27 Feb 1933 Jahr - Reichstag Fire

Beschreibung:

On the 27th of February 1933, the Reichstag building caught on fire, inside the building a Dutch communist called Van de Lubbe was found carrying matches and was immediately arrested. Hitler used this to his advantage to claim that the communists were plotting against his government. That night, 4000 communists were arrested.

The next day, Hitler persuaded President Hindenburg to pass an emergency decree that suspended all the articles in the Constitution that guaranteed freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, and personal liberty, preventing any spread of communism. This gave police emergency powers to search houses, confiscate property, and detain people without trial. The police could ban meetings, close newspapers, etc. This might have been an emergency decree, but it stayed in place for 12 years, throughout the Nazi rule. The fire gave the nazis short-term advantages, such as providing them with the perfect excuse to destroy the opposition.

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