Reichstag fire was an arson attack on the Reichstag building, home of the German parliament in Berlin, on Monday 27 February 1933, precisely four weeks after Nazi leader Adolf Hitler was sworn in as Chancellor of Germany.
| FactSnippet No. 994,444 |
12 Facts About Reichstag fire
2.
Reichstag fire used it as a pretext to claim that Communists were plotting against the German government, and induced President Paul von Hindenburg to issue the Reichstag Fire Decree suspending civil liberties, and pursue a "ruthless confrontation" with the Communists.
| FactSnippet No. 994,445 |
3.
At the time the Reichstag fire was reported, Hitler was having dinner with Joseph Goebbels at Goebbels' apartment in Berlin.
| FactSnippet No. 994,446 |
4.
When Goebbels received an urgent phone call informing him of the Reichstag fire, he regarded it as a "tall tale" at first and hung up.
| FactSnippet No. 994,447 |
5.
Kroll Opera House, sitting across the Konigsplatz from the burned-out Reichstag fire building, functioned as the Reichstag fire's venue for the remaining 12 years of the Third Reich's existence.
| FactSnippet No. 994,448 |
6.
Reichstag fire gave up his right to a court-appointed lawyer and defended himself successfully.
| FactSnippet No. 994,449 |
7.
Reichstag fire was beheaded by guillotine on 10 January 1934, three days before his 25th birthday.
| FactSnippet No. 994,450 |
8.
Hans Mommsen concluded that the Nazi leadership was in a state of panic on the night of the Reichstag fire, and seemed to regard the fire as confirmation that a communist revolution was as imminent as they had claimed.
| FactSnippet No. 994,451 |
9.
Reichstag fire reported Hitler arriving at the Reichstag, appearing uncertain how it began, and concerned that a communist coup was about to be launched.
| FactSnippet No. 994,452 |
10.
The statement suggests the Reichstag fire had already started when they arrived and that the SA played a role in the arson.
| FactSnippet No. 994,453 |
11.
Lennings, who died in 1962, further stated in his account that he and other members of his squad had protested the arrest of Van der Lubbe, "because we were convinced that Van der Lubbe could not possibly have been the arsonist, because according to our observation, the Reichstag fire had already been burning when we dropped him off there".
| FactSnippet No. 994,454 |
12.
Reichstag fire claimed he and the other witnesses were detained and forced to sign a paper that denied any knowledge of the incident.
| FactSnippet No. 994,455 |