Reichstag fire
Native name | Reichstagsbrand |
---|---|
Date | 27 February 1933 |
Location | Reichstag building, Berlin, Germany |
Coordinates | 52°31′7″N 13°22′34″E / 52.51861°N 13.37611°E |
Type | Arson |
Participants | Marinus van der Lubbe (Disputed) |
Outcome |
|
The Reichstag fire (German: Reichstagsbrand, ⓘ) was an arson attack on the Reichstag building, home of the German parliament in Berlin, on Monday, 27 February 1933, precisely four weeks after Adolf Hitler was sworn in as Chancellor of Germany. Marinus van der Lubbe, a Dutch council communist, was the alleged culprit; however, Hitler attributed the fire to Communist agitators. He used it as a pretext to claim that Communists were plotting against the German government, and induced President Paul von Hindenburg to issue the Reichstag Fire Decree suspending civil liberties, and pursue a "ruthless confrontation" with the Communists.[1] This made the fire pivotal in the establishment of Nazi Germany.
The first report of the fire came shortly after 9:00 p.m., when a Berlin fire station received an alarm call.[2] By the time police and firefighters arrived, the Chamber of Deputies (the lower house) was engulfed in flames. The police conducted a thorough search inside the building and found Van der Lubbe, who was arrested.
After the Fire Decree was issued, the police — now controlled by Hitler's
Van der Lubbe and the four Communists were the defendants in a trial that started in September 1933. It ended in the acquittal of the four Communists and the conviction of Van der Lubbe, who was then executed.
The responsibility for the Reichstag fire remains a topic of debate and research.
In 2008, Germany posthumously pardoned Van der Lubbe under a law introduced in 1998 to lift unjust verdicts dating from the Nazi era.
Prelude
After the
Hitler hoped to abolish democracy in a quasi-legal fashion, by passing the
During the election campaign, the Nazis alleged that Germany was on the verge of a communist revolution and that the only way to stop the communists was to put the Nazis securely in power. The message of the campaign was simple: increase the number of Nazi seats.[11]
Fire
Shortly after 9 p.m. on 27 February 1933, the Reichstag building was reported as on fire, and firefighters were dispatched. Despite their efforts, most of the building was gutted.
Walter Gempp was head of the Berlin fire department at the time of the Reichstag fire on 27 February 1933, personally directing the operations at the incident.[15] On 25 March he was dismissed for presenting evidence that suggested Nazi involvement in the fire.[16] Gempp asserted that there had been a delay in notifying the fire brigade and that he had been forbidden from making full use of the resources at his disposal. In 1937, Gempp was arrested for abuse of office. Despite his appeal, he was imprisoned. Gempp was strangled and killed in prison on 2 May 1939.[17]
Political consequences
The day after the fire, at Hitler's request, President Hindenburg signed the
While the Nazis emerged with a majority, they fell short of their goal, which was to win 50–55% of the vote that year.[20] The Nazis thought that this would make it difficult to achieve their next goal, passage of the Enabling Act giving Hitler the right to rule by decree, which required a two-thirds majority.[20] However, several important factors weighed in the Nazis' favour, mainly the continued suppression of the Communist Party and the Nazis' ability to capitalize on national security concerns. Moreover, some deputies of the Social Democratic Party (the only party that would vote against the Enabling Act) were prevented from taking their seats in the Reichstag, due to arrests and intimidation by the Nazi SA. As a result, the Social Democratic Party would be under-represented in the final vote tally. The Enabling Act passed easily on 23 March 1933, with the support of the right-wing German National People's Party, the Centre Party, and several fragmented middle-class parties. The measure went into force on 24 March, effectively making Hitler dictator of Germany.[21]
The Kroll Opera House, sitting across the Königsplatz from the burned-out Reichstag building, functioned as the Reichstag's venue for the remaining 12 years of the Third Reich's existence.[22]
Legal proceedings
In July 1933,
The trial known as the Leipzig Trial took place and was presided over by judges from the German Supreme Court, the Reichsgericht. This was Germany's highest court. The presiding judge was Judge Wilhelm Bünger of the Fourth Criminal Court of the Fourth Penal Chamber of the Supreme Court.[23] The prosecutors were Chief Reich Prosecutor Karl Werner and his assistant Felix Parrisius.[24] The accused were charged with arson and with attempting to overthrow the government.[25]
While the official start and end points of the trial were in Leipzig, the court proceedings were relocated to the scene of the crime itself. The move to Berlin facilitated efficient witness questioning and examination of evidence directly at the Reichstag building. For the last month (November 23 - December 23) the court returned to Leipzig.[26]
The opening of the trial
The trial began at 8:45 on the morning of 21 September, with Van der Lubbe testifying. Van der Lubbe's testimony was very hard to follow as he spoke of losing his sight in one eye and wandering around Europe as a drifter and that he had been a member of the
Media coverage
The Leipzig Trial was widely publicized and was broadcast on the radio.[27] It was expected that the court would find the communists guilty on all counts.
According to the German press, the Nazi government wanted to use the trial to get its own message out to the world. Goebbels's Propaganda Ministry had sent many of its officials to manage the flow of information to the foreign press.[28] There were no fewer than eighty foreign correspondents in the courtroom, along with forty German colleagues, in the opening session of the court.[28] The atmosphere of the opening of the trial was described by Otto D. Tolischus for The New York Times:
Repeatedly during the session glaring movie picture flares illuminated the somber court room. Microphones recorded the words of the participants in the drama and nearly half the large hall was filled with representatives of the world press. The rest of the hall was packed to the rafters with spectators, including representatives of foreign governments, foreign jurists of note and relatives of the accused.[29]
Dimitrov's testimony
Georgi Dimitrov began his testimony on the third day of the trial. He gave up his right to a court-appointed lawyer and defended himself successfully. When warned by Judge Bünger to behave himself in court, Dimitrov stated: "Herr President, if you were a man as innocent as myself and you had passed seven months in prison, five of them in chains night and day, you would understand it if one perhaps becomes a little strained." During the course of his defence, Dimitrov claimed that the organizers of the fire were senior members of the Nazi Party and frequently verbally clashed with Göring at the trial. The high point of the trial occurred on 4 November 1933, when Göring took the stand and was cross-examined by Dimitrov.[30] The following exchange took place:
Dimitrov: Herr Prime Minister Göring stated on February 28 that, when arrested, the "Dutch Communist Van der Lubbe had on his person his passport and a membership card of the Communist Party". From whom was this information taken?
Göring: The police search all common criminals, and report the result to me.
Dimitrov: The three officials who arrested and examined Van der Lubbe all agreed that no membership card of the Communist Party was found on him. I should like to know where the report that such a card had been found came from.
Göring: I was told by an official. Things which were reported to me on the night of the fire...could not be tested or proven. The report was made to me by a responsible official, and was accepted as a fact, and as it could not be tested immediately it was announced as a fact. When I issued the first report to the press on the morning after the fire the interrogation of Van der Lubbe had not been concluded. In any case I do not see that anyone has any right to complain because it seems proved in this trial that Van der Lubbe had no such card on him.
Dimitrov: I would like to ask the Minister of the Interior what steps he took to make sure that Van der Lubbe's route to Hennigsdorf, his stay and his meetings with other people there were investigated by the police to assist them in tracking down Van der Lubbe's accomplices?
Göring: As I am not an official myself, but a responsible Minister it was not important that I should trouble myself with such petty, minor matters. It was my task to expose the Party, and the mentality, which was responsible for the crime.
Dimitrov: Is the Reichsminister aware of the fact that those that possess this alleged criminal mentality today control the destiny of a sixth part of the world – the Soviet Union?
Göring: I don't care what happens in Russia! I know that the Russians pay with bills, and I should prefer to know that their bills are paid! I care about the Communist Party here in Germany and about Communist crooks who come here to set the Reichstag on fire!
Dimitrov: This criminal mentality rules the Soviet Union, the greatest and best country in the world. Is Herr Prime Minister aware of that?
Göring: I shall tell you what the German people already know. They know that you are behaving in a disgraceful manner! They know that you are a Communist crook who came to Germany to set the Reichstag on fire! In my eyes you are nothing, but a scoundrel, a crook who belongs on the gallows!".[31]
Verdict
In his verdict announced on December 23, Judge Bünger was careful to underline his belief that there had in fact been a communist conspiracy to burn down the Reichstag, but declared, with the exception of Van der Lubbe, there was insufficient evidence to connect the accused to the fire or the alleged conspiracy. The Bulgarians were acquitted and were expelled to the Soviet Union.[25] Only Van der Lubbe was found guilty and sentenced to death.[32] Torgler was also acquitted and survived the war.[25]
Other outcomes
The outcome of this trial caused Hitler to remove treason trials from the regular courts. He decreed that henceforth treason – among many other offenses – would only be tried by a newly established
Artistic response to the trial
One week before the trial began, on 14 September 1933, the German artist John Heartfield published a photomontage in the Arbeiter-Illustrierte-Zeitung, which he named "Goering, der Henker des Dritten Reiches" (Goering the Executioner). In it the burning Reichstag can be seen in the background.[34]
Execution of Van der Lubbe, January 1934
At his trial,
Posthumous restitution, 1967 to 2008
In 1967, a court in West Berlin allowed the 1933 conviction to stand, but overturned the death sentence and posthumously changed Van der Lubbe's sentence to eight years in prison. In 1980, another court overturned the verdict, but was overruled. In 1981, a West German court posthumously overturned Van der Lubbe's 1933 conviction and found him not guilty by reason of insanity. This ruling was overturned. However, in January 2008, he was pardoned under a 1998 law for the crime on the grounds that anyone convicted under Nazi Germany is officially not guilty. The law allows pardons for people convicted of crimes under the Nazis, based on the idea that the laws of Nazi Germany "went against the basic ideas of justice".[32]
Dispute about Van der Lubbe's role
In early historical summations, such as William Shirer's account, the Reichstag Fire is understood and represented as a conspiratorial operation carried out by Nazi storm troopers in which Van der Lubbe played the role of the patsy. As Shirer writes:
Van der Lubbe, it seems clear, was a dupe of the Nazis. He was encouraged to try to set the Reichstag on fire. But the main job was to be done — without his knowledge, of course — by the storm troopers... He had only his shirt for tinder. The main fires, according to the testimony of experts at the trial, had been set with considerable quantities of chemicals and gasoline. It was obvious that one man could not have carried them into the building, nor would it have been possible for him to start so many fires in so many scattered places in so short a time.[36]
Attitudes as to whether Van der Lubbe was used as a pawn in a Nazi conspiracy or whether he acted alone have swung back and forth over the years. During the late 1990s into the early 2010s consensus held that Van der Lubbe acted alone. From 2014 to the present the resurfacing of a 1955 affidavit given by a stormtrooper, who testified that the building was already on fire when Van der Lubbe was delivered there by SA members, supported new scholarship re-examining the subject.[37][38][39]
In 1998 historian Ian Kershaw argued that nearly all historians agreed that Van der Lubbe had set the Reichstag on fire, that he had acted alone, and that the incident was merely a stroke of good luck for the Nazis.[40][41]
In the days following the incident, major newspapers in the US and London had immediately been sceptical of the good fortune of the Nazis in finding a communist scapegoat.[42][43]
In 2007, it has been alleged that the idea that Van der Lubbe was a "half-wit" or "mentally disturbed" was
The British reporter Sefton Delmer, criticised for being a Nazi sympathiser at the time, witnessed that night's events. He reported Hitler arriving at the Reichstag, appearing uncertain how it began, and concerned that a communist coup was about to be launched. Delmer viewed Van der Lubbe as being solely responsible, but that the Nazis sought to make it appear to be a "communist gang" that set the fire. On the other hand, the communists sought to make it appear that Van der Lubbe was working for the Nazis, so each side constructed a conspiracy theory in which the other was the villain.[47]
In private, according to Hitler's Table Talk, Hitler said of the chairman of the Communist Party, Ernst Torgler: "I'm convinced he was responsible for the burning of the Reichstag, but I can't prove it".[48]
In 1960,
In March 1973, the Swiss historian Walter Hofer organized a conference intended to rebut the claims made by Tobias. At the conference, Hofer claimed to have found evidence that some of the detectives who investigated the fire had been Nazis. Mommsen commented on Hofer's claims by stating: "Professor Hofer's rather helpless statement that the accomplices of Van der Lubbe 'could only have been Nazis' is tacit admission that the committee did not actually obtain any positive evidence in regard to the alleged accomplices' identity". Mommsen also had a theory supporting Hofer, which was suppressed for political reasons, an act that he admitted was a serious breach of ethics.[50]
In 2014, historian Benjamin Carter Hett lamented that "Today the overwhelming consensus among historians who specialize in Nazi Germany remains that Marinus van der Lubbe burned the Reichstag all by himself".[51] He has argued that Tobias' analysis is fundamentally flawed. Tobias undertook his study when tasked to defend West German police officials, who had investigated the initial fire as SS members. In doing so, Tobias disregarded any information from persons who had been targeted by the Nazi regime as biased while accepting the testimony of former SS members as objective, even though their post-war testimony is clearly contradicted by records from 1933. Furthermore, Hett showed that Tobias used his access to secret archives to coerce historians with opposing views by threatening to reveal compromising personal information. Hett argues that the most recent evidence makes clear that the fire could not have been the work of an individual and Hett feels there is far more evidence of Nazi collaboration than there is of a communist plot.[52] Historian Richard J. Evans criticized Hett's claims giving a negative review of his book on the subject.[41]
More recently in 2019, mainstream German outlet Deutsche Welle (DW) reported that according to an SA officer's sworn testimony, Van Der Lubbe could not have started the fire because the Reichstag was already on fire when he arrived with Van Der Lubbe, leading credence to the theory that this was a false flag operation Hitler used to seize power. The Enabling Act of 1933 was passed less than one month later and was the cornerstone of Hitler's rise to power. In 2008 Germany posthumously pardoned van der Lubbe.[37]
1955 testimony of SA member Hans-Martin Lennings
In July 2019, more than 80 years after the event, Germany's
Lennings, who died in 1962, further stated in his account that he and other members of his squad had protested the arrest of Van der Lubbe, "because we were convinced that Van der Lubbe could not possibly have been the arsonist, because according to our observation, the Reichstag had already been burning when we dropped him off there". He claimed he and the other witnesses were detained and forced to sign a paper that denied any knowledge of the incident. Later, nearly all of those with knowledge of the Reichstag fire were executed. Lennings said that he had been warned and escaped to Czechoslovakia.[53]
Lennings had asked that his account be certified in 1955, in the event the Reichstag fire case ever returned to trial.[54][55][56][57]
The uncovering of Lennings's affidavit led to the speculation that Tobias had ignored it to protect his single perpetrator theory on the arson, and to protect the post-war career of former Nazis.[58] It also led to more sober speculation about whether unknown or forgotten documents might still be hidden in German archives, and which might be valuable and revealing historical sources, especially on the Nazi regime.[59]
Göring's alleged commentary, 1943
In
"Countertrial" by the German Communist Party in exile, 1933
During the summer of 1933, a mock countertrial was organised in London by a group of lawyers, democrats and other anti-Nazis under the aegis of German communist émigrés. The chairman of the mock trial was
The mock trial began 21 September 1933. It lasted one week and ended with the conclusion that the defendants were innocent and the true initiators of the fire were to be found amid the leading Nazi Party elite. The countertrial received much media attention, and Sir
The countertrial was an enormously successful publicity stunt for the German communists. Münzenberg followed the triumph with another by writing, under his name, the bestselling The Brown Book of the Reichstag Fire and Hitler Terror, an exposé of what Münzenberg alleged to be the Nazi conspiracy to burn down the Reichstag and to blame the act on the communists. (As with all of Münzenberg's other books, the real author was one of his aides: in this case, the Czechoslovak communist Otto Katz.[64]) The success of The Brown Book was followed by another, published in 1934, dealing with the trial.[65]
See also
References
Notes
- ISBN 978-0394471228.
- ^ Tobias, The Reichstag Fire, pp. 26–28.
- ^ "The Reichstag Fire". Holocaust Encyclopedia. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Archived from the original on 31 July 2018. Retrieved 12 August 2013.
- ^ DW Staff (27 February 2008). "75 Years Ago, Reichstag Fire Sped Hitler's Power Grab". Deutsche Welle. Archived from the original on 5 May 2015. Retrieved 12 August 2013.
- ^ Paterson, Tony (15 April 2001). "Historians find 'proof' that Nazis burnt Reichstag". The Sunday Telegraph. Archived from the original on 9 March 2018. Retrieved 5 April 2018.
- Shirer, William(2011). The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich. Simon and Schuster. p. 192.
There is enough evidence to establish beyond a reasonable doubt that it was the Nazis who planned the arson and carried it out for their own political ends.
- ^ Evans, p. 299.
- ^ Evans, p. 307.
- ^ Evans, p. 321.
- ISBN 978-0131773196.
- ^ Evans, pp. 321–327.
- ISBN 0306807939.
- ISBN 0749306971.
- ^ Snyder (1976), pp. 286–287.
- ^ Pinkney, David H. (1964). A Festschrift for Frederick B. Artz. Duke University Press. pp. 194.
- ^ Delp, Alfred (2006). Advent of the heart: seasonal sermons and prison writings, 1941–1944. Ignatius Press. p. 177.
- ISBN 978-0899503127.
- ^ a b Koonz (2003), p. 33.
- ISBN 978-0191604522.
- ^ a b c d Koonz (2003), p. 36.
- ISBN 0306807939.
- ISBN 0306807939.
- ^ Snyder (1976), p. 288.
- ^ Benjamin Carter Hett, 2013. Burning the Reichstag. An Investigation Into the Third Reich's Enduring Mystery, Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp. 140–141.
- ^ ISBN 1594200742.
- ^ Benjamin Carter Hett, 2013. Burning the Reichstag. An Investigation Into the Third Reich's Enduring Mystery, Oxford University Press, Oxford, p. 142.
- ^ Tigar, M. E., & Mage, J. (2009). 'The Reichstag fire trial, 1933-2008: The production of law and history', Monthly Review, 60, p. 28.
- ^ a b Benjamin Carter Hett, 2013. Burning the Reichstag. An Investigation Into the Third Reich's Enduring Mystery, Oxford University Press, Oxford, p. 140.
- ^ The New York Times, September 22, 1933, p. 1 and 10: Otto D. Tolischus, 'Reich Opens Trial of Fire Suspects'.
- ^ Snyder (1976), pp. 288–289.
- ^ Snyder (1976), p. 289.
- ^ a b Connolly, Kate (12 January 2008). "75 years on, executed Reichstag arsonist finally wins pardon". The Guardian. London. Archived from the original on 11 January 2021. Retrieved 1 May 2008.
- ISBN 0306807939.
- ^ Index of Illustrations. "JOHN HEARTFIELD Goering the Executioner". Archived from the original on 18 June 2008.
- ^ biography by Martin Schouten "Rinus van der Lubbe 1909–1934" (1989)
- ^ Shirer, William (1960). The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich (Third Printing ed.). New York: Simon & Schuster. p. 193.
- ^ a b "New report casts doubt on Reichstag fire". Deutsche Welle. 27 July 2019. Retrieved 24 February 2023.
- ^ a b "Dokument in Hannover belegt: SA-Mann will beim Reichstagsbrand 1933 geholfen haben". Haz.de. 26 July 2019. Archived from the original on 11 January 2021. Retrieved 1 September 2019.
- ISBN 978-0-19-932232-9.
- ^ Kershaw (1998), pp. 456–458, 731–732.
- ^ ISSN 0260-9592. Retrieved 26 January 2021.
- ^ "Caesar or Nerves". The New York Times. 2 March 1933.
- ^ "London Times Fears More Terror in Berlin; Stresses That General Massacre of Nazis' Political Opponents Is Expected in Germany". The New York Times.
- ^ "Dutch Council Communism and Van der Lubbe". Archived from the original on 11 January 2021. Retrieved 24 February 2007.
- ^ Gunther, John (1940). Inside Europe. New York: Harper & Brothers. pp. 48–49.
- ^ Mommsen (1972), p. 144.
- ^ "Sefton Delmer's account of the Reichstag fire". Archived from the original on 5 December 2006.
- ^ Hitler, Adolf (2008). Hitler's Table Talk, 1941–1944. His Private Conversations. New York: Enigma Books. p. 121.
- ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 27 January 2021.
- ^ Snyder (1976), pp. 287–288.
- ^ Hett, Benjamin Carter (2014). Burning the Reichstag: An Investigation into the Third Reich's Enduring Mystery. p. 315.
- ^ Hett, "This Story Is about Something Fundamental": Nazi Criminals, History, Memory, and the Reichstag Fire, Central European History, Vol. No. 2., pp. 199–214.
- ^ "Dokument Aufgetaucht – SA-Mann will an Reichstagsbrand beteiligt gewesen sein" (in German). Frankfurter Rundschau. 26 July 2019. Archived from the original on 11 January 2021. Retrieved 1 September 2019.
- ^ Conrad von Meding (26 July 2019). "Neues zum Reichstagsbrand – Die "Legende" vom Einzeltäter wackelt erheblich". Deutschlandfunkkultur.de. Archived from the original on 11 January 2021. Retrieved 1 September 2019.
- ^ Kellerhoff, Sven Felix (26 July 2019). "Was die neue Eidesstattliche Erklärung eines SA-Manns bedeutet". Die Welt. Welt.de. Archived from the original on 11 January 2021. Retrieved 1 September 2019.
- ^ "Newly uncovered testimony casts doubt on Nazi Reichstag fire claims". The Times of Israel. AFP. 27 July 2019. Archived from the original on 28 July 2019. Retrieved 28 July 2019.
- ^ Winston, Alex (28 July 2019). "Newly found account of 1933 Reichstag fire casts doubt on Nazi narrative". The Jerusalem Post. Archived from the original on 11 January 2021. Retrieved 28 July 2019.
- ^ "Reichstagsbrand – der Erklärung von SA-Mann legt NS-Beteiligung nahe" (in German). Ksta.de. 26 July 2019. Archived from the original on 11 January 2021. Retrieved 1 September 2019.
- ^ "Wie konnte die Akte zum Reichstagsbrand vergessen werden?". Haz.de. 27 July 2019. Archived from the original on 11 January 2021. Retrieved 1 September 2019.
- ^ Shirer, William (1959). The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich. New York: Touchstone. p. 193.
- ^ "Nuremberg Trial Proceedings". 18 March 1946. Volume 9. Archived from the original on 15 April 2012. Retrieved 4 May 2011.
- ^ Tobias, The Reichstag Fire, p. 120.
- ^ Tobias, The Reichstag Fire, pp. 122–126.
- ISBN 978-0002175364.
- ISBN 0306807939.
Bibliography
- Bahar, Alexander & Kugel, Wilfried (2001). Der Reichstagbrand (in German) (q ed.).
- ISBN 1594200041.
- Hett, Benjamin Carter (2014). Burning the Reichstag: An Investigation into the Third Reich's Enduring Mystery. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0199322329.
- Hett, Benjamin Carter (2015). "This Story Is about Something Fundamental: Nazi Criminals, History, Memory, and the Reichstag Fire". Central European History. 48 (2): 199–224. S2CID 146728286.
- Kershaw, Ian (1998). Hitler, 1889–1936: Hubris. London: Allen Lane.
- ISBN 0674011724.
- JSTOR 30197002.
- Nathans, Eli (2017). "The Reichstag Fire and the Politics of History". Histoire sociale/Social history. 50 (101): 171–176. S2CID 149123363.
- Snyder, Louis (1976). Encyclopedia of the Third Reich. New York: McGraw-Hill.
- Taylor, A. J. P. (August 1960). "Who Burned the Reichstag? The Story of a Legend". History Today. 10 (8): 515–522.
- Tobias, Fritz (1964). The Reichstag Fire. New York: Putnam.
External links
- "The Reichstag Fire, 68 years on". World Socialist Web Site. 5 July 2001. Retrieved 25 February 2023. 2001 Review of Bahar and Kugel book
- Van der Lubbe exonerated by German courts, brushtail.com 2009 Archived 13 October 2009 at the Wayback Machine
- Water and Fire (Water en Vuur) - 1998 documentary about Reichstag fire and Marinus van der Lubbe
- Newsreel footage about the fire British Movietone News Ltd.
- The Conspiracists at London Review of Books
- Review of Hett book sciambookclub.com, 2014
- The Brown Book of the Hitler Terror and the Burning of the Reichstag A HathiTrust full text of the US edition held by the University of Michigan: Alfred A Knopf Inc, NY, 1933.