Reichstag fire

The Reichstag fire was an arson attack on the German parliament building in Berlin on 27 February 1933, four weeks after Adolf Hitler became chancellor. Dutch communist Marinus van der Lubbe was arrested at the scene, and the Nazis blamed a Communist plot. Hitler used the fire to persuade President Paul von Hindenburg to issue the Reichstag Fire Decree suspending civil liberties, making the fire pivotal in the establishment of Nazi rule.