I studied Nazi Germany pretty extensively in school but one thing I could never understand was exactly why the enabling act was passed. I understand the fear of communism at the time but what led to a large amount of the Reichstag, who were not Nazis, voting in favour of the enabling act? The act effectively signalled the end of democracy so I've never understand the reasons behind voting it in and I haven't been able to find much information online. Thank you in advance!
The Nazis hadn't won a majority in the Reichstag they had 196 seats along with their allies who had won 51 seats. The communists and Socialists had won 221 seats and should have been able to mount a resistance against Hitler but political infighting prevented it. Hitler eventually used the Reichstag fire decree to enact new laws that curtailed civil liberties and more importantly allowed him to destroy the Communists as a political force.
This left only two parties who could possibly stop Hitler, the Centre party and the Social Democrats. Hitler however, negotiated with the leader of the Centre party, Ludwig Kass and convinced him to support the decree. Kass was a catholic and Hitler promised him that the Centre party wouldn't be harmed like the Communist party and that Catholic liberties would be respected. With Kass' support the only opposition was the Social Democrats who did vote against the act but they were too small by this point. The day of the vote the Reichstag was swarming with SA men who added an extra layer of intimidation.
Sources:
The Coming of the third Reich by Richard Evans
The Third Reich in power by Richard Evans.