Though the origins of the fire are unknown, in a propaganda maneuver, the right-wing coalition government blamed the communists.

The law initially exempts those who have worked in the civil service since August 1, 1914, and those who were veterans of World War I, or those with a father or son killed in action in World War I

This new law limited the number of Jewish students in any one public school to no more than 5 percent of the total student population.

In a dispatch dated April 26, 1933, Rumbold wrote at length about Mein Kampf (1925), Hitler's autobiography and political manifesto. Rumbold viewed the book as the template for the actions Hitler had taken since he came to power. Rumbold warned that the United Kingdom should not trust Hitler's assurances of peace or believe that his positions had moderated since Mein Kampf was first published.

As part of an effort to align German arts and culture with Nazi ideas(Gleichschaltung), university students in college towns across Germany burned thousands of books they considered "un-German," heralding an era of state censorship and control. Students threw books pillaged mostly from public and university libraries onto bonfires with great ceremony, band-playing, and so-called "fire oaths."

This new law provides a basis for the involuntary sterilization of people with physical and mental disabilities or mental illness, Roma(Gypsies), "asocial elements", and Black people.

The German Propaganda Ministry assumed control over the Reich Association of the German Press, the guild which regulated entry into the profession.

The previous day, Chancellor Adolf Hitler had ordered the Reich Cabinet to issue the Law on the Head of State of the German Reich. The law goes into effect on August 2 upon Hindenburg's death.

The referendum asks voters whether they approve of combining the offices of chancellor and president. It also asks if they approve of granting presidential power to Adolf Hitler as Führer and Reich Chancellor.