ABSTRACT
The Weimar constitution preserved the federal structure of the German Empire, with extensive autonomy for the federal states, and their legislatures. This was effectively dismantled by a number of legislative measures in 1933 and 1934: The First Law for the Co-ordination of the Federal States; the Second Law for the Co-ordination of the Federal States, which created the post of Reichsstatthalter; and the Law for the Reconstruction of the Reich, which turned the federal structure of the Reich into a centrally controlled administrative network under Wilhelm Frick at the Interior Ministry. Austria had a similar federal structure which was modified when it was annexed in 1938. The name Austria, and even the traditional German nationalist designation Ostmark, were dispensed with, and the Austrian Lander were incorporated directly into the Reich as the Alpen- und Donaugaue. The rest of Poland was not incorporated directly into the Greater German Reich, but its administration, under a Governor-General, was directly responsible to Berlin.
