Today marks the 75th anniversary of the Reichstag fire, caused by arson. Marinus van der Lubbe, a Dutchman, and unemployed Communist, was accused of the crime, convicted, and executed in 1934.
The fire provided Hitler and his cronies the excuse he needed to seize power, within 24 hours, then Reichspresident Paul Hindenburg issued the Reichstag Fire Decree, which was written up by the Nazis, and which suspended most of the civil liberties enjoyed by German citizens at the time.
A memorial to van der Lubbe is to be unveiled today in his home city of Leiden, Netherlands. It’s interesting to note that at the time of the arson, the maximum sentence for setting fire was eight years imprisonment. The law was changed as a result of the Fire Decree to a death sentence, and that in January 2008, German authorities annulled Lubbe’s 1933 court verdict.
Deutsche Welle has an informative article on the Reichstag fire on its website.
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