to the Reich. (2) The state governments are placed under the Reich government. ARTICLE III The Reich Governors are placed under the administrative supervision of the Reich Minister of Interior. ARTICLE IV The Reich Government may issue new constitutional laws. ARTICLE V The Reich Minister of Interior may administer the necessary legal and administrative regulations for the execution of the law. ARTICLE VI This law shall be effective on the day of its promulgation. Berlin, 30 January 1934 /s/ The Reich President von Hindenburg /s/ The Reich Chancellor Adolf Hitler /s/ The Reich Minister of the Interior Frick Enactment The 30 January 1934, session of the Reichstag, on the one-year anniversary of Hitler's appointment as Reich Chancellor, began with a long speech by Hitler. The proposed law was then introduced, advanced through three readings in under five minutes by Reichstag President Hermann Göring and adopted without any debate or dissenting votes. It was a travesty of parliamentary procedure that was accompanied by derisive laughter from the over 600 brown-shirted Nazi Reichstag deputies. Effects The parliaments of all the German states were abolished. The sovereignty of the states was transferred to the central Reich government. The states were relegated to administrative units of the Reich. The Reich Governors came under the supervision of the Reich Ministry of the Interior, ensuring more centralized control. The conferring and regulation of citizenship became a matter for the central government. State citizenship was abolished as a separate concept and became subsumed into German national citizenship. The Reichsrat, the upper body of Germany's parliament, whose members were appointed by the state governments to represent their interests in national legislation was now superfluous. The Reich government soon formally dissolved the Reichsrat on 14 February 1934, by passage of the "Law on the Abolition of the Reichsrat." In announcing the passage of the law and its anticipated results in a radio address the day after its passage, Interior Minister Frick declared: "A centuries old dream has been fulfilled. Germany is no longer a weak federal state, but a strong national, centralized country." Postwar reversal After the defeat of Nazi Germany in the Second World War in May 1945, Germany was divided into four military occupation zones administered by the United States, the United Kingdom, France and the Soviet Union. As the occupation authorities prepared to hold elections for new local and regional representative assemblies, they approved the formation