Reichstag fire

Hitler’s goal of abolishing parliamentarianism in Germany is aided by an unforeseen event: One week before the parliamentary elections, during the night of 27 to 28 February 1933, a devastating fire destroys large parts of Berlin’s Reichstag Building. The Dutch anarchist Marinus van der Lubbe is arrested in the burning structure’s Bismarck Hall and confesses to the deed.

© AdsD Marinus van der Lubbe during the trial

That same night the National Socialists claim that the Reichstag fire is the result of a Communist conspiracy, whereas Hitler’s opponents are convinced that the National Socialists set the fire themselves (the most recent research speaks for a solo action by van der Lubbe). Whatever the truth may be, of greater consequence is the far-reaching political and historical capital which the National Socialists wrest from the event: They show a decisive and uncompromising will to exploit the events to destroy their political opponents and impose an unlimited dictatorship.

© AdsD The original front page of the Nazi-news-paper (Völkischer Beobachter) on the Reichstag fire: „Now we take rigorous steps“

On the day following the Reichstag fire, Reich President Paul von Hindenburg signs a „Emergency Decree to Protect the People and the State“: It rescinds the Weimar Constitution’s catalogue of basic rights and hands the Nazis far-reaching means for persecuting their political opponents. A series of arrests directed mainly against Communists and Jews ensues. Soon the first concentration camp – Sonnenburg Camp in the vicinity of Küstrin – will be constructed.