"That's really exciting."

Eder, sitting in his office, was holding a telegram from Germany, muttering to himself. That's right, a telegram from Germany said that a Dutch communist named Marinus van der Lube had set fire to the Reichstag, and that the German government, after an investigation, claimed that the German Communist Party was the mastermind behind it.

As in the original space-time, at 22 o'clock on February 27, 1933, the Berlin fire brigade received news that a fire had broken out in the Reichstag. It was not until 23:30 that the fire was extinguished. Firefighters and police examined the scene of the fire and found 20 bundles of unburned arson fuel and a naked, shivering man named Marinus van der Lubey, a Dutch communist and an unemployed construction worker who had arrived in Germany shortly before.

Eder, who has the memory of posterity, knew that this was nothing more than Hitler's promise to come to power. Because before he came to power, he had an agreement with Juncker that the main threat to the Communist Party needed to be eliminated. In fact, it doesn't matter who is behind the Reichstag arson, or even his personal actions, but the fact that the newly inaugurated Hitler needs the Communists to be the main messengers is the key.

On the other hand, the ** party that came to power has long been resentful of the Communist Party that obstructs it.

Despite Hitler's success as chancellor, the fate of the brown revolution he led remains a question mark after six weeks in power. The emergency dissolution of the Prussian government caused serious concern in other states.

In mid-February, Goering carried out a fierce purge of the Prussian police, purging all those he did not trust. He ordered his police force to "ban at all costs anything hostile to the SA, SS and Wehrmacht." Because these organizations have the most constructive people for the country...... The duty of the police is to assist in any form of National Socialist propaganda. ”

He then issued a proclamation to the effect that the police should act decisively and at their disposal at any time "against organizations hostile to the State". If they are "derelict in their duties", they will be punished. This is an open declaration of war against the Communists, Marxists and their sympathizers.

Like Prussia, seven smaller states were politically submissive, but the larger states, including Bavaria, the birthplace of National Socialism, refused to submit to Hitler's government. At the same time, the Communists called on the masses to rise up and resist.

On 21 February, the Red Warriors incited the "Young Proletarians" to disarm the SS and SA. "In the Red Army of the future, every comrade is a commander! This is the oath we made to the soldiers of the Soviet Red Army. Neither machine guns, nor pistols, nor prisons can disrupt our struggle. We are the masters of tomorrow! ”

A few days later, the official mouthpiece of the Communist Party, The Red Mariner, openly called for violence: "Workers, enter the fortifications!" Towards victory! Bullets loaded! Pull the fuse of the grenade! ”

These calls for revolution may have been mere slogans, but Goering took them seriously – or acted – on them. He attacked the "Carl Liebknecht building" in Berlin on February 24. The official announcement said that the police had copied the Communist Party's plan for an uprising. On the evening of February 26, Hanussen predicted that this revolution would break out into war.

And at a time when the atmosphere was so tense, the congressional arson that occurred on February 27 immediately made the ** party nervous.

It is said that Hitler saw that Tiegarden was flushed in the sky and shouted: "The Communists did it!" ”

After shouting, he went to the scene of the fire with Goebbels. Upon arriving at the scene, they found Goering in the still burning building.

This was followed by cabinet ministers, officials and other dignitaries, including the mayor of Berlin, Prince Owie, the police chief and the British ambassador. The man in charge of conducting the preliminary investigation walked in.

Rudolf Dils, chief of the political police of the Prussian Ministry of the Interior, reported to the Führer and Goering that the arsonist, a Dutchman named Van der Lub, had been found inside the Reichstag - he was half naked. One of the interrogators shouted angrily, "Why did you do this? ”

The radical youth replied: "For the sake of protest." ”

However, the party did not believe his words.

Goering said. "This was the beginning of the communist uprising. Not a minute can be wasted......"

Hitler said, "Give them a little color and see!" Whoever dares to stop us will knock him down! ”

His face flushed with excitement, "The German people grow too weak." All the Communists in power had to be shot. The Communist Party that was represented was hanged tonight. All the friends of the Communist Party must be locked up. This also applies to the Social Democrats and the Reichsba-ner (national vermin)! ”

At the same time, Goering was furious with those who wrote for Prussia's official newspaper. The draft is only 20 lines and mentions only one arsonist. Goering glanced at it and shouted, "It's all nonsense!" As a police report, this may be good, but it's not the communiqué I had in mind, not at all! ”

He grabbed a blue pencil and changed the 100-pound ignition material to 1,000 pounds. The author retorts that one person can't carry such a weight. Goering retorted, "Nothing is impossible. Why say that there is only one person? There are 10 or even 20 people! Don't you understand what's happening? This is a signal for a communist uprising! ”

Goering rewrote the communiqué, stating that Van der Lub's complicity was two communists among the members of the Reichstag. The original author asked him to sign it, as this was not an official report but a political document. "Only if you officially sign it," he said, "I will give it to the press agency and they will accept it." ”

Göring barely drew a capital G on it. At this time, all the police radios were calling for the arrest of the Communist members of the National Assembly, as well as the Communist members of the provincial and municipal councils. Communist officials were also to be arrested, and all red newspapers were to be closed.

And in the cabinet meeting, Hitler declared that the present crisis compels us to "settle scores" with the Communists "without mercy" and "not to rely on the law." He therefore suggested that an emergency decree for the protection of the country from "red" should be adopted, provided that it sounded purely defensive in nature and not too conspicuous. At the same time, he only mentions lightly: "This is a special measure aimed at preserving the documentation of the German people." ”

However, when Frank read the draft, it became clear that the decree had eliminated most of the rights that a democratic society could give. First, it abolished the civil liberties granted by the Weimar Constitution – freedom of speech, freedom of the press, the sanctity of the family, the secrecy of correspondence and telephone conversations, freedom of assembly and association, and the inviolability of private property, among others.

It then gave the German interior minister temporary control over state governments that were unable to maintain order. Not a single minister opposed the disenfranchisement of citizens. Only Papen suggested that interfering in the affairs of the states would sow deep hatred, especially in Bavaria. Papen's objections were also fleeting. Again, he made only a few minor changes – changes in name only.

That night, Hitler joined him in Hindenburg. The Führer argued that this decree was necessary in order to suppress the Red Revolution. Papen and Messner did not express their opinions, so the president signed the contract.

As a result, the National Emergency Act replaced the military measures that conservatives had dreamed of, and the powers that the Cabinet had in the hands of the Cabinet in the case of a military dictatorship were generally reserved only to the Commander-in-Chief. On the face of it, these powers are not terrible, because it is not the National Socialist Party that has the overwhelming majority in the cabinet. The decree was passed, but the time was so hurried and the intensity of emotion that it was difficult for anyone to figure out who had come up with the idea of abolishing citizenship and not reducing it, as the previous prime minister had done.

Perhaps this was not a conspiracy of Hitler, who was determined to take dictatorship, but rather an accident of history. Hitler's reaction was more of a belief in his mission. For its part, the fire proved the truth of what he had said about the Reds and the Jews for years.

The emergency measures taken to suppress a non-existent insurrection turned out to be a leap forward in Hitler's quest for all power. Truckloads of SA and SS hastily sworn in and became auxiliary to the police, assisting them in upholding the implementation of the emergency decree.

They burst into the rooms and taverns of the Communist Party that they had already mastered, and threw them into prisons or underground interrogation chambers. More than 3,000 Communists and Social Democrats were detained by the regular police. Airports, docks, etc. are under strict surveillance; Trains were searched at the border.

As a result of the arrest, 18,000 German Communists, including the leader of the German Communist Party, Ernst Thälmann, were arrested and imprisoned.

And in the subsequent parliamentary elections on March 5, the ** party won 44% of the seats, but still failed to reach a two-thirds majority. The National People's Party and Hitler stood alongside each other, with a total of 52 percent of the seats. In this way, Hitler basically reached the point of power.

And it doesn't matter who did the congressional arson this time, but the key is that the party and Juncker and other conservative forces work together to uproot the Communist Party. Hitler, who was in power for the first time, played a trick on this and completely achieved his goal, which made Eder look at it breathtakingly. Before the outbreak of World War II, some newspapers called him the greatest statesman of the early twentieth century.