Burning the Reichstag: An Investigation into the Third Reich's Enduring Mystery

422 Pages·2014·1.89 MB·English

by  Benjamin Carter Hett

Burning
the
Reichstag
This page intentionally left blank
Burning
the
Reichstag
An Investigation into
the Third Reich’s
Enduring Mystery
BENJAMIN CARTER HETT

1
Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford.
It furthers the University’s objective of excellence in research,
scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide.
Oxford New York
Auckland Cape Town Dar es Salaam Hong Kong Karachi
Kuala Lumpur Madrid Melbourne Mexico City Nairobi
New Delhi Shanghai Taipei Toronto
With offi ces in
Argentina Austria Brazil Chile Czech Republic France Greece
Guatemala Hungary Italy Japan Poland Portugal Singapore
South Korea Switzerland Thailand Turkey Ukraine Vietnam
Oxford is a registered trade mark of Oxford University Press
in the UK and certain other countries.
Published in the United States of America by
Oxford University Press
198 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016
© Benjamin Carter Hett 2014
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,
stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the
prior permission in writing of Oxford University Press, or as expressly permitted by law,
by license, or under terms agreed with the appropriate reproduction rights organization.
Inquiries concerning reproduction outside the scope of the above should be sent
to the Rights Department, Oxford University Press, at the address above.
You must not circulate this work in any other form
and you must impose this same condition on any acquirer.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Hett, Benjamin Carter.
Burning the Reichstag : an investigation into the Third Reich’s
enduring mystery / Benjamin Carter Hett.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-19-932232-9
1. Reichstagsgebäude (Berlin, Germany)—Fire, 1933.
2. Germany—Politics and government—1933–1945. I. Title.
DD256.5.H378 2014
943.086—dc23 2013008386
1 3 5 7 9 8 6 4 2
Printed in the United States of America
on acid-free paper
To Robert Girvan and Dean McNeill: “Best men.”
The history we read, though based on facts, is, strictly speaking,
not factual at all, but a series of accepted judgments.
—Geoffrey Barraclough, History in a Changing World
CONTENTS

Prologue: Berlin, February 27, 1933 3
1. “Satanic Nose”: Rudolf Diels 26
2. “SA + Me”: Joseph Goebbels 38
3. “What Just Went on Here Is an Absolute Outrage”: Rumors 60
4. “Impossible Things”: The Investigations 85
5. Brown and Other Books: The Propaganda Battle 122
6. “Stand Up, van der Lubbe!”: The Trial 140
7. “This First Crime of the National Socialists”: The Fire
at Nuremberg 181
8. “Persil Letters”: The Gestapists’ Tale 215
9. “The Feared One”: Fritz Tobias and His “Clients” 248
10. “Snow from Yesterday”: Blackmail and the Institute
for Contemporary History 283
Conclusion: Evidence and Self-Evidence 309
Epilogue: Hannover, July 2008 328
Acknowledgments 335
Abbreviations 339
Notes 343
Archival Sources 3 95
Index 403
This page intentionally left blank
Burning
the
Reichstag