Order of the Reich President for the Protection of People and State
On the basis of Article 48 paragraph 2 of the Constitution of the German Reich, the following is ordered in defense against Communist state-endangering acts of violence:
§ 1. Articles 114, 115, 117, 118, 123, 124 and 153 of the Constitution of the German Reich are suspended until further notice. It is therefore permissible to restrict the rights of personal freedom [habeas corpus], freedom of (opinion) expression, including the freedom of the press, the freedom to organize and assemble, the privacy of postal, telegraphic and telephonic communications. Warrants for House searches, orders for confiscations as well as restrictions on property, are also permissible beyond the legal limits otherwise prescribed.
On the night of February 27, 1933 a fire, the origins of which were reported to be arson, broke out in the Reichstag, destroying the building. Chancellor Adolf Hitler pressed Germany’s President Paul von Hindenburg to issue the above decree, which, as my readers can discern, pretty well snuffed out civil liberties for Germans – and gave Hitler absolute power.
What is noteworthy is that the Nazis blamed the communists for setting the fire. That assertion remains unsubstantiated and the question as to who actually did set it is unanswered. There was speculation that the Nazis actually lit the blaze and pinned the destruction on the communists for political traction. That this event, accompanied by Hindenburg’s decree, was a landmark in World History is inarguable. 55 million people died in World War II.
We still don’t know who burned the Reichstag.