Chapter VI: Effective Date, Sphere of Validity (2)

It is the duty of every German to accept honorary offices in accordance with the laws.

_Article 133_

It is the duty of all citizens to render personal services to the State and the Commune in accordance with the laws.

The duty of military service is determined by the provisions of the Reich Defense Law. This shall also stipulate how far single Fundamental Rights of the Constitution shall be restricted in respect to members of the defense forces, in the interest of the fulfillment of their tasks and the maintenance of discipline.

_Article 134_

All citizens without distinction contribute to all public burdens in proportion to their means and in accordance with the laws.

_Third Chapter_

Religion and Religious Associations

_Article 135_

All inhabitants of the Reich enjoy full religious and conscientious freedom. The undisturbed exercise of religion is guaranteed by the Constitution and is under state protection. The general state laws are unaffected hereby.

_Article 136_

Civil and civic rights and duties are neither contingent upon nor limited by the exercise of religious freedom.

The enjoyment of civil and civic rights and the eligibility for public office are independent of religious belief.

Nobody is obliged to reveal his religious conviction. The authorities are only entitled to ask questions concerning adherence to a religious body so far as rights and duties are dependent thereon or in pursuance of statistical inquiries prescribed by law.

No one may be compelled to attend any church service or ceremony or to participate in religious exercises, or to take oath in religious form.

_Article 137_

There is no State Church.

Freedom to form religious societies is guaranteed. The combination of religious societies within the territory of the Reich is subject to no restrictions.

Every religious society regulates and administers its affairs independently within the limits of the law, applicable to all. It appoints its officers without the cooperation of the State or the civil community.

Religious societies become incorporated in accordance with the general provisions of civil law.

Religious societies remain bodies of public law if this has been their status hitherto. Similar rights shall be granted to other religious societies on their application, if their constitution and the number of their members offer a guarantee of permanency. If several such religious societies are united as public bodies, this union is also a public body.

Such religious societies as are public bodies are entitled to levy taxes on the basis of the civil tax-roll in accordance with the laws of the respective Lands.

Associations devoted to the common cultivation of a philosophy of life are placed on the same footing as religious societies.

So far as the execution of these provisions requires more detailed regulation, this is within the competence of the Lands’ legislatures.

_Article 138_

State contributions to religious societies based on laws, contract or special legal titles shall be commuted by Lands legislation. The Reich shall establish the principles therefor.

Property and other rights of religious societies and associations in their institutions, foundations, and other properties for cultural, educational, and charitable purposes are guaranteed.

_Article 139_

Sundays and public holidays recognized by the State remain under legal protection as days of rest and spiritual edification.

_Article 140_

Members of the defense forces shall be allowed the necessary free time for performing their religious duties.

_Article 141_

So far as there is need for divine service and spiritual consolation in the army, in hospitals, prisons or other public institutions, the religious societies shall be permitted to perform the religious offices, but all compulsion shall be avoided.

_Fourth Chapter_

Education and the Schools

_Article 142_

Art and science and the teaching thereof are free. The State guarantees them protection and takes part in their cultivation.

_Article 143_

The education of young persons shall be provided for by means of public institutions. The Reich, Lands and Communes shall cooperate in their establishment.

The training of teachers shall be regulated uniformly for the whole Reich according to the generally recognized principles of higher education.

Teachers in public schools have the rights and duties of state officials.

_Article 144_

The whole school system is under the supervision of the State, which may cause the Communes to participate therein. The supervision of schools is exercised by trained expert officials as their occupation-in-chief.

_Article 145_

Attendance at school is universally obligatory.

In principle this duty is fulfilled by attending an elementary school for at least eight school years and a connected continuation school until the completion of the eighteenth year. Instruction and school supplies are supplied free of charge in the elementary and continuation schools.

_Article 146_

The system of public schools shall be organically developed. The intermediate and secondary school system shall be built upon the basis of common elementary schools. This system shall be determined by the needs of all kinds of vocations, and for the reception of a child into a particular school, his abilities and inclination shall be the deciding factor, not the economic and social status or the religious confession of his parents.

Within the Communes, however, on the petition of parents and guardians, popular schools professing their own faith or philosophy of life shall be established, so far as this does not interfere with an organized school system in the sense, also, of Paragraph 1, supra. As far as possible the will of parents and guardians shall be taken into consideration. Details shall be regulated by Lands legislation based on principles prescribed by a Reich law.

Public funds shall be provided by the Reich, Lands and Communes to make the intermediate and secondary schools available for those possessed of restricted means; in particular shall there be educational grants for the parents of children looked upon as suitable subjects for instruction in intermediate and secondary schools until their schooling is completed.

_Article 147_

Private schools as substitutes for public schools require the approval of the State and are subject to the laws of the Lands. Approval shall be granted when the private schools are not inferior to the public schools as regards their instructional aims and equipment and the scientific training of the teachers, and a separation of the pupils according to the wealth of their parents is not encouraged. The approval shall be refused if the economic and legal position of the teachers is not sufficiently assured.

Private elementary schools shall only be admitted when for those parents or guardians whose wishes are to be regarded under Article 146, Paragraph 2, no public elementary school of their faith or philosophical persuasion exists in their Commune, or if the educational administrative authorities recognize the existence of a particular educational need.

Private preparatory schools shall be abolished.

The existing law shall continue to apply to private schools not serving as substitutes for public schools.

_Article 148_

In all schools moral training, a sense of civic responsibility, personal and vocational efficiency in a spirit of national German feeling and international conciliation shall be aimed at.

Care shall be taken that instruction in public schools shall not hurt the feelings of those who differ in opinion.

Civics and manual training form part of the school curriculum. On completing his obligatory schooling every pupil shall receive a copy of the Constitution.

Popular education including popular universities shall be developed by the Reich, Lands and Communes.

_Article 149_

Religious instruction forms part of the ordinary school curriculum except in the nonconfessional (secular) schools; its form will be regulated by the laws relating to schools. Religious instruction shall be given in conformity with the principles of the religious society concerned, without prejudice to the State’s right of supervision.

The imparting of religious instruction and the performance of religious acts is left to the decision of the teacher, while the participation in religious lessons, acts, and ceremonies is a matter for the decision of those who have the right to determine the religious education of the child.

The theological faculties in the universities shall be maintained.

_Article 150_

Artistic, historical, and natural monuments and scenery enjoy the protection and care of the State.

It is a function of the Reich to prevent German art treasures from passing to foreign countries.

_Fifth Chapter_

The Economic Life

_Article 151_

The regulation of economic life must be compatible with the principles of justice, aiming at the attainment of humane conditions of existence for all. Within these limits the economic liberty of the individual shall be assured.

Legal compulsion is only admissible for the realization of threatened rights or in the service of preponderant requirements of the common welfare.

Freedom of trade and commerce is guaranteed on the basis of the Reich laws.

_Article 152_

As far as the laws allow, there shall be freedom of contract in business intercourse. Usury is prohibited. Legal transactions contra bonos mores are invalid.

_Article 153_

Property is guaranteed by the Constitution. Its content and limits are defined by the laws.

Expropriation can only take place for the public benefit and on a legal basis. Adequate compensation shall be granted, unless a Reich law orders otherwise. In the case of dispute concerning the amount of compensation, it shall be possible to submit the matter to the ordinary civil courts, unless Reich laws determine otherwise. Compensation must be paid if the Reich expropriates property belonging to the Lands, Communes, or public utility associations.

Property carries obligations. Its use shall also serve the common good.

_Article 154_

The right of inheritance is guaranteed according to the civil code.

The share of the State in inherited property is determined by the laws.

_Article 155_

The distribution and utilization of the land shall be supervised by state authorities in a manner to prevent abuse and with the object of ensuring a healthy dwelling to every German and to all German families, especially those with numerous children, living and working quarters in accordance with their needs. War veterans shall be particularly considered in the enactment of homestead laws.

Real estate, the acquisition of which is necessary for housing purposes, for the promotion of settlements and land cultivation or to improve agriculture, may be expropriated. All entails shall be dissolved.

The cultivation and utilization of the soil is a duty owed by the landowner to the community. An increase in the value of land, which arises without the expenditure of work or capital on the property, shall be utilized for the common benefit.

All treasures of the soil and all natural forces of economic utility are under the supervision of the State. Private mining rights shall be transferred to the State by legislation.

_Article 156_

The Reich may, without prejudice to the right of compensation, by law transfer to public ownership private economic enterprises suitable for socialization, applying thereby analogously the regulations relating to expropriation. The Reich may allot to itself, the Lands or the Communes a share in the administration of economic enterprises and associations or secure to itself a controlling influence therein in some other way.

The Reich may also in case of urgent necessity for socioeconomic interests, by law effect a combination of economic enterprises and associations on the basis of self-administration with the object of securing the cooperation of all working elements of the population, of allowing employers and employees a share in the management and regulating the production, fabrication, distribution, utilization, price fixing, and the importation and exportation of economic goods according to the principles of national economy.

The cooperative industrial and economic associations and their unions shall at their request be incorporated in the socialized economic system, their constitution and peculiarities being thereby taken into consideration.

_Article 157_

The ability to work is under the special protection of the Reich. The Reich shall create a uniform labor law.

_Article 158_

Intellectual labor, the rights of the author, the inventor, and the artist enjoy the protection and care of the Reich.

Recognition and protection in foreign countries also shall be secured to German science, art and technic by means of international agreements.

_Article 159_

Freedom of association for the preservation and promotion of labor and economic conditions is assured to everyone and to all vocations. All agreements and measures attempting to restrict or restrain such freedom, are unlawful.

_Article 160_

Persons working as employees or laborers are entitled to the leave necessary for the exercise of their civic rights and, so far as the enterprise is not materially damaged thereby, for performing the duties attached to public honorary offices entrusted to them. The law shall determine to what extent they retain their right to remuneration.

_Article 161_

For the maintenance of health and capacity to work, for the protection of maternity, and for provision against the economic consequences of age, infirmity, and the vicissitudes of life, the Reich shall organize a comprehensive system of insurance, in which the insured persons shall cooperate to a considerable extent.

_Article 162_

The Reich shall endeavor to obtain an interstate regulation of the legal status of laborers which shall have as its object the establishment of a general minimum standard of social rights for all working classes of mankind.

_Article 163_

Every German has, without prejudice to his personal liberty, the moral duty to utilize his intellectual and physical powers in the interest of the general welfare.

The opportunity of earning his living by economic work shall be afforded to every German. So far as suitable work cannot be found for him, he shall be provided with the necessary support. Details shall be regulated by special Reich laws.

_Article 164_

The interests of the independent middle classes in agriculture, industry and commerce shall be promoted by legislation and administration and protected from oppression and absorption.

_Article 165_

Laborers and employees are called upon to take part on equal terms and together with the employers in regulating conditions of work and wages and also in the general economic development of productive forces. The organizations on both sides and agreements between them shall be recognized.

Laborers and employees shall be legally represented on the Workmen’s Councils of the Enterprise, as well as in the District Workmen’s Councils organized for each economic area and on a Reich Workmen’s Council.

The District Workmen’s Councils and the Reich Workmen’s Council shall combine with the representatives of the employees and other interested elements of the population to form District Economic Councils and a Reich Economic Council for the purpose of performing all economic tasks and of cooperating in carrying out the socialization laws. The District Economic Councils and the Reich Economic Council shall be so constituted that all important vocational groups are represented thereon in accordance with their economic and social importance.

Social-political and political-economic bills of basic importance shall be submitted to the opinion of the Reich Economic Council by the government of the Reich before being introduced. The Reich Economic Council has itself the right to propose the introduction of such bills. If the government of the Reich does not approve them, it must nevertheless introduce such bills to the Reichstag, stating its own point of view. The Reich Economic Council may have the bill supported in the Reichstag by one of its own members.

Supervision and administrative powers may be conferred on the Workmen’s and the Economic Councils within their own spheres of work.

The regulation of the organization and tasks of the Workmen’s and the Economic Councils as well as their relation to other social self-governing bodies is exclusively a function of the Reich.

_Transitional and Concluding Provisions_

_Article 166_

Until the establishment of the Reich Administrative Court the Reich Supreme Court shall take its place in the formation of the Election Investigation Court.

_Article 167_

Article 18, sect. 3 to 6 are valid 2 years after announcement of the Reichs Constitution.

_Article 168_

Until--but only for a year--the Landlaw, considered in Article 63 is issued, all Prussian votes in the Reichsrat can be given by the members of the Cabinet.

_Article 169_

The Reichs Cabinet, will set the date, when Article 83, sect. 1, becomes valid.

_Article 170_

The postal--and telegraph agencies of Bavaria and Wuertenberg, will be taken over by the Reich on 1 April 1921 the latest.

If, on 1 Oct 1920, no agreement on the points of the taking over has been reached, the supreme constitutional court will decide.

Until the taking over, the present rights and duties of Bavaria and Wuertenberg are in force. The postal and telegraph traffic with neighboring states of foreign countries, will be regulated by the Reich.

_Article 171_

The State Railroads, Waterways and sea-marks will be taken over by the Reich on April 1, 1921, the latest.

If on 1 Oct 1920 no agreement on the points of the taking over, has been reached, the Supreme Constitutional Court will decide.

_Article 172_

Until the Reich law concerning the Supreme Constitutional Court comes into force, a Senate shall exercise its powers; this Senate shall consist of seven members of which four are chosen by the Reichstag from its own members and three by the Supreme Court of the Reich from its own members. The Senate shall regulate its own procedure.

_Article 173_

Until the enactment of a Reich law according to Article 138 the present state contributions to religious societies based on laws, contracts or special legal claims shall be continued.

_Article 174_

Until the enactment of the Reich law provided in Article 146, Paragraph 2, the present legal situation shall continue. The law shall take into particular consideration those districts of the Reich in which a school where no distinction of creeds is made is established by law.

_Article 175_

The provision of Article 109 does not apply to orders and decorations to be conferred for merit in the war years 1914-1919.

_Article 176_

All public officers and members of the defense forces shall take the oath upon the Constitution. Details shall be regulated by an order of the Reich President.

_Article 177_

Where in the existing laws the oath is prescribed in religious form, the oath shall be legally binding if the person taking the same, leaving out the religious formula, declares: “I swear.” The content of the oath as prescribed in the laws remains otherwise unaltered.

_Article 178_

The Constitution of the German Reich of April 16, 1871, and the laws of February 10, 1918, concerning the provisional government of the Reich, are repealed.

All other laws and orders of the Reich remain in force, so far as this Constitution is not incompatible with them. The provisions of the Peace Treaty signed at Versailles on June 28, 1919, are not affected by the Constitution. With respect to the negotiations concerning the acquisition of the island of Heligoland a regulation in favor of its inhabitants may be made differing from that of Article 117, Paragraph 2.

Orders by the authorities which have been legally issued in conformity with the present laws, retain their validity until they are repealed by new orders of legislation.

_Article 179_

So far as laws or orders refer to provisions and institutions which are repealed by this Constitution, the appropriate provisions and institutions of this Constitution shall take their place. In particular, the Reichstag shall take the place of the National Assembly, the Reich Council that of the State Committee, the Reich President elected on the basis of this Constitution that of the Reich President elected on the basis of the law concerning the provisional government of the Reich.

The power, hitherto pertaining to the State Committee, of issuing executive orders is transferred to the government of the Reich, which requires therefor the approbation of the Reich Council in accordance with this Constitution.

_Article 180_

Until the meeting of the first Reichstag, the National Assembly shall function as Reichstag. The President of the Reich chosen by the National Assembly shall retain his office till 30 June 1925.

_Article 181_

The German people have passed and adopted this Constitution by means of their National Assembly. It comes into force with the date of its proclamation.

Schwarzburg, 11 August 1919.

_The Reich President_

EBERT

_The Reich Cabinet_

BAUER

ERZBERGER HERMAN MUELLER DR. DAVID NOSKE
SCHMIDT SCHLICKE GIESBERTS
DR. MAYER DR. BELL

TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT 2056-PS

1938 REICHSGESETZBLATT, PART I, PAGE 1632

Decree concerning the Extension of the Jurisdiction of the Special
Courts of 20 November 1938

On authority of Chapter II of the Sixth Section of the decree of 6 October 1931 (RGBl I, page 537), Article II of the law regarding the reunification of Austria with the German Reich of 13 March 1938 (RGBl I, page 237) and Article 7 of the decree of the Fuehrer and Reich Chancellor regarding the administration of the Sudeten German territories of 1 October 1938 (RGBl I, page 1331), the following order is promulgated:

Article I

In cases of criminal acts which belong to the jurisdiction of the Assizes or of a lower court, the prosecuting authorities can bring the charge before the Special Court, if they believe that in consideration of the gravity or the wickedness of the deed, or the possible arousing of popular excitement, an immediate verdict by the Special Court is advisable.

Article II

(1) Under the same supposition in the state of Austria and in the Sudeten German territories the prosecuting authorities can bring the charge before the Court of Appeal in cases of criminal acts which, according to the existing legal procedure in those areas, belongs to the jurisdiction of the Jury Court or of a lower court. This is decided by the appointment of three professional judges.

(2) For the legal procedure the decree of 21 March 1933 (RGBl I, page 136) is applicable. The Reich Minister for Justice is to be consulted for more precise definitions.

Article III

In the proceedings before the Special Court (Court of Appeals) the period of time for summons is limited to 24 hours.

Article IV

As long as the main deliberation has not yet begun in cases of Articles I and II, proceedings which are pending in the Assizes (Jury Court) or a lower court at the time this decree enters into effect, are to be referred to the Special Court of the prosecuting authorities so proposed.

Article V

This decree becomes effective on the date of publication.

Berlin, 20 November 1938

The Reich Minister for Justice
Dr. Guertner

The Reich Minister of the Interior
Frick

TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT 2057-PS

1934 REICHSGESETZBLATT PART I, PAGE 529

Law Relating to National Emergency Defense Measures of 3 July 1934

The Reich Government has enacted the following law, which is hereby promulgated:

ONLY ARTICLE

The measures taken on 30 June and 1 and 2 July 1934 to counteract attempt at treason and high treason shall be considered as national emergency defense.

Berlin, 3 July 1934.

The Reich Chancellor
Adolf Hitler

The Reich Minister of the Interior
Frick

The Reich Minister of Justice
Dr. Guertner

TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT 2058-PS

1933 REICHSGESETZBLATT, PART I, PAGE 462

Decree for the securing of the State Leadership of 7 July 1933

Based on paragraph 18 of the provisional law about the coordination of the states [Laender] with the Reich of 31 March 1933 (Reichsgesetzblatt I, page 183), I decree:

_The Reichstag and houses of delegates of the states_

Article 1

The distribution of seats, according to the electoral suggestion of the Social Democratic Party, for the Reichstag and the provincial diets (citizens’ committee), based on the election results of 5 March 1933 or on the results of the coordination action, according to Article 4,