The Reichstag Fire Essay, Research Paper
The Reichstag Fire ??????????? One of Hitler’s first
actions was to organise another election.?
He hoped the Nazis would win enough seats to form a government on their
own, rather than leading a "Coalition" with other parties.? Then, one week before polling day, a strange
thing happened? ??????????? February
27 1933; a very cold night in Berlin.? A
man walking past the Reichstag building was showered with glass.? When he looked inside he saw someone holding
a torch.? The man called the police. ??????????? The
same evening, Hitler was having dinner with another leading Nazi, called
Goebbels, when there was a message that the "Reichstag" was on
fire.? At first Goebbels did not believe
it but after more phone calls it was certain that it was on fire and it was due
to arson.?? Hitler said: ??????????? "This
is a signal from God.? If this turns out
to be the work of the communists, then there is nothing stopping us from
crushing out the murder pests with an iron fist.”??????????? The
very next day, Hindenburg signed an emergency decree, which took away the basic
rights of the German people.? Newspapers
could be censored and meetings were limited.?
Even private letters and phone calls could be checked.? This one Law was all Hitler needed to
cripple his opponents.? This Law stayed
in force until 1945. ??????????? Hitler
himself began a last minute tour of Germany saying that the communists were
planning a revolution.? Many people
believed him.? In the election, the
Nazis won 43.9% of the votes.? It was
enough to give Hitler the chance he wanted. ??????????? Yet
the Fire itself remains a mystery.?
Inside the building, the police found a Dutchman, Marinus Van der Lubbe,
aged 24.? He was half naked, but in his
pockets were matches and fire lighters. ??????????? He
admitted to the police that he had been a Communist Party member, and after the
election, he was put on trial with four other Communists. ??????????? From
the start Van der Lubbe told the police one story and stuck to it.? He said he had acted alone.? He had burned the Reichstag as protests
against the Nazis. ??????????? The
Nazis told a different story.? They said
the fire was part of a huge Communist plot.?
It was a signal for a general reign of terror. ??????????? Others,
including the communists, gave yet another version.? They said it was all a Nazi plot so that Hitler had an excuse to
blame the Communists.? One story went
round that, although Van der Lubbe may have started one fire, the SA helped it
along by starting others. At his trial Van der Lubbe
acted strangely.? Mostly, he just stared
at the floor; sometimes, he slept; he said very little.? After eleven months, the other Four were found innocent.? Van der Lubbe had admitted his guilt all along: he was found
guilty.? Soon afterwards, he was
beheaded. ??????????? The
arguments still go on today.? There was
evidence at the trial that large amounts of petrol and chemicals had been used
to start the fire.? It began in at least
twenty different places at once and was so fierce that the firemen could do
nothing to stop it. ??????????? However,
there has never been any firm evidence to prove that either the Nazis or the
Communists were involved. ??????????? This
is a picture of Van der Lubbe on trial: