reichstag fire

Question 1

who started the fire

Answer 1

Marinus van der Lubbe

Question 2

how did hitler use the fire to his advantage

Answer 2

he turned everyone against the communists and expelled them from the government by convincing everyone they started it

made more people vote for the nazis as his main competition was now seen as criminals

convinced hindenberg to issue article 48, which gave him free reign

Question 3

why do people believe Marinus was a communist

Answer 3

because in his pocket he had a card of the colour of the communists

Question 4

why do people believe it was MVL who started the fire

Answer 4

he was found at crime scene holding matches and lighter

Question 5

why is it believable that marinus would do it ?

Answer 5

• he was already known for trying to set things on fire ( had not succeeded previously)
• was mentally disturbed, people say he would do it for fame.

Question 6

why is it believable that the communists would do it

Answer 6

they were afraid their time was running out, and nazis would eventually take power

Question 7

why was the fire beneficial to the nazi’s

Answer 7

• the nazi’s seats in parliament were declining
• communist seats were increasing
  -by setting the fire people saw communists as evil, criminals and so then changed their votes to the nazis

Question 8

why do some people believe he acted alone

Answer 8

• he confessed straight away to setting the fire but said he had no connection to any other party.
• people only saw one man who was holding a torch and its known that marinus had that
• he was mentally ill and was already known for setting things on fire

Question 9

why do some people believe he acted with the communists

Answer 9

• a group of communists were there 20mins before the fire started
• the record of communist crimes was already very high so it wasn’t surprising they would commit a crime
• Goering raided the communist party base and said he found incriminating projects that implied a plan for a revolution/or fire, but documents were never published

Question 10

why do some people believe he acted with the nazis

Answer 10

-it was beneficial for nazis
- he was in possession of a red membership card (red was for nazis)
- the communists were gaining seats and nazis weren’t so it would be a good way to make people hate the communists