The 27 February 1933 Reichstag Fire That Hitler Used as Pretext for the Emergency Decree That Suspended German Civil Liberties for the Next Twelve Years
The German parliament building in Berlin burned on the night of 27-28 February 1933. A Dutch communist named Marinus van der Lubbe was arrested at the scene and beheaded the following January. The Nazi government used the fire as pretext for the Reichstag Fire Decree of 28 February, which suspended civil liberties. The Enabling Act of 23 March made Hitler legal dictator.
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