193330 January–10 May 1933 · Berlin

Reichstag fire and the Nazi seizure of power

Students and SA men burning books on Berlin's Opernplatz, today Bebelplatz, on the night of 10 May 1933 — Archival image: Georg Pahl (Bundesarchiv Bild 102-14597). CC BY-SA 3.0 de, via Wikimedia Commons

Four weeks after Hitler became chancellor, the Reichstag burned on 27 February 1933. Next day an emergency decree suspended civil liberties, and thousands of opponents were arrested. In March the Enabling Act let Hitler govern without parliament, and on 10 May students burned books by Jewish and dissenting authors on today's Bebelplatz. By summer Germany was a one-party state.

Sites

Site 1: Reichstag buildingRebuilt parliament, with a memorial outside to deputies murdered by the Nazis.Map ↗
Site 2: Bebelplatz book-burning memorialA glass pane in the square looks down into a room of empty shelves.Map ↗
Site 3: Topography of TerrorDocumentation centre on the site of the Gestapo and SS headquarters.Map ↗

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