Burning the Reichstag

Burning the Reichstag

Author: Benjamin Carter Hett

Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA

Published: 2014-02

Total Pages: 422

ISBN-13: 0199322325

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A dramatic new account of the Reichstag fire and the origins of the Nazi rise to power


Book Synopsis Burning the Reichstag by : Benjamin Carter Hett

Download or read book Burning the Reichstag written by Benjamin Carter Hett and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 2014-02 with total page 422 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A dramatic new account of the Reichstag fire and the origins of the Nazi rise to power


Burning the Reichstag

Burning the Reichstag

Author: Benjamin Carter Hett

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2013-12-04

Total Pages: 422

ISBN-13: 0199322333

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In February 1933, Adolf Hitler had only a tenuous grasp on power. Chancellor of Germany for merely four weeks, he led a fragile coalition government. The Nazis had lost seats in the Reichstag in the recent election, and claimed only three of thirteen cabinet posts. Then on February 27th, arson sent the Reichstag, the home and symbol of German democracy, up in flames. Immediately blaming the Communists, Hitler's new government approved a decree that tore the heart out of the democratic constitution of the Weimar Republic and cancelled the rule of law. Five thousand people were immediately arrested. The Reichstag fire marked the true beginning of the Third Reich, which ruled for 12 more years. The controversy surrounding the fire's origins has endured for 80. In Burning the Reichstag, Benjamin Hett offers a gripping account of Hitler's rise to dictatorship-one that challenges orthodoxy and recovers the true significance of the part the fire played. At the scene the police arrested 23-year-old Marinus van der Lubbe, a Dutch Communist stonemason. Though he was initially dismissed abroad as a Nazi tool, post-war historians since the 1950s have largely judged him solely guilty-a lone arsonist exploited by Hitler. Hett's book reopens the case, providing vivid portraits of key figures, including Rudolf Diels, Hermann Goering, Joseph Goebbels, and the historian Fritz Tobias, whose account of the fire has, until now, been the standard. Making use of a number of new sources and archives, Hett sets the Reichstag fire in a wider context, revealing how and why it has remained one of the last mysteries of the Nazi period, and one of the most controversial and contested events in the 20th century.


Book Synopsis Burning the Reichstag by : Benjamin Carter Hett

Download or read book Burning the Reichstag written by Benjamin Carter Hett and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2013-12-04 with total page 422 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In February 1933, Adolf Hitler had only a tenuous grasp on power. Chancellor of Germany for merely four weeks, he led a fragile coalition government. The Nazis had lost seats in the Reichstag in the recent election, and claimed only three of thirteen cabinet posts. Then on February 27th, arson sent the Reichstag, the home and symbol of German democracy, up in flames. Immediately blaming the Communists, Hitler's new government approved a decree that tore the heart out of the democratic constitution of the Weimar Republic and cancelled the rule of law. Five thousand people were immediately arrested. The Reichstag fire marked the true beginning of the Third Reich, which ruled for 12 more years. The controversy surrounding the fire's origins has endured for 80. In Burning the Reichstag, Benjamin Hett offers a gripping account of Hitler's rise to dictatorship-one that challenges orthodoxy and recovers the true significance of the part the fire played. At the scene the police arrested 23-year-old Marinus van der Lubbe, a Dutch Communist stonemason. Though he was initially dismissed abroad as a Nazi tool, post-war historians since the 1950s have largely judged him solely guilty-a lone arsonist exploited by Hitler. Hett's book reopens the case, providing vivid portraits of key figures, including Rudolf Diels, Hermann Goering, Joseph Goebbels, and the historian Fritz Tobias, whose account of the fire has, until now, been the standard. Making use of a number of new sources and archives, Hett sets the Reichstag fire in a wider context, revealing how and why it has remained one of the last mysteries of the Nazi period, and one of the most controversial and contested events in the 20th century.


The Burning of the Reichstag

The Burning of the Reichstag

Author: Charles River Charles River Editors

Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform

Published: 2018-02-05

Total Pages: 78

ISBN-13: 9781985029446

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*Includes pictures *Discusses the mysteries surrounding who started the fire and whether the Nazis were responsible *Includes a bibliography for further reading *Includes a table of contents "These sub-humans do not understand how the people stand at our side. In their mouse-holes, out of which they now want to come, of course they hear nothing of the cheering of the masses." - Hitler speaking about Communists as the Reichstag burned "I don't care what happens in Russia! I know that the Russians pay with bills, and I should prefer to know that their bills are paid! I care about the Communist Party here in Germany and about Communist crooks who come here to set the Reichstag on fire!" - Hermann Goering The early 1930s were a tumultuous period for German politics, even in comparison to the ongoing transition to the modern era that caused various forms of chaos throughout the rest of the world. In the United States, reliance on the outdated gold standard and an absurdly parsimonious monetary policy helped bring about the Great Depression. Meanwhile, the Empire of Japan began its ultimately fatal adventurism with the invasion of Manchuria, alienating the rest of the world with the atrocities it committed. Around the same time, Gandhi began his drive for the peaceful independence of India through nonviolent protests against the British. It was in Germany, however, that the strongest seeds of future tragedy were sown. The struggling Weimar Republic had become a breeding ground for extremist politics, including two opposed and powerful authoritarian entities: the right-wing National Socialists and the left-wing KPD Communist Party. As the 1930s dawned, these two totalitarian groups held one another in a temporary stalemate, enabling the fragile ghost of democracy to continue a largely illusory survival for a few more years. That stalemate was broken in dramatic fashion on a bitterly cold night in late February 1933, and it was the Nazis who emerged decisively as the victors. A single act of arson against the famous Reichstag building proved to be the catalyst that propelled Adolf Hitler to victory in the elections of March 1933, which set the German nation irrevocably on the path towards World War II. That war would plunge much of the planet into an existential battle that ultimately cost an estimated 60 million lives. Given its importance, the burning of the Reichstag has been viewed as a turning point in history, but the mystery over who was actually responsible still lingers. Officially, a German court convicted and executed a Dutch Communist, Marinus van der Lubbe, and the Nazis would rail against the fire as a Communist plot in the ensuing weeks. Van der Lubbe claimed at trial that he acted alone, and many Communists accused the Nazis of conducting the fire as a false flag operation, but in any case, in the wake of the fire, Communists across Germany were purged, allowing Hitler and the Nazis to strengthen their hold on political power. The Burning of the Reichstag: The History of the Controversial Fire That Led to the Rise of Nazi Germany analyzes the notorious fire that helped usher in the Nazis' rise to power in Germany. Along with pictures of important people, places, and events, you will learn about the Reichstag fire like never before, in no time at all.


Book Synopsis The Burning of the Reichstag by : Charles River Charles River Editors

Download or read book The Burning of the Reichstag written by Charles River Charles River Editors and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 2018-02-05 with total page 78 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: *Includes pictures *Discusses the mysteries surrounding who started the fire and whether the Nazis were responsible *Includes a bibliography for further reading *Includes a table of contents "These sub-humans do not understand how the people stand at our side. In their mouse-holes, out of which they now want to come, of course they hear nothing of the cheering of the masses." - Hitler speaking about Communists as the Reichstag burned "I don't care what happens in Russia! I know that the Russians pay with bills, and I should prefer to know that their bills are paid! I care about the Communist Party here in Germany and about Communist crooks who come here to set the Reichstag on fire!" - Hermann Goering The early 1930s were a tumultuous period for German politics, even in comparison to the ongoing transition to the modern era that caused various forms of chaos throughout the rest of the world. In the United States, reliance on the outdated gold standard and an absurdly parsimonious monetary policy helped bring about the Great Depression. Meanwhile, the Empire of Japan began its ultimately fatal adventurism with the invasion of Manchuria, alienating the rest of the world with the atrocities it committed. Around the same time, Gandhi began his drive for the peaceful independence of India through nonviolent protests against the British. It was in Germany, however, that the strongest seeds of future tragedy were sown. The struggling Weimar Republic had become a breeding ground for extremist politics, including two opposed and powerful authoritarian entities: the right-wing National Socialists and the left-wing KPD Communist Party. As the 1930s dawned, these two totalitarian groups held one another in a temporary stalemate, enabling the fragile ghost of democracy to continue a largely illusory survival for a few more years. That stalemate was broken in dramatic fashion on a bitterly cold night in late February 1933, and it was the Nazis who emerged decisively as the victors. A single act of arson against the famous Reichstag building proved to be the catalyst that propelled Adolf Hitler to victory in the elections of March 1933, which set the German nation irrevocably on the path towards World War II. That war would plunge much of the planet into an existential battle that ultimately cost an estimated 60 million lives. Given its importance, the burning of the Reichstag has been viewed as a turning point in history, but the mystery over who was actually responsible still lingers. Officially, a German court convicted and executed a Dutch Communist, Marinus van der Lubbe, and the Nazis would rail against the fire as a Communist plot in the ensuing weeks. Van der Lubbe claimed at trial that he acted alone, and many Communists accused the Nazis of conducting the fire as a false flag operation, but in any case, in the wake of the fire, Communists across Germany were purged, allowing Hitler and the Nazis to strengthen their hold on political power. The Burning of the Reichstag: The History of the Controversial Fire That Led to the Rise of Nazi Germany analyzes the notorious fire that helped usher in the Nazis' rise to power in Germany. Along with pictures of important people, places, and events, you will learn about the Reichstag fire like never before, in no time at all.


The Burning of the Reichstag

The Burning of the Reichstag

Author: Douglas Reed

Publisher:

Published: 1934

Total Pages: 376

ISBN-13:

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The Reichstag fire trial, September 21, 1933 to December 23, 1933, was held before the Fourth penal chamber of the Supreme court of the German reich ; the accused being Marinus van der Lubbe, Ernst Torgler, Georgi Dimitroff, Blagoi Popoff and Wassil Taneff. On December 23, 1933, presiding Justice Wilhelm Bünger pronounced a verdict of guilty against van der Lubbe for high treason in the overt act of insurrectionary arson and on January 19, 1934 the condemned was sentenced to death. The other defendants were acquitted.


Book Synopsis The Burning of the Reichstag by : Douglas Reed

Download or read book The Burning of the Reichstag written by Douglas Reed and published by . This book was released on 1934 with total page 376 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Reichstag fire trial, September 21, 1933 to December 23, 1933, was held before the Fourth penal chamber of the Supreme court of the German reich ; the accused being Marinus van der Lubbe, Ernst Torgler, Georgi Dimitroff, Blagoi Popoff and Wassil Taneff. On December 23, 1933, presiding Justice Wilhelm Bünger pronounced a verdict of guilty against van der Lubbe for high treason in the overt act of insurrectionary arson and on January 19, 1934 the condemned was sentenced to death. The other defendants were acquitted.


Crossing Hitler

Crossing Hitler

Author: Benjamin Carter Hett

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2008-09-18

Total Pages: 371

ISBN-13: 0199708592

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During a 1931 trial of four Nazi stormtroopers, known as the Eden Dance Palace trial, Hans Litten grilled Hitler in a brilliant and merciless three-hour cross-examination, forcing him into multiple contradictions and evasions and finally reducing him to helpless and humiliating rage (the transcription of Hitler's full testimony is included.) At the time, Hitler was still trying to prove his embrace of legal methods, and distancing himself from his stormtroopers. The courageous Litten revealed his true intentions, and in the process, posed a real threat to Nazi ambition. When the Nazis seized power two years after the trial, friends and family urged Litten to flee the country. He stayed and was sent to the concentration camps, where he worked on translations of medieval German poetry, shared the money and food he was sent by his wealthy family, and taught working-class inmates about art and literature. When Jewish prisoners at Dachau were locked in their barracks for weeks at a time, Litten kept them sane by reciting great works from memory. After five years of torture and hard labor-and a daring escape that failed-Litten gave up hope of survival. His story was ultimately tragic but, as Benjamin Hett writes in this gripping narrative, it is also redemptive. "It is a story of human nobility in the face of barbarism." The first full-length biography of Litten, the book also explores the turbulent years of the Weimar Republic and the terror of Nazi rule in Germany after 1933. [in sidebar] Winner of the 2007 Fraenkel Prize for outstanding work of contemporary history, in manuscript. To be published throughout the world.


Book Synopsis Crossing Hitler by : Benjamin Carter Hett

Download or read book Crossing Hitler written by Benjamin Carter Hett and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2008-09-18 with total page 371 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: During a 1931 trial of four Nazi stormtroopers, known as the Eden Dance Palace trial, Hans Litten grilled Hitler in a brilliant and merciless three-hour cross-examination, forcing him into multiple contradictions and evasions and finally reducing him to helpless and humiliating rage (the transcription of Hitler's full testimony is included.) At the time, Hitler was still trying to prove his embrace of legal methods, and distancing himself from his stormtroopers. The courageous Litten revealed his true intentions, and in the process, posed a real threat to Nazi ambition. When the Nazis seized power two years after the trial, friends and family urged Litten to flee the country. He stayed and was sent to the concentration camps, where he worked on translations of medieval German poetry, shared the money and food he was sent by his wealthy family, and taught working-class inmates about art and literature. When Jewish prisoners at Dachau were locked in their barracks for weeks at a time, Litten kept them sane by reciting great works from memory. After five years of torture and hard labor-and a daring escape that failed-Litten gave up hope of survival. His story was ultimately tragic but, as Benjamin Hett writes in this gripping narrative, it is also redemptive. "It is a story of human nobility in the face of barbarism." The first full-length biography of Litten, the book also explores the turbulent years of the Weimar Republic and the terror of Nazi rule in Germany after 1933. [in sidebar] Winner of the 2007 Fraenkel Prize for outstanding work of contemporary history, in manuscript. To be published throughout the world.


The Reichstag Fire

The Reichstag Fire

Author: Fritz Tobias

Publisher:

Published: 1964

Total Pages: 374

ISBN-13:

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Book Synopsis The Reichstag Fire by : Fritz Tobias

Download or read book The Reichstag Fire written by Fritz Tobias and published by . This book was released on 1964 with total page 374 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:


Between Dignity and Despair

Between Dignity and Despair

Author: Marion A. Kaplan

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 1999-06-10

Total Pages: 303

ISBN-13: 0195313585

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Between Dignity and Despair draws on the extraordinary memoirs, diaries, interviews, and letters of Jewish women and men to give us the first intimate portrait of Jewish life in Nazi Germany. Kaplan tells the story of Jews in Germany not from the hindsight of the Holocaust, nor by focusing on the persecutors, but from the bewildered and ambiguous perspective of Jews trying to navigate their daily lives in a world that was becoming more and more insane. Answering the charge that Jews should have left earlier, Kaplan shows that far from seeming inevitable, the Holocaust was impossible to foresee precisely because Nazi repression occurred in irregular and unpredictable steps until the massive violence of Novemer 1938. Then the flow of emigration turned into a torrent, only to be stopped by the war. By that time Jews had been evicted from their homes, robbed of their possessions and their livelihoods, shunned by their former friends, persecuted by their neighbors, and driven into forced labor. For those trapped in Germany, mere survival became a nightmare of increasingly desperate options. Many took their own lives to retain at least some dignity in death; others went underground and endured the fears of nightly bombings and the even greater terror of being discovered by the Nazis. Most were murdered. All were pressed to the limit of human endurance and human loneliness. Focusing on the fate of families and particularly women's experience, Between Dignity and Despair takes us into the neighborhoods, into the kitchens, shops, and schools, to give us the shape and texture, the very feel of what it was like to be a Jew in Nazi Germany.


Book Synopsis Between Dignity and Despair by : Marion A. Kaplan

Download or read book Between Dignity and Despair written by Marion A. Kaplan and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 1999-06-10 with total page 303 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Between Dignity and Despair draws on the extraordinary memoirs, diaries, interviews, and letters of Jewish women and men to give us the first intimate portrait of Jewish life in Nazi Germany. Kaplan tells the story of Jews in Germany not from the hindsight of the Holocaust, nor by focusing on the persecutors, but from the bewildered and ambiguous perspective of Jews trying to navigate their daily lives in a world that was becoming more and more insane. Answering the charge that Jews should have left earlier, Kaplan shows that far from seeming inevitable, the Holocaust was impossible to foresee precisely because Nazi repression occurred in irregular and unpredictable steps until the massive violence of Novemer 1938. Then the flow of emigration turned into a torrent, only to be stopped by the war. By that time Jews had been evicted from their homes, robbed of their possessions and their livelihoods, shunned by their former friends, persecuted by their neighbors, and driven into forced labor. For those trapped in Germany, mere survival became a nightmare of increasingly desperate options. Many took their own lives to retain at least some dignity in death; others went underground and endured the fears of nightly bombings and the even greater terror of being discovered by the Nazis. Most were murdered. All were pressed to the limit of human endurance and human loneliness. Focusing on the fate of families and particularly women's experience, Between Dignity and Despair takes us into the neighborhoods, into the kitchens, shops, and schools, to give us the shape and texture, the very feel of what it was like to be a Jew in Nazi Germany.


The Reichstag Fire

The Reichstag Fire

Author: Sven Felix Kellerhoff

Publisher: The History Press

Published: 2016-09-05

Total Pages: 169

ISBN-13: 0750969431

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Who really caused the Reichstag fire on the evening of 27 February 1933? Were the Nazis really to blame? The debate has been going on for over eighty years as to who started the Reichstag fire and, in turn, became the catalyst of the Nazi dictatorship. The Reichstag Fire hopes to shed light on this enduring discussion.Using careful analysis of source material, award-winning journalist Sven Felix Kellerhoff charts the outbreak of the fire, the Reich Cabinet’s response to the event, Marinus van der Lubbe’s repeated confession to the crime, and the far-reaching consequences of the fire.


Book Synopsis The Reichstag Fire by : Sven Felix Kellerhoff

Download or read book The Reichstag Fire written by Sven Felix Kellerhoff and published by The History Press. This book was released on 2016-09-05 with total page 169 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Who really caused the Reichstag fire on the evening of 27 February 1933? Were the Nazis really to blame? The debate has been going on for over eighty years as to who started the Reichstag fire and, in turn, became the catalyst of the Nazi dictatorship. The Reichstag Fire hopes to shed light on this enduring discussion.Using careful analysis of source material, award-winning journalist Sven Felix Kellerhoff charts the outbreak of the fire, the Reich Cabinet’s response to the event, Marinus van der Lubbe’s repeated confession to the crime, and the far-reaching consequences of the fire.


The Death of Democracy

The Death of Democracy

Author: Benjamin Carter Hett

Publisher: Henry Holt and Company

Published: 2018-04-03

Total Pages: 304

ISBN-13: 1250162513

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A riveting account of how the Nazi Party came to power and how the failures of the Weimar Republic and the shortsightedness of German politicians allowed it to happen. Why did democracy fall apart so quickly and completely in Germany in the 1930s? How did a democratic government allow Adolf Hitler to seize power? In The Death of Democracy, Benjamin Carter Hett answers these questions, and the story he tells has disturbing resonances for our own time. To say that Hitler was elected is too simple. He would never have come to power if Germany’s leading politicians had not responded to a spate of populist insurgencies by trying to co-opt him, a strategy that backed them into a corner from which the only way out was to bring the Nazis in. Hett lays bare the misguided confidence of conservative politicians who believed that Hitler and his followers would willingly support them, not recognizing that their efforts to use the Nazis actually played into Hitler’s hands. They had willingly given him the tools to turn Germany into a vicious dictatorship. Benjamin Carter Hett is a leading scholar of twentieth-century Germany and a gifted storyteller whose portraits of these feckless politicians show how fragile democracy can be when those in power do not respect it. He offers a powerful lesson for today, when democracy once again finds itself embattled and the siren song of strongmen sounds ever louder.


Book Synopsis The Death of Democracy by : Benjamin Carter Hett

Download or read book The Death of Democracy written by Benjamin Carter Hett and published by Henry Holt and Company. This book was released on 2018-04-03 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A riveting account of how the Nazi Party came to power and how the failures of the Weimar Republic and the shortsightedness of German politicians allowed it to happen. Why did democracy fall apart so quickly and completely in Germany in the 1930s? How did a democratic government allow Adolf Hitler to seize power? In The Death of Democracy, Benjamin Carter Hett answers these questions, and the story he tells has disturbing resonances for our own time. To say that Hitler was elected is too simple. He would never have come to power if Germany’s leading politicians had not responded to a spate of populist insurgencies by trying to co-opt him, a strategy that backed them into a corner from which the only way out was to bring the Nazis in. Hett lays bare the misguided confidence of conservative politicians who believed that Hitler and his followers would willingly support them, not recognizing that their efforts to use the Nazis actually played into Hitler’s hands. They had willingly given him the tools to turn Germany into a vicious dictatorship. Benjamin Carter Hett is a leading scholar of twentieth-century Germany and a gifted storyteller whose portraits of these feckless politicians show how fragile democracy can be when those in power do not respect it. He offers a powerful lesson for today, when democracy once again finds itself embattled and the siren song of strongmen sounds ever louder.


The Reichstag Fire

The Reichstag Fire

Author: Sven Felix Kellerhoff

Publisher: Greenhill Books

Published: 2023-06-30

Total Pages: 194

ISBN-13: 1784389064

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When the German Reichstag went up in flames on the evening of 27 February 1933, Hitler used the incident to seize power, claiming it was the work of Communists planning a violent uprising. But who really started the fire? Were the Nazis to blame, or was it the work of lone arsonist Marinus van der Lubbe? This debate has been raging for more than eighty years. The Reichstag Fire seeks to shed light on this pivotal event that changed the course of world history. Through a thorough and unbiased analysis of original source material, award-winning journalist Sven Felix Kellerhoff charts the outbreak of the fire, the Reich Cabinet's response to the event, Marinus van der Lubbe's repeated confession to the crime, and the far-reaching consequences of the fire.


Book Synopsis The Reichstag Fire by : Sven Felix Kellerhoff

Download or read book The Reichstag Fire written by Sven Felix Kellerhoff and published by Greenhill Books. This book was released on 2023-06-30 with total page 194 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: When the German Reichstag went up in flames on the evening of 27 February 1933, Hitler used the incident to seize power, claiming it was the work of Communists planning a violent uprising. But who really started the fire? Were the Nazis to blame, or was it the work of lone arsonist Marinus van der Lubbe? This debate has been raging for more than eighty years. The Reichstag Fire seeks to shed light on this pivotal event that changed the course of world history. Through a thorough and unbiased analysis of original source material, award-winning journalist Sven Felix Kellerhoff charts the outbreak of the fire, the Reich Cabinet's response to the event, Marinus van der Lubbe's repeated confession to the crime, and the far-reaching consequences of the fire.