REICHSTAG FIRE.

Auckland Star, Volume LXX, Issue 266, 10 November 1939, Page 7

REICHSTAG FIRE.

EVENT RECALLED.

Nazis Blame Communists For Outbreak. CUNNING POLITICAL RUSE. Later comment 011 the reported attempt on the life of Hitler, which was cabled from Munich yesterday, is not so willing to accept the story at its face value. By this time the world is fairly familiar with Nazi technique, and many remember another sensational occurrence which concerned the Nazi party. The event was tiie famous, or infamous, Reichstag tire of lit.'!:!. Revelations sinec that year have shown conclusively that tlie Nazis themselves were deeply implicated in the burning of the Reichstag buildings. Can it iie that this alleged attempt on the Fuehrer's life is also a fake, designed to restore an enthusiasm for Hitler which may be flagging? In 1933 the Nazi party came to jxnver in Hermany; but it was si power hasert on intrigue ana plot, and not on the united will of the Herman people. Hitler desperately needed some spectacular event which would convince the mass of the Herman people that he and he alone could be the saviour of the old (Jermany and the creator of a new and more powerful Reich. That event was the Reichstag fire. Events Recapitulated. Some recapitulation of the facts leading to the emergence of Hitler as Chancellor is necessary to show the fire in its rirht jierspective. After the war Hermanv was in chains. The only figure which remained as something permanent and stable in Hermany was the venerable Field-Marshal von Ilindenbiirg. But von Hindenburg was aging. In fact he wan not altogether in complete command of all liiti faculties. It was a question of what would happen when he died. A series of short-lived Chancelleries followed, in which Bruning. von Pa pell and Schleicher reigned in quick succession. None wan permanent, a reflection of the disturbed state of the country. Both von I'npen and Schleicher fell beeau>e they failed to make terms with the Nazis, who in 1!>32 had had their first great electoral victory. Von Papen managed to arrange a con- • ference between von Hindcnburg anil j Hitler, and the result was that the Austrian pa per hanger, who only a year ( lwfore hail become a (iermaii citizen, found himself Chancellor. But hU position was not secure. He did not have a decided majority in the Reichstag, and he had to have it. The elections of March, M>33, were fast approaching, and if lie did not secure a preponderance then he might never secure real |>ower. Reichstag Buildings Aflame. That leads back to the great fire. Oil the evening of February 27, a week i before the elections, the Reichstag buildings were found to be in flames. A great deal of inflammable material had been used to start the fire, and it was obviously the work of in<ciuliaries. The question was—who? Only one was ever found, a young Dutchman, named Marinus van der Lulibe, a former Communist. The oilicial news agc'i.-ics imI mediately published a statement that a I Communist party membership book had | been found upon linn, a statement ! which, as afterwards had to be admitted, was quite untrue. I Later the same evening, February 27, j Hitler announced that the ( omniunists had been proved to be the incendiaries, j Hoering said that a great quantity of , documents had been found to prove this charge, and that tirey were shortly to be published. They never were published, and were not even produced later on when the case came before the Courts. The chairman of the Communist party in the Reichstag. Torgler, went next morning of his own free will to the police and denied any connection between liis party and the (ire, and : asked to see the proofs. His reward j was his arrest and prosecution. J Trial a Travesty. | The trial was a travesty. It started I with the Nazis desirous of iayiiig the j blame 011 the Communists. It ended by j the prosecuting party desperately trying to clear itself from blame. The Communist loaders were in prison, anl van der Lubbe, Torgler and another. Dimitroff, were placed 011 trial. Though the secret police, the examining judge, the public prosecutor and the Court had a whole year with unlimited powers to search for evidence, they could prove nothing. Aan der Lubbe, who showed himself to be almost an imbecile in the witness box, made a confession and was beheaded. Nazi Guilt Sheeted Home. Dimitroff was acquitted, largely be-' cause of his own brilliant defence of himself. Jt was recorded at the time that it was principally due to his own pertinent and searching epilations dnriii" the case that the guilt of the Nazis j Themselves was sheeted home. ( The apjicaranee in the dock of this ! Rumanian Communist has a curious sequel. The Nazi delegation in Moscow | at the anniversary celebrations of the , Red revolution in Moscow on November 1 was forced to watch a deliriously enthusiastic crowd of Russians cheer and applaud as the portrait of this same man, among others, was carried past in the procession. The man whose death tliev h«d sought six years ago is to-dav "a revered leader in the country with which Hermany has now contracted an unnatural alliance—and the story of Diinitrofi serves to show how unnatural that alliance is. for Dimitroff is now general I 1 secietaiy of tin 1 executive committee of j the Communist International, Moscow.