Assess The Significance Of The Reichstag Fire

Assess the significance of the Reichstag Fire

The Reichstag Fire was significant to the Nazi's rise to power because it allowed them to fight the Communists with nearly no overhead and pass the Enabling Act forming a one-party dictatorship. But attacks on the Communists and non-democratic government control was already happening through Goering's use of the Prussian police and Schleicher was using Article 48 to bypass by democracy forming a semi-dictatorship. Overall while the Reichstag Fire was significant because it wasn't a turning point for Germany and for the Nazis because it allowed them to fight Communists and pass the Enabling Act. But Communist control and German dictatorship were already being done before the Reichstag Fire by Goering

This action turned Germany into a police state where the police were free to search arrest and control the population without the use of warrants. This allowed the Nazis controlled police force to detain and arrest Communist supporters and leaders. The Nazis used this power to arrest 4,000 Communists in Prussia alone. Police and Nazi troops continued to raid and arrest Communists at meetings and in their homes throughout the run-up to the March elections after the fire. The attack on the KPD had a large impact on the communist turnout in the election. This violence against the communist party had never reached levels so significant in Germany before. The Reichstag Fire Decree was used continually throughout the Nazis reign over Germany to remove opposition to their party. This violence and anti-communist government legislation wasn’t a turning point though because this had been occurring for weeks before the Reichstag Fire by Hitler, the Nazis and Hindenburg. Firstly, the decree for a free and peaceful election was used by the Nazis to break up communist meetings even before the Reichstag Fire Decree. On the 4th of February, Hindenburg used an emergency decree to ban the red flag, a popular communist newspaper. Later on the 22nd of February, Hitler licensed the use of concentration camps for political prisoners, like the Communists. This history of anti-communist government decrees by Hindenburg and the Nazis used to suppress the communist before the Reichstag Fire made it an acceleration, not a turning