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The Reichstag Fire |
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| Hitler uses the Weimar republic to gain power | What happened. | |
| On
January 30th 1933 Adolf Hitler became Chancellor of Germany. He had come
a long way from his days of the Munich Beer Hall Putsch. After this
failed bid for power in November 1923 where he was sent to prison he
concluded that he would act within the law and use the hated Weimar to
gain power.
During the election of 1933 Hitler had persuaded president Hindenburg to introduce emergency powers. He used the Reichstag fire as the excuse. Using these powers he introduced the Enabling Act in march 1933. He was now legally allowed to by-pass the Reichstag. Then in July 1933 he used the Law against the new Formation of Parties to ban those who he disagreed with.
An anti-Hitler cartoon about how the election of March 1933 was a mockery. |
Marinus
van der Lubbe was found guilty of starting a fire that burnt down the
parliament building -the Reichstag. Hitler accused him of being part of
a communist party plot to seize power. Although he denied being part of
any wider conspiracy or indeed even being a member of the Communist
Party Hitler was not going to let such a golden opportunity go.
The Reichstag building on fire |
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