Following the horrors of World War I and the overthrow of the monarchy, the Weimar Constitution was one of Europe's most progressive constitutions when drafted in Germany in 1919. It established the fundamental freedoms of assembly, expression, and information, as well as the inviolability of the person, the home, and the privacy of correspondence. These rights are still significant components of German law today. The equality of every person before the law was particularly important, especially at that time. This kind of equality was unheard of in the defunct empire.

In addition to the benefits of the constitution, which stood for tolerance and humanity, it also contained serious flaws, such as the president of the Reich's strong position: He could virtually unhinge democracy with the help of Article 48, also known as the "Emergency Decree." The article authorized the suspension of the Basic Law and the use of the military to enforce decrees – the Reich president was also commander-in-chief of the armed forces. In early 1933, Germany's first democracy came to an end when Hitler came to power and established a dictatorship, which was made possible by loopholes in the Weimar Constitution.