The following is a brief excerpt from The Rise and Fall of The Third Reich by William L. Schirer:—

. . . an underground passage, built to carry the central heating system, ran to the Reichstag building. Through this tunnel Karl Ernst, a former hotel bellhop who had become the Berlin S.A. leader, led a small detachment of storm troopers on the night of February 27 to the Reichstag, where they scattered gasoline and self-igniting chemicals and then made their way quickly back to the palace the way they had come. . . .

On the day following the fire [the burning or the Reichstag], February 28, 1933, [Adolf Hitler] prevailed on President Hindenburg to sign a decree "for the Protection of the People and the State" suspending the seven sections of the constitution which guaranteed individual and civil liberties. Described as a "defensive measure against Communist acts of violence endangering the state," the decree laid down that:

Restrictions on personal liberty, on the right of free expression of opinion, including freedom of the press; on the rights of assembly and association; and violations of the privacy of postal, telegraphic and telephonic communications; and warrants for house searchers, orders for confiscations as well as restrictions on property, are also permissible beyond the legal limits otherwise prescribed.

In addition, the decree authorized the Reich government to take over complete power in the federal states when necessary and imposed the death sentence for a number of crimes, including "serious disturbances of the peace." Thus with one stroke Hitler was able not only to legally gag his opponents and arrest them at his will but, by making the trumped-up Communist threat "official," as it were, to throw millions of the middle class and the peasantry into a frenzy of fear that unless they voted for National Socialism at the elections a week hence, the Bolsheviks might take over.

Later on, Goering proudly admitted that it was not the Bolsheviks who had torched the Reichstag; he had arranged it to frighten the populace into thinking there were dire threats, both internal and external, and that the National Socialist Party was the only entity that had enough backbone to keep them safe.

Now, I'm not suggesting for an instant that George W. Bush is, in any way, comparable to Adolf Hitler. Or, for that matter, Julius Caesar. But—he and his policies are certainly doing a good job of paving the way for someone who might be.

Chilly winds are blowing from the past. Draw your own conclusions, folks.

Don Firth