2-378-343 - Historica Graphica Collection/Heritage Images

The Reichstag on fire, Berlin, Germany, 27 February 1933. The Reichstag, which housed Germany's parliament, was the target of an arson attack. Marinus van der Lubbe, a Dutch communist, was found by police inside the building, and the Nazis used this as evidence of a planned communist plot against the German government. Chancellor Adolf Hitler persuaded President Paul Hindenburg to enact emergency measures proscribing the activities of the German Communist Party and restricting civil liberties, a key step towards the Nazis eventual securing of power. Van der Lubbe was tried and executed, although four others accused of involvement in the fire were acquitted. Van der Lubbe was posthumously pardoned in 2008.