Latest / The History of Germany: Kingdoms, War, and Rebuilding Europe — Fexingo History / The Reichstag Fire: How a Blaze Sealed Hitler's Power
Transcript
- Lucas: So Luna, we've been walking through the big turning points of German history, and today I want to get into something that's almost like a detective story. The Reichstag fire, February 27th, 1933. Luna: Is that the one that everyone says Hitler used as an excuse to grab power? Lucas: Exactly. And the wild part is, even after all these years, we still don't have a final, airtight answer to who exactly set that fire. We have a man who was executed for it, but the debate has never fully died. Luna: Wait, there's still doubt? I thought it was the communists. Lucas: That's what the Nazis claimed, and that's what a lot of people believed for decades. But the story is messier. The man they caught on the scene, Marinus van der Lubbe, was a Dutch bricklayer, a bit of a loner with some communist sympathies. He was found inside the building with matches and firelighters on him, and he confessed right away. Luna: So he did it. Lucas: Maybe. But he was half-blind, he seemed mentally unstable, and the way the fire spread so fast, through the huge plenary hall, didn't match the story of one guy using his coat as a torch. That's why, even at the time, people whispered that the Nazis might have started it themselves, or at least helped it along. Luna: I remember something about a tunnel. Lucas: Yes, the famous tunnel. There was an underground heating and service corridor that connected the Reichstag to the palace of the Reichstag president, which at the time was Hermann Göring. Göring was also the Prussian interior minister, so he controlled the police. That tunnel became the heart of the conspiracy theory — how convenient that the fire started right near that passage. Luna: But did anyone ever prove the Nazis used it? Lucas: No, not definitively. But the timing was perfect for them. The fire happened just a month after Hitler became chancellor, and he was facing a fragile coalition. The communists were still a big force in the Reichstag, and the Nazis were terrified of them. The fire gave Hitler the perfect excuse to demand emergency powers from President Hindenburg. Lucas: And he got them. The very next day, Hindenburg signed the Reichstag Fire Decree, which suspended basic rights like habeas corpus, freedom of speech, press, assembly. It was the legal foundation for the Nazi dictatorship. From then on, you could be arrested without charge, your mail could be read, your home searched without a warrant. Luna: So it wasn't just about blaming the communists — it was about changing the law. Lucas: Right. And they wasted no time. In the following weeks, thousands of communists and political opponents were rounded up and thrown into makeshift camps. The fire gave them cover to crush the left before the elections in March 1933, which they still didn't win outright — they only got about 44% of the vote. But with the communists banned and the SA intimidating everyone else, they managed to push through the Enabling Act a month later. Luna: The Enabling Act was what actually let Hitler rule by decree, wasn't it? Lucas: Exactly. And the Reichstag fire was the spark that made it possible. The Nazis could argue, 'See, we need this power to protect Germany from the communist threat.' And many people, even those who weren't fans of the Nazis, went along with it because they were scared. The fire wasn't just a crime — it was a political event that changed the course of German history. Lucas: Now, about that trial. Van der Lubbe was tried along with four communist leaders, including Ernst Torgler and Georgi Dimitrov. Dimitrov, a Bulgarian, actually turned the trial into a platform to mock Göring, who showed up in person to testify. Dimitrov asked him if he knew about the tunnel, and Göring lost his temper and shouted at him. The communists were acquitted, but van der Lubbe was convicted and executed in 1934. Luna: Wait, so the trial backfired on the Nazis for a bit, but they still got what they wanted. Lucas: Pretty much. They got the decree, they got the Enabling Act, they got the communists out of the way. And van der Lubbe became a convenient scapegoat. After the war, his conviction was actually overturned in 2008 under a German law that allowed for posthumous rehabilitation of wrongful convictions from the Nazi era. So legally, Germany now says he was unjustly executed, even though it's still murky whether he acted alone. Luna: That's remarkable — that they'd reverse his conviction that many decades later. Lucas: It shows how seriously Germany has dealt with its past. And the building itself has a long afterlife, too. The Reichstag was heavily damaged in the fire, then bombed in World War Two, and left as a ruin during the division. When the Berlin Wall fell, the government decided to rebuild it as the home of the Bundestag. They even kept some of the graffiti from Soviet soldiers. Lucas: And then in the 1990s, the British architect Norman Foster added that huge glass dome you can walk up in. It's this incredible symbol of transparency in government, right where Hitler tried to shut everything down. The fire that was supposed to destroy democracy is now the centerpiece of a rebuilt, open parliament. That's a pretty powerful arc. Luna: Yeah, it kind of feels like the building is a symbol of how Germany rose from the ashes, literally. Lucas: And it's a reminder of how fragile democracy can be. One fire, one decree, one moment of fear, and everything can change. That's why it's so important to understand these events, to see how easily they can be manipulated. And I think that's something we as listeners and learners can take away from today's story. Luna: Absolutely. And you know, it makes me appreciate how this show brings that history to life, week after week. It's like we're piecing together the puzzles of the past together. Lucas: Yeah, and that's something we're really proud of. And if you're a regular listener, you know we keep this show completely ad-free, and that's thanks to the support of people like you. If you've ever thought about helping us keep these stories coming, you can do that over at buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. Every little bit helps us cover the costs of research, recording, and hosting. No pressure, but if you're in a position to support, we'd be grateful. Luna: It really does make a difference, and it lets us keep doing deep dives like this one. But hey, back to history — so after the fire, the Reichstag was never used for its original purpose again until the 1990s. That's a long time. Lucas: Right, because the Nazis quickly moved the parliament to the Krolloper, an opera house across the street, where they passed the Enabling Act. And after that, the Reichstag was basically a propaganda backdrop. It's almost poetic that the fire was about destroying the old order, and the building ended up surviving, in a way, to represent the new one. Luna: So do you think van der Lubbe was just a patsy, or was he actually the arsonist? Lucas: Honestly, the evidence is still disputed. In 2019, a German historian named Benjamin Carter Hett published a book arguing that van der Lubbe definitely did not act alone, and that the Nazis were likely involved. He analyzed the fire scorges, the physical evidence, and the timing. But other scholars say the simpler explanation is that van der Lubbe, a lonely and troubled young man, did it by himself. The truth is, we may never know for sure. Luna: It's one of those historical mysteries that just won't go away. Lucas: Exactly. And that uncertainty itself is a lesson. The fire was a turning point, but it's also a reminder that history is often messy, with loose ends. What matters is how the event was used, and how it shaped the future. And that's what we try to do on this show — look at these moments from every angle. Lucas: So next time you see that iconic glass dome on the Reichstag, think about the fire that nearly destroyed it, and the democracy that was almost extinguished with it. It's a powerful symbol of resilience. Thanks for joining us on this journey through Germany's past, and we'll see you in the next episode.