On the night of 27 February 1933, flames tore through the infamous Reichstag building in Berlin, the grand symbol German democracy. Despite heroic efforts from around 100 firefighters and 15 fire trucks battling the flames from 9 pm, it was reduced to ashes by dawn.
The German police arrested a young Dutch man, Marinus van der Lubbe, at the scene. He was shirtless, disoriented, and was found with firelighters. Van der Lubbe had past links to Communist groups, and he quickly confessed to acting alone. For Adolf Hitler, who had been appointed Chancellor only four weeks earlier, this was an uncanny opportunity. The Nazi Party did not yet have a majority in the Reichstag. Although Hitler had power, it was not concretized; the fire changed that.
Immediately, Hitler and his supporters presented the fire as the beginning of a Communist uprising. Ernst Röhm (Leader of Hitler’s SA) declared that this was the start of a Bolshevik revolution. Whether the Nazis themselves were behind the fire or simply used it to their advantage, it was the turning point for the party. No substantial evidence has ever proved direct Nazi responsibility and as such is still debated amongst historians. However, is the speed and ruthlessness with which they used the event was not arguable in the slightest. In this way, the Reichstag Fire was not merely an arson attack, but a political weapon.
In the early hours of 28 February, President Hindenburg, with Hitler’s encouragement, signed the Decree for the Protection of the People and the Reich. Its title implied defence, but Hitler had other plans. The decree suspended the main civil freedoms guaranteed under the Weimar Constitution: freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of assembly, and the privacy of postal and telephone communications. It also authorised imprisonment without trial, giving Hitler all he needed to bring his twisted vision to life.
Communist deputies were arrested in hundreds. Many were prevented from taking their seats in the Reichstag. The regime shut down newspapers critical of the government or the Nazi party. Meetings, clubs, and unfavoured shops were banned. Hitler had enveloped Germany in a blanket of oppression and fear. Political opponents to Hitler became things of the past as he abused the power handed to him. Of course, it was the Reichstag fire that made all of this possible.
Elections went ahead on 5 March 1933 with Nazi party at the forefront of it all. Although the Nazis still failed to secure a majority in seats, the absence of many Communist deputies altered the balance within parliament. On 23 March, the Reichstag passed the Enabling Act in a meeting in the Kroll Opera House. This law allowed Hitler’s cabinet to pass laws without the need for parliamentary consent, even if those laws opposed the constitution. This act effectively made Hitler the dictator of Germany.
When President Hindenburg died in August 1934, Hitler combined the offices of Chancellor and President and assumed the title of Führer. The mission was complete. In the space of eighteen months, Germany had shifted from a fragile democracy to a totalitarian state. From this point on, Hitler was able to act as he pleased, and the events which followed are known to the majority of the modern world.
The events of 27 February 1933 matter not just because the Reichstag burned, but because of what followed. The Reichstag Fire marked the beginning of Hitler’s rise to a dictatorship. After that day, the world would come to fear the name Hitler and the crimes he committed against so many people. Arguably, if this day had never happened, the terrible events of World War II and the Holocaust might have never taken place. As such, this day holds significance – not only for German and Jewish people, but for all the groups that were affected by the tyranny of Adolf Hitler.
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