On the 27th of February 1933 a fire broke out at the Reichstag burning down the building and leading to a sequence of events that would eventually result in Adolf Hitler gaining absolute power of Germany. Today I will be looking at the question that many historians have argued over ever since the event, who was responsible for the blaze?
The intentionalist view is that it was the Nazis, the Structualist view is it was the Communists, and the Consensus view blames van der Lubbe.
As a result of the fire, Hitler was able to get an ‘emergency degree’ from the Government this has lead led to some historians believing the fire was in fact a work of the Nazis in order for them to scare the government into handing them control.
So what reasons have
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As previously discussed the Nazis made van der Lubbe out to be a ‘dim witted, slobbering young man’, however historian Ian Kershaw claims he was ‘intelligent… unconnected with any political group’ and that he wished to ‘make a lone and spectacular act of defiant protest against the Nazi government’ (Kershaw, 1999). All this goes against the narrative the Nazi party spread; they wanted the public to think of van der Lubbe as a communist puppet that was too stupid to think for himself. The discrepancy in these two portrayals of van der Lubbe lead historians to this day to believe van der Lubbe was in fact mentally capable of this act, and the Nazis made it out like he wasn’t to more easily link him to the Communists. Some historians use van der Lubbe’s history with the Communist party as a way to blame the communists for the fire, however as van der Lubbe himself states ‘I was a member of the communist party until 1929’ (Spartacus Educational, 2016) he also claimed he ‘acted alone’ (Spartacus Educational, 2016). Some may say he was only saying this to cover for the Communists, but he also said negative things about the party, such as how the ‘Communist leaders lord it over the workers’ (Spartacus Educational, 2016), he would not have spoken so negatively towards the party had he been covering for them. The likeliness that van der Lubbe acted alone therefore is pretty firm, all the major points of contention such as his ‘dim-wittedness’ him being a Communist, him not having time to set the fire, and so on have all either been disproven, or at least proven to be not guarantees. In answer to the statement, ‘The Reichstag fire was a deliberate plot hatched by Hitler’s henchmen to help consolidate Nazi control over the political process’ although Hitler did get control over the political process as a direct result of the
Adolf Hitler is the main fire behind WWII. He wasn’t just a soldier on the battlefield, he was the Führer. The Nazi followers thought of him as a god-like figure.
The night of May 10, 1933, German students from some of the best universities in the world, gathered in Berlin to burn books with un-German ideas. The students, along with Nazi officials, threw hundreds of books into a bonfire while giving the Hitler salute and singing Nazi anthems. The students gave up everything that they had believed in due to their unwavering adoration for Hitler and his beliefs.
Many events led up to the spreading of the Great Chicago Fire of 1871 including difficulties at the fire department, the weather, and the types of buildings in Chicago. The cause of the fire is still indefinite today; however, there are many theories how it started. Some believe a cow kicked over a lantern inside a barn while some believe a meteorite fell to the Earth creating the fire. Despite all theories, the inferno became uncontrollable when it could have been put out fairly quickly (Smith).
The horrible outcome of the fire is that this something that could have been prevented if the owner were not being so careless. All the lives that were lost that day because of the lack of safety laws is terrible. A manager attempted to use a fire hose to put out the fire and could not do so because it was rusted shut. With the one elevator that was working for a very short period of time, girls started jumping down elevator shafts and going through stairwells just to come to a locked door and burn alive. Women were even flying out of the windows while burning on fire. Out of all this, the owners managed to escape the burning building. A total of 145 workers died that
There is no one reason that Adolf Hitler started the Holocaust. What we do know is that all the reasons and theories came together to create one of the worst atrocities in history, the genocide of six million Jewish people. There are many theories but none any greater than anti-Semitism which has plagued the Jews since the crucifixion of Jesus. Another theory is that Hitler blamed Jews for the economic state of Germany after World War I. There
The Nazis and their rise to power comprised many steps along the way. With the help of Adolf Hitler’s mind they came to power with their political and economic strategies. Outlining the beginning of how Hitler and his party slowly gained power and took over Germany as each of his idea and his supporters helped him to rise. Hitler consequently congregated supporters of the Nazi party to make it stronger. Before the idea of legally taking over the political and economic of Germany, he planned to take over the Reichstag building with force thinking The Putsch was his way to success. ‘… the Nazi movement legally wound back the provisions of the Weimar Constitution, exerted its control over the civil service and legal systems and outlawed opposition parties.’ (Bidgood et.al 2006: 127). Since Hitler could not gain power of Germany by overtaking the Reichstag he was to do it legally by standing as the Chancellor and create authoritative orders to create his new world. In the beginning, Adolf Hitler was an unknown figure to the public, but he slowly built his own political ideas as he started doing speeches at the beer hall which was his initial point for his ideas to emerge and advance. Once Hitler thought he had enough people supporting his party, he explicit decision was to take over the Reichstag, but was to find guilty of treason. When Hitler was imprisoned, the Nazi party started to have difficulties and that is when different political ideas were emerging. After Hitler was released out of prison, he begins to regather ideas as he was given the role of chancellor. Eliminating the Reichstag and giving him all the power. The Rise of Hitler begins.
The Holocaust began in 1933, when the Nazis were beginning to have the most political power in Germany. The leader of this political party was Adolf Hitler. Based on many historians, Hitler was the one who stared the Holocaust,
Shortly after Hitler’s appointment as chancellor of Germany, he suggested, to President Hindenburg, that the Reichstag be dissolved. The next German election was scheduled for March of that same year to renew the democratic style of government in Germany. However, six days prior to the Election Day, the Reichstag building in Berlin was set ablaze which effectively dissolved the democratic government.
Even if there are parties more at fault, the third most responsible party for the destruction caused by the Holocaust is Hitler. According to Maya Productions, “By blaming the Jews for the economic crisis that Germany was suffering through as well as their defeat in World War I, Hitler targeted the Jews as the country’s main enemy. According to him, the Jewish people were directly responsible for Germany’s many problems” (Why Did Hitler). People followed Hitler because of his place in society. He was the chancellor of Germany and was viewed very
Hitler is not the only person to blame for the Holocaust killing millions of Jews. There had to be more people to agree with him in order to make it happen. Hitler’s defense team would surely have argued that the Holocaust was not just Hitler’s work. Himmler, head of the SS, was the real ‘architect of genocide’.
Adolf Hitler was the creator of the holocaust! He was a man that hated the Jews very much, he also disliked people that weren't like him, but he hated the Jews much more. Hitler got to be the leader of Germany because he convinced everyone that he was the right person to rule Germany. They all believed him because he had the gift of "speech." Towards the end of the Holocaust, Hitler committed SUICIDE by shooting himself. I personally
Genocide in Germany, beginning in 1938, caused a historic recognition for people today. The leader, Adolf Hitler, had many ideas on how to eliminate the jews promptly or fatally. Hitler and his terror spread all throughout Europe leaving a devastating trail of destruction in his wake. Hitler and his team of Nazi used propoganda and mass murder to increase their support and as a way to eliminate the unwanted people of Germany.
Personal agency of Hitler’s ideologies dominated the Nazi decision-making process. He was the focal point in implementing the segregation of Jews in German society. All historians acknowledge Adolf Hitler as the decisive instigator but attempt to expand beyond his radical anti-Semitic ideology and into the realm of how he carried out the worst genocide of the twentieth century. In a definitive statement, McMillian states, “Without Hitler there would have been no Holocaust.” Furthermore, he expands the significance of Hitler’s role along with a series of events
In Europe there was a little over a population of nine million jews. Most of these nine million jews lived in the country of germany. The part that the jews lived in were ruled by the Nazis. The Nazi did not like the jews and thought of them as a threat to their land. In order for the nazis to get rid of the jews they came up with a plan called “ The Final Solution” . This great genocide was later known as the Holocaust.
The holocaust was a horrible event that seems to terrible that it could never happen again, but that might not be the case. Hitler took crucial steps that overtime allowed him to be the dictator of Germany. He was able to brainwash most of Germany into thinking he was harmless and he was there to help the people. In a period of twelve years, Germany went from an emerging democracy to a dictatorship that eventually committed genocide. Hitler used methodic methods to gain control over Germany. Some of the measures Hitler took to become dictator was, the hyperinflation, propaganda and manipulation of children.