he communists started the fire, but it does not say that the Nazis started it. Hindenburg speaks of the fire as an opportunity, an not as a planned operation, this can only leave the communists. Source D is an example of typical anti-Communist propaganda, it was published as a direct response to the fire; its purpose was to make the German people scared and angry towards all Communists. Source C shows that Hindenburg thinks that Hitler should use the event as to its full potential of getting Hitler to his dictatorship. Source D shows one of the measures Hitler took him exploit the fire. As proof of this, Hindenburg signed a decree the next day granting the Nazis the right to prevent freedom of speech and therefor eliminating all opposition to the Nazis. At this time the Nazi party is gaining more and more control, the first source show that is Hitler trying to be dictator, that he is using the fire as an opportunity, but Source D is just justifying the increased power to Hitler by blaming the communists for the fire.. This puts C and D in agreement.4. The Nazis would have many reasons for publishing such a book. The most important reason would be anti-Communist propaganda in response to the Reichstag fire. The book would have backed up the Nazi theory that the fire was a Communist plot to commence an uprising (hence “ewaffneter Aufftand!”), the book would have helped convince most Germans that Communists were planning to inflict terrible damage to the country and take power; this would have confirmed a fear quite strongly held by the German public, thus gaining the Nazi party even more support which would greatly influence the elections that took place a week later. The book would no doubt be only a small part in a large scale propaganda organised by Hitler’s staff, they tried to get through to people by posters, radio and party speeches, a lot like the strategies used during elections. Soon the people would g...
