The Reichstag Fire and Hitler's Power
A week before the elections in Germany (27th February 1933) the
Reichstag Building was burnt down. Some people blame Hitler for the
fire, others blame Van de Lubbe or the communists. Hitler wanted to
gain control of the whole of Germany and have all German support. So
although Hitler was chancellor, and leader of his political party, he
was not yet a dictator.
To achieve his goal of being a dictator, he felt the need to put a set
of emergency powers in to place, taking away the basic rights and
freedoms of the German public. So, Hitler managed to convince the
Reich president, Hindenburg, to approve the set of emergency powers,
by claiming that the communists were planning to start a revolution,
and so it was best to put these powers in to place now before it was
too late. Newspapers and the general press would now be controlled;
communists would be arrested and anti-Nazi leaders, a ban on the
communist party from the election campaign, and a shut down of many of
their party offices. This enabled him to completely wipe out all
opposition to him. These emergency powers were also known as the
‘Decree for the Protection of People and State’.
Hitler was able arrest over 4,000 communist and anti-Nazi leaders. By
Hitler blaming the communists and continually arresting many of the
well-known leaders, communists were seen as scapegoats; they created
the fire and burnt down the Reichstag. As many of the public had
already begun to blame the communists, Hitler managed to spread hatred
for them throughout the country through anti-communist propaganda.
Hitler also has a secret police who dealt with people who did not
conform to this new anti-communist viewpoint (the S.A). The secret
police also meant that many people would support Hitler for fear of
beatings by the S.A, or for fear of their family. Hitler managed to
put many Nazis in the police force also, so he ensured he had full
support there.
The elections took place on the 5th March 1933.
main aim was to defeat the USSR and create an empire in the East. He
would jump at the chance to acquire that power as soon as possible, no matter
He was despised as a high-handed and capricious dictator by his enemies and revered as a forceful
build up a name for himself, as well as, to get to know people in high
was to make himself supreme in Europe. As a start, he planned to conquer all
to reach he would have to do it legally, and so he decided to stand
Living in the crumbled remains of Germany, or the Weimar Republic, in the 1920’s was a dismal existence. Hyperinflation was rampant and the national debt skyrocketed as a result of the punishing features of the Treaty of Versailles. During the depression, however, a mysterious Austrian emerged from the depths of the German penal system and gave the desperate German people a glimpse of hope in very dark times. He called for a return to “Fatherland” principles where greater Germany was seen as the center of their universe with zealous pride. Under Hitler’s leadership, Nazi Germany rapidly grew and expanded, continually approaching the goal of world domination and the “Thousand-Year Reich” that Hitler promised the German people. Only a few years later, Nazi Wehrmacht soldiers could be seen marching the streets from Paris to Leningrad (St. Petersburg, Russia). The German Empire, however, like all other expansive empires, had its limits and integral components such as resources, manpower, and industrial capacity began to fall in short supply further crippling the Nazi war machine. Basically, by 1944, “Nazi Germany’s fundamental problem was that she has conquered more territory than she could defend” (Ambrose, 27). Hitler conquered a vast area and vowed to defend every single inch of his empire with every last drop of blood at his disposal. As Frederick the Great warned, “He who defends everything, defends nothing” (Ambrose, 33). It is interesting to study any empire’s rise and fall because similarities are always present, even with some nations today promising to fight the evil, when it reality, it might be becoming what it vows to fight.
Support for the Nazi party was due to the growing belief that it was a
becoming the dictator he would have those who did not like him, so he inacted
1. Source A was written by Rudolf Diels, who was the head of the Prussian political police at the time of the fire. In his account of events, he explains that he caught Van Der Lubbe red handed, the suspect was alone and there was no evidence that he could see that involved other people, even other communists. He strongly disagreed with Goring and Hitler's theory that Van Der Lubbe was aided in some way, and that the whole affair was a communist plot to seize power. During the trial of Van Der Lubbe in 1933, he openly confessed to setting fire to the building, but denied that he had been helped. His statement in source B shows that he was adamant that he had worked alone. This would seem to prove Diels' theory, however, Van Der Lubbe could easily have been lying in order to protect the other arsonists, who would have probably been high ranking members of the communist party according to Goring's theory, and therefore much more valuable than a simple member, although extremely devoted, who was mentally unstable. If he was lying, he could also be covering the tracks of the Nazi party, who could have set it all up and, as they did, place the blame on the communists. All of this causes great confusion for anyone trying to uncover the truth. Rudolf Diels' account could be seen as reasonably reliable as he seems to have considered all the evidence and come to a thought out and unbiased opinion. Unfortunately, Van Der Lubbe is not a reliable source as he could be protecting any amount of people; there is also evidence that he was mentally unstable, and this means that his evidence is even more unreliable.
gain power. Humans as well as animals have a natural aggressive and territorial instincts. This is a frequent cause of war. (Hensel) Emperor Napoleon III was a very power hungry leader. Like his uncle, Napoleon I, Napoleon III wanted to gain.
The Weakness of the Weimar Republic and Hitler's Rise to Power The question directly relates to the idea that the political power of a country can be taken over by ambitious people in different ways. From our knowledge we know there is three ways this can be done…by take over by force, also known as a 'coup d'etat', in a more democratic and just way or by a political deal. In the 1920's and the 1930's Hitler led a right wing political party and was seen by many as a dictator. He wanted to overthrow and control the German government and he tried all three of these ways in an attempt to do so, some methods were more successful than others.
handle foreign nations. The fear of creating a government that was too powerful was the
in this purpose is a key to Mach’s view of power. Because it was written for the use of one man
to have people to their own thoughts and opinions toward life. He did not think