Fire Sparks Hitler’s Rise To Absolute Power

Adolf Hitler effectively sealed Germany’s fate by declaring war against the United States in a speech at the Opera House on December 11, 1941

by Ray Setterfield

February 27, 1933 — Germany’s Reichstag (parliament) building in Berlin was set on fire on this day, destroying much of the historic edifice. Chancellor Adolf Hitler immediately blamed communists and used the blaze to claim they were plotting a government overthrow.

He persuaded President Paul von Hindenburg to issue the Reichstag Fire Decree the following day. The decree suspended most civil liberties including freedom of expression, freedom of the Press and the right of public assembly.

Hitler became Germany’s Chancellor after elections in November 1932, even though his Nazi Party, with 230 seats, failed to win an overall majority. When new elections were held in March, 1933 the Nazi haul improved to 288 seats but this still meant they would be defeated if other parties united against them.

It was not a prospect that Hitler was prepared to tolerate or risk. So the Reichstag fire was a convenient propaganda tool he could use against his communist opponents, though many historians believe he had already decided by this time that parliament should cease to exist and be replaced by himself.

The supposed Reichstag arsonist was a Dutch communist, Marinus van der Lubbe. Captured in the still-burning building, he is alleged to have told police that he was angry with the way communists were being treated in Germany. “I had to do something. I considered arson a suitable method. I did not wish to harm private people but something belonging to the system itself. I decided on the Reichstag.”

Many historians dismiss this “confession” as make-believe and are convinced that the real culprits were the Nazis themselves who would use the blaze for anti-communist propaganda.

The jury is still out on the case, but unfortunately not on the case of van der Lubbe. He was convicted of treason and beheaded by guillotine in January 1934.

By that time the Enabling Act of 1933 had been passed – in fact less than a month after the fire. It was the foundation stone of Hitler's rise, enabling him to assume dictatorial powers and issue decrees independently of parliament and the presidency.

The Act declared the Nazi party to be the only political party in Germany and required everyone working for the government to become members. The party controlled virtually all aspects of life in the country until its Second World War defeat in 1945, after which the party was banned.

Founded in 1919 as the German Workers’ Party, it changed its name to the National Socialist German Workers’ Party when Hitler became leader in 1920. The nickname ‘Nazi’ was taken from the first word of its full name, Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiter-Partei.

After the Reichstag fire, meetings of the deputies were held in the nearby converted Kroll Opera House, the only building large enough to accommodate all of them.

The Reichstag building was the venue for the German Reunification Ceremony in 1990 and today again houses Germany’s parliament, the Bundestag, which convened there for the first time on April 19, 1999. After the building’s restoration by British architect Norman Foster it is now one of Germany’s most popular tourist attractions.

Changes, too, for the supposed Reichstag arsonist, Marinus van der Lubbe. In 1967 a Berlin court posthumously changed his sentence to an eight-year prison term. The same court lifted the sentence completely in 1980 but that decision was reversed by the federal court.

Then in 1981 a West German court overturned the conviction having concluded that van der Lubbe was insane. Finally, in January, 2008, he was granted a pardon, based on the conclusion that Nazi law "went against the basic ideas of justice”.

A few million Nazi victims would agree with that.

Published: January 6, 2023
Updated: February 8, 2023