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All 814 seats in the Reichstag 408 seats needed for a majority | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Registered | 49,634,569 9.2% | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Turnout | 49,435,623 (99.6%) 0.6pp | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Parliamentary elections were held in Germany (including recently annexed Austria) on 10 April 1938. [1] They were the final elections to the Reichstag during Nazi rule and took the form of a single-question referendum asking whether voters approved of a single list of Nazi and pro-Nazi guest candidates for the 814-member Reichstag, [2] as well as the recent annexation of Austria. Turnout in the election was officially 99.6% with 99.1% voting 'yes' in Germany and Austria.
The elections were held largely to rally official support from the new Ostmark (Austrian) province, although further elections for 41 seats were held in the recently annexed Sudetenland on 4 December. [1] NSDAP candidates and "guests" officially received 97.32% of the votes. [3]
The recently completed Kraft durch Freude cruise ship MV Wilhelm Gustloff was anchored in international waters near the United Kingdom to serve as a floating polling station for German and Austrian citizens living in the UK. On 10 April 1938, 1,978 voters (including 806 Austrians) were ferried from Tilbury, east of London. Only ten voted against annexation. [4]
Party | Votes | % | Seats | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Nazi Party and guests | 48,905,004 | 99.08 | 814 | |
Against | 454,952 | 0.92 | – | |
Total | 49,359,956 | 100.00 | 814 | |
Valid votes | 49,359,956 | 99.85 | ||
Invalid/blank votes | 75,667 | 0.15 | ||
Total votes | 49,435,623 | 100.00 | ||
Registered voters/turnout | 49,634,569 | 99.60 | ||
Source: Direct Democracy, Direct Democracy |
Party | Votes | % | Seats | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Nazi Party and guests | 2,464,681 | 98.90 | 41 | |
Against | 27,427 | 1.10 | – | |
Total | 2,492,108 | 100.00 | 41 | |
Valid votes | 2,492,108 | 99.78 | ||
Invalid/blank votes | 5,496 | 0.22 | ||
Total votes | 2,497,604 | 100.00 | ||
Registered voters/turnout | 2,532,863 | 98.61 | ||
Source: Direct Democracy |
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MV Wilhelm Gustloff was a German military transport ship which was sunk on 30 January 1945 by Soviet submarine S-13 in the Baltic Sea while evacuating civilians and military personnel from East Prussia and the German-occupied Baltic states, and German military personnel from Gotenhafen (Gdynia), as the Red Army advanced. By one estimate, 9,400 people died, making it the largest loss of life in a single ship sinking in history.
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Austria was part of Nazi Germany from 13 March 1938 until 27 April 1945, when Allied-occupied Austria declared independence from Nazi Germany.
The Anschluss, also known as the Anschluß Österreichs, was the annexation of the Federal State of Austria into the German Reich on 13 March 1938.
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The Reichstag of the Weimar Republic (1919–1933) was the lower house of Germany's parliament; the upper house was the Reichsrat, which represented the states. The Reichstag convened for the first time on 24 June 1920, taking over from the Weimar National Assembly, which had served as an interim parliament following the collapse of the German Empire in November 1918.
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