Eliza Parr - History
legislative acts and decrees undermined the fundamental principles of the Weimar
Constitution. These include the separation of powers, the rule of law, non-
retroactivity of legislation and the protection of individual rights. As a consequence,
Hitler's consolidation of power cannot be described as a legal revolution as the Nazis
wished the German people to believe. A potential further area of research would be to
examine the judgments of the Nuremberg Tribunals which considered the defences of
legality put forward by the Nazis who were charged with war crimes. The focus of
this essay on Hitler's consolidation of power during 1933-1934 limited the scope of
potential research; however, it seems likely that the Nuremberg judgments may have
provided a useful primary source supporting the view that many Nazi legislative acts
and decrees were invalid.
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