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Hitler turned away from the fire and approached Diels, his jaw set tight. “There will be no mercy now,” he said. “Anyone who stands in our way will be cut down. The German people will not tolerate leniency. Every Communist official will be shot where he is found. The Communist deputies must be hanged this very night. Everybody in league with the Communists must be arrested. There will no longer be any leniency for Social Democrats, either!”
“Herr Reichskanzler,” said Diels, hands clasped behind his back, “it is our preliminary observation that one man alone set this fire.”
“Nonsense!” Hitler shooed away the notion with a hand slicing the air. “This is something quite cunning, prepared a long time ago. The criminals have thought all this out beautifully!”
As Hitler continued his rant, Diels pulled Göring aside. “The man we have detained appears mentally unstable. It is unlikely this was a coordinated—”
But Göring cut him off. “This is clearly an attempt by the enemies of the National Socialists—the Communists and Social Democrats—to undermine the leadership of this country. I want the police on an emergency footing,” he said. “Shoot to kill, and any other emergency regulations that might be appropriate in such a case. On my order!”
Diels was skeptical, but one of Hitler’s first moves as chancellor had been to appoint Hermann Göring the Interior Minister of Prussia, making him Diels’s boss. And if Diels knew nothing else, he knew how to follow orders. “A radio message will be sent to all police stations in your name,” he said, “putting them in a state of alert and ordering the arrest of all Communist officials.”
“This is an attempted coup,” Göring said, putting his hands on Diels’s shoulder. “No Communist or Social Democrat traitor must be allowed to escape!”
Diels issued the order.
By daybreak, more than four thousand people had been arrested. Most were leaders or members of the Communist Party, though other enemies of the Nazis, including many lawyers, journalists, and doctors, were likewise detained. Most of the men taken into custody were roused from their beds in the dead of night. The parliamentary leader of the Social Democrats voluntarily surrendered to the police to demonstrate the “untenable” nature of the charges.
Within only a few hours, the vast majority of the leadership of the Nazis’ rival political parties had been locked up and branded traitors.
67
February 28, 1933
GERMANY WOKE UP ON Tuesday morning to an official government account of the events, claiming that the “burning of the Reichstag was intended to be the signal for a bloody uprising and civil war” by the Communists that would include “large-scale pillaging in Berlin” and “acts of terrorism” planned “against prominent individuals, against private property, against the lives and safety of the peaceful population.”
The government announced that “warrants have been issued for the arrest of two leading Communist Reichstag deputies on grounds of urgent suspicion,” and “other deputies and functionaries of the Communist Party are being taken into protective custody.”
Hitler made the most of his opportunity. That morning, he presented an emergency decree for President von Hindenburg’s signature. The principal provision began with chilling modesty: “Articles 114, 115, 117, 118, 123, 124, and 153 of the Constitution of the German Reich are suspended until further notice.”
Those constitutional provisions were not very different from the Bill of Rights in the United States Constitution. As the decree hauntingly explained:
“It is therefore permissible to restrict the rights of personal freedom, freedom of expression, including the freedom of the press, the freedom to organize and assemble, the privacy of postal, telegraphic, and telephonic communications. Warrants for house searches, orders for confiscations as well as restrictions on property, are also permissible beyond the legal limits otherwise prescribed.”
President von Hindenburg, stricken with lung cancer and largely confined to his bed, felt that he had no choice. Though no fan of Hitler, he despised the Communists, having led the Germans in battle against the Russians during the Great War. And regardless of the credibility of the information on which it was based, the news this morning had created a massive public alarm throughout Germany. Hitler played directly into the president’s fears and biases and political pressure.
Von Hindenburg signed the decree almost immediately.
It created the functional equivalent of martial law throughout Germany. Without the input of parliament or the president, Chancellor Hitler’s government could now detain citizens indefinitely without criminal charge or judicial oversight. It could ban political parties. It could shut down newspapers. It could outlaw organized protest or any criticism whatsoever of the government. It could eavesdrop on citizens. It could seize property and search houses randomly.
Overnight, Adolf Hitler had become the dictator of Germany.
68
Der Gerade Weg office
Färbergraben 12
“IT CAN’T BE TRUE. It simply cannot!” Fritz Gerlich examined the blueprints of the Reichstag building laid out on the table in his office. “There is no other means of entry or exit. The only way an arsonist could have entered the building is via the underground tunnel from the building that houses the Reichstag president—who happens to be none other than Hermann Göring. Whose offices are surrounded by SA guards day and night!”
Gerlich’s deputy press editor scribbled notes.
“The SA had to be involved in this fire. Yet nobody is questioning Göring’s account of events.” Gerlich turned to the editor. “Write it up. And be quick. We’re publishing this afternoon.”
As the editor departed, Gerlich’s wife, Sophie, entered his office carrying a small wicker basket. “I brought lunch,” she said. “I assume you’ve not eaten.”
Gerlich hadn’t eaten since the night before. He’d hardly slept, either.
“What is this editorial I heard you mention?” she asked.
