← Directory
Speculative theory
Reichstag FireAtlas
Government & Politics · False flags & staged events
The Reichstag building in Berlin, which housed the German parliament, was set on fire and badly damaged. Whether van der Lubbe acted alone or whether others participated in setting the fire has remained a major point of historical dispute.
Open the caseMarinus van der Lubbe2
- Documented · Dutch national Marinus van der Lubbe was overpowered at the scene and identified as a suspected arsonist.
- Documented · Marinus van der Lubbe was tried in connection with the fire and convicted.
Fritz Tobias1
- Documented · Fritz Tobias advanced a widely discussed lone-arsonist interpretation of the fire in a major postwar study.
Paul von Hindenburg1
- Official · President Paul von Hindenburg issued an emergency decree in response to the burning of the Reichstag.
Reichstag building1
- Documented · The Reichstag building in Berlin, which housed the German parliament, was set on fire and badly damaged.
Reichstag fire1
- Documented · The Reichstag Fire Decree suspended key civil liberties and enabled the Nazi government to detain and suppress political opponents with fewer legal constraints.
Other3
- Documented · After the fire, the damaged Reichstag could no longer serve as the regular meeting place of parliament.
- Documented · Nazi leaders publicly blamed communists for the arson and used the fire to justify a broader crackdown on political opposition.
- Contested · Whether van der Lubbe acted alone or whether others participated in setting the fire has remained a major point of historical dispute.