[NY Times - 5/2/1945] One of the most shocking events in the history of the Nazi regime came on the evening of Feb. 27, 1933, a week before the elections. On that evening the Reichstag building suddenly went up in flames. Part of the building collapsed. The fire, it was determined, was of incendiary origin, for a great deal of inflammable material was used to start the conflagration. Hitler announced that Communists were the incendiaries, while Goering proclaimed that documentary material to prove this charge would soon be made public.
The burning of the Reichstag produced a profound impression. Masses of people believed the Communists were actually responsible. More than ever they looked to Hitler as the savior of the nation, and, indeed, in the elections a week later he won his greatest victory, but with only 43 percent of the votes cast.
Later, at a trial conducted by the Nazi Government itself, a group of Communists accused of starting the fire were acquitted. Among them were the German Communist leader, Torgler, and the Bulgarian Communist, Dimitroff. The latter subsequently became the general secretary of the Communist International. The only man convicted was Marinus van der Lubbe, a former Dutch Communist of distinctly queer mind, who was supposed to have been found in the Reichstag Building at the time of the fire.
Widespread belief in Germany and abroad, on the basis of extensive investigation, was that the Hitlerites themselves set fire to the Reichstag, with van der Lubbe as their tool, to enhance their chances in the election.
-- "Hitler Dead in Chancellery, Nazis Say," New York Times, May 2, 1945
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[posted 5/19/02]
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