Free Sample Essays > European History
Who was responsible for the reichstag fire
that he said this simply as a lie to save himself, however neither of the sources are very reliable, so the evidence is very unclear.
Source G, which was published by the communists, suggests that the fire was started by the S.A, and that they used Van Der Lubbe as a lure. The source was also published after the death of Karl Ernst, which means that he was unable to confirm or deny any of this confession, so the whole text is very doubtful.
Source H backs up the first theory, it is a text published long after the incident and by a historian. It fully supports the idea that the fire was started by Van Der Lubbe, and that the Nazis had genuinely believed that it was the start of a communist uprising and reacted as they saw it. However, the next source suggests that Van Der Lubbe would have needed help, this is a direct contradiction to source A, but it does not mention if communists or Nazis helped him. The final source simply seems to back source I up, and has no suggestion of who caused the damage.
8. The fact that the fire happened one week before the elections called by the Nazis is very coincidental, it meant that Hitler was able to take power much more easily as he convinced the voters that the communist were about to take over. This would suggest that Hitler was behind the fire to help his own election chances. Therefore, I think that the Nazis started the Reichstag fire, so they could take power and crush all their opposition, as there is more reliable evidence to support this theory. But some of the evidence could lead me to believe that Van Der Lubbe was alone in setting the fire. But then again, the Nazi party saw all other parties as a threat, especially the communists because they were the ones prepared to fight for their beliefs, and the communists also had an enormous following, so the Nazis wanted to get rid of them.
Even though I have come to the conclusion that the Nazis were behind the whole thing. It is impossible to come to any 100% sure conclusion because there have been so many different accounts of the fire and nearly all of them are unreliable in a way. I do not think anyone will ever find out.