The Verbotzeit ("time of prohibition" [the grammatically correct German term is Verbotszeit]) refers to the fifteen-month period between On 24 June 1922 the German Foreign Minister, Walther Rathenau, a Jew who was undertaking to carry out Germany's treaty obligations under the Treaty of Versailles, was assassinated by right-wing terrorists belonging to the Organisation Consul while on his way to work.
[1] In response, the national government in Berlin, acting through the Reichstag and under the direction of Chancellor Joseph Wirth, promulgated a Law for the Protection of the Republic (LFPR).
Wirth gave a stirring and prophetic speech to the Reichstag following the murder of his respected minister in which he pointed to the right-wing delegates of parliament and then famously declared "The danger stands on the right!
"[2] The new national law increased the punishments for politically motivated acts of violence and banned organizations that opposed the "constitutional republican form of government" along with their printed matter and meetings.
[3] By early 1923, the states of Prussia, Saxony, Baden, Thuringia, Schaumburg-Lippe, Mecklenburg-Schwerin, Hamburg, Bremen and Hesse had banned the Nazi Party under the provisions of the Law for the Protection of the Republic.