1936 German parliamentary election and referendum


Parliamentary elections were held in Germany on 29 March 1936. They took the form of a single-question referendum, asking voters whether they approved of the military occupation of the Rhineland and a single party list for the new Reichstag composed exclusively of Nazis and nominally independent ‘guests’ of the party. Like previous votes in the Nazi era, it was rigged, with a claimed turnout of 99% and 98.8% voting in favour. In a publicity stunt, a number of voters were packed aboard the airships Graf Zeppelin and Hindenburg, which flew above the Rhineland as those aboard cast their ballots.
-Swabia, Hitler's home constituency, with seven prearranged candidates. Voters only had to accept or dismiss this option, as no other lists were available.
This was the first German election held after enactment of the Nuremberg Laws, which had removed citizenship rights from Jews and other ethnic minorities. In the previous elections and referenda under Nazi rule, Jews, Poles and other ethnic minorities had been allowed to vote without much interference, and even tacitly encouraged to vote against the Nazis. Their removal from the electoral process accounted for much of the large drop in invalid and negative votes, which fell from over five million in 1934 to barely half a million in 1936. The Nazis also lowered the voting age, in large part so as to ensure that the was about the same size as in 1934.
The new Reichstag convened for formulary procedures on 30 January 1937 to re-elect its Presidium and Hermann Göring as President of the Reichstag.

Results