From Writer's Almanac 5 March
Literary and Historical Notes:
It was on this day in 1933 that the Nazi Party won the majority of the
seats in the German parliament, known as the Reichstag, effectively taking
control of the country. It was the last free election in Germany the end of
World War II. Adolf Hitler had secured the chancellorship after the
November 1932 elections, but he still didn't have a majority in the
Reichstag, so he set March 5, 1933 as the date for new elections. Six days
before the election, the Reichstag building caught fire, and the Nazis used
the fire as a symbol of the chaos that they would help correct, though some
historians believe that the Nazis set the fire themselves. After the
election, Hitler passed a law that gave him absolute power over the country.
Just five days after the election, Victor Klemperer, a Jewish professor of
romantic languages living in Germany, wrote in his diary: "What, up to
election Sunday on March 5, I called terror, was a mild prelude. . . . It's
astounding how easily everything collapses. . . . Since [the election,] day
after day commissioners appointed, provincial governments trampled
underfoot, flags raised, buildings taken over, people shot, newspapers
banned, etc., etc. . . . A complete revolution and party dictatorship. And
all opposing forces as if vanished from the earth. . . . No one dares say
anything anymore, everyone is afraid."
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R. A. Hettinga