily Diseased Offspring is implemented.
• 20 July – Signing of the Reichskonkordat between the Vatican and Nazi Germany.
• 23 August – The Nazis publish the first of the four lists of people whose German citizenship, passports and other privileges are withdrawn. On the first list of thirty-three names are the Jewish authors Lion Feuchtwanger, Ernst Toller and Kurt Tucholsky.
• 25 August – The Haavara Agreement is signed between Nazi Germany, the Zionist Federation of Germany and the Anglo-Palestine Bank, allowing approximately 60,000 German Jews to leave Germany and move to Palestine.
• 30 August–3 September – The 5th Nazi Party Congress is held in Nuremberg and is called the "Rally of Victory" (Reichsparteitag des Sieges) in reference to the Nazi seizure of power
• 16 October – Germany officially announces its intention to leave the League of Nations.

Births

• 3 March – Gerhard Mayer-Vorfelder, German Vice President of the Union of European Football Associations (died 2015)
• 5 March – Walter Kasper, German cardinal of Roman-Catholic Church
• 6 March – Willy Schäfer, German actor (died 2011)
• 7 March – Hannelore Kohl, first wife of German Chancellor Helmut Kohl (died 2001)
• 9 March – Reinhard Lettmann, bishop of the Roman Catholic Church (died 2013)
• 14 March – Duke Carl Gregor of Mecklenburg, German nobleman and musician (died 2018)
• 20 March – Michael Pfleghar, German film director and screenwriter (died 1991)
• 7 April – Johannes Schaaf, German film and theatre director (died 2019)
• 15 May – Ursula Schleicher, German politician and harpist
• 29 May – Helmuth Rilling, German choral conductor
• 8 June – Ernst W. Hamburger, German-born Brazilian physicist (died 2018)
• 20 June – Hatto Beyerle, German musician (died 2023)
• 3 July – Maximilian, Margrave of Baden, German nobleman (died 2022)
• 5 July – Michael Heltau, German actor and singer
• 11 July – Ernst Jacobi, German actor (died 2022)
• 14 July – Franz, Duke of Bavaria, German nobleman
• 15 July – Manfred Homberg, German boxer (died 2010)
• 16 July – Heinz Dürr, German entrepreneur
• 21 July – Brigitte Reimann, German novelist (died 1973)
• 6 August – Ulrich Biesinger, German footballer (died 2011)
• 16 August – Reiner Kunze, German writer
• 10 September – Karl Lagerfeld, German fashion designer (died 2019)
• 16 September – Steve Shirley, German-born British businesswoman
• 20 September – Alois Graf von Waldburg-Zeil, German politician (died 2014)
• 3 October – Johannes Beutler, German theologian and Catholic priest (died 2024)
• 14 October – Wilfried Dietrich, German wrestler (died 1992)
• 23 October – Yigal Tumarkin, German-born Israeli painter and sculptor (died 2021)
• 30 October – Johanna von Koczian, German actress (died 2024)
• 6 November – Else Ackermann, German physician, pharmacologist and politician (died 2019)
• 8 November – Lothar Fischer, German sculptor (died 2004)
• 9 November – Renate Ewert, German actress (died 1966)
• 13 November
  • Karl-Otto Alberty, German actor (died 2015)
  • Peter Härtling, German writer, poet, publisher and journalist (died 2017)
• 20 November – Hermann von Richthofen, German diplomat (died 2021)
• 4 December – Horst Buchholz, German actor (died 2003)
• 10 December – Ernst-Ludwig Petrowsky, German jazz musician (died 2023)

Deaths

• 3 January – Wilhelm Cuno, German politician and former Chancellor of Germany (born 1876)
• 1 February – Gustav Lilienthal, German social reformer (born 1849)
• 14 February – Carl Correns, German botanist and geneticist (born 1864)
• 24 February – Johannes Meisenheimer, German zoologist (born 1873)
• 26 February – Princess Thyra of Denmark, Crown Princess of Hanover (born 1853 in Denmark)
• 12 April – Andreas Blunck, German politician (born 1871)
• 24 April – Wilhelm von Schoen, German diplomat (born 1851)
• 27 May – James Loeb, German banker (born 1867)
• 24 July – Max von Schillings, German conductor (born 1868)
• 7 September – Max Adalbert, German actor (born 1874)
• 9 September – Friedrich Fülleborn, German physician who specialized in tropical medicine and parasitology (born 1866)
• 14 September – Theodor Rocholl, German painter (born 1854)
• 11 October – Reinhold Tiling, German engineer (born 1893)
• 19 October – Heinrich Brauns, politician (born 1868)
• 25 October – Friedrich Heinrich Albert Wangerin, German mathematician (born 1844)
• 26 November – Franz Bracht, German politician (born 1877)
• 4 December – Stefan George, German symbolist poet (born 1868)
• 9 December – Julius Falkenstein, German actor (born 1879)