00:09:25.720 --> 00:09:30.480
Comrades killed by the Red Front
and reactionaries

00:09:33.440 --> 00:09:39.320
March in spirit within our ranks...

00:11:37.960 --> 00:11:41.520
FIRE... Who will extinguish it?

00:15:04.360 --> 00:15:07.520
Thirty-four political parties!

00:15:08.600 --> 00:15:13.120
We are intolerant,
so I have set an objective:

00:15:13.280 --> 00:15:16.920
to rid Germany
of thirty of these parties.

00:15:19.240 --> 00:15:22.640
We have fixed this objective,

00:15:22.800 --> 00:15:26.880
and we will uphold it mercilessly
and fanatically until the grave!

00:17:08.080 --> 00:17:12.080
587 votes were cast.

00:17:13.320 --> 00:17:18.680
Among these votes, 367 of them
were for minister Göring.

00:17:22.600 --> 00:17:24.360
Ladies and gentlemen,

00:17:25.600 --> 00:17:27.960
thank you for your trust.

00:17:28.640 --> 00:17:32.080
The honor and history
of the German people

00:17:32.240 --> 00:17:35.000
will find in me a devoted guardian.

00:23:51.480 --> 00:23:55.120
Fighting Marxism

00:23:55.280 --> 00:23:58.800
had become
the objective of our struggle.

00:24:00.760 --> 00:24:04.880
At that time,
I swore to myself for the first time,

00:24:05.440 --> 00:24:07.560
when I was still unknown,

00:24:07.720 --> 00:24:11.240
to start this war
and to never give up fighting

00:24:11.400 --> 00:24:16.880
until this phenomenon had finally
disappeared from German life!

00:24:30.640 --> 00:24:33.480
Let them be on their guard!

00:24:33.960 --> 00:24:37.440
One day, our patience
will reach its limits

00:24:37.600 --> 00:24:41.800
and we will shut the mouths
of these insolent, lying Jews.

00:24:45.480 --> 00:24:47.720
Our party comrades

00:24:47.880 --> 00:24:51.160
and our men in the Sturmabteilung
may rest assured:

00:24:51.320 --> 00:24:55.680
the end of the Red Terror

00:24:55.840 --> 00:24:58.720
will come sooner than you imagined.

00:27:48.400 --> 00:27:54.280
Let me describe the situation
on the night of the fire.

00:27:55.240 --> 00:27:59.600
That evening, the Fuhrer was a guest
at my home.

00:28:00.120 --> 00:28:03.520
He didn't have his own home
in Berlin yet,

00:28:03.760 --> 00:28:08.160
so he regularly spent
the evenings at our place.

00:28:08.480 --> 00:28:13.040
There were some other men,
my wife and a friend of hers.

00:29:55.120 --> 00:29:58.400
I was on my way home

00:29:58.640 --> 00:30:01.120
when I heard a repeated noise.

00:30:01.280 --> 00:30:03.000
I looked up

00:30:03.320 --> 00:30:08.240
and saw a man moving around
with a lit torch in his hand.

00:30:22.200 --> 00:30:25.560
Without stopping,
I ran as fast as I could.

00:30:25.720 --> 00:30:29.920
until I reached the ramp on the left

00:30:30.080 --> 00:30:32.640
where I ran into a security guard.

00:31:17.600 --> 00:31:21.600
We reached the corner
of Simonstrasse and Königsplatz,

00:31:22.040 --> 00:31:28.200
and there we saw the fire
reflected in the windows.

00:31:30.720 --> 00:31:35.040
The lieutenant checked his watch:
it was 9:17 PM.

00:31:45.160 --> 00:31:47.200
I will never forget the moment

00:31:47.360 --> 00:31:51.240
when the news was broken to me:
the Reichstag is on fire.

00:31:51.400 --> 00:31:53.680
It must have been 9:00 PM.

00:31:54.600 --> 00:31:56.880
I remember, because at 9 o'clock,

00:31:57.040 --> 00:32:00.760
I'm always brought a beer
a plate of bread rolls.

00:32:00.920 --> 00:32:04.320
I ran down and said to my chauffeur,
"To the Reichstag!"

00:32:07.040 --> 00:32:11.120
I went straight to Door 2
with the men accompanying me.

00:32:12.000 --> 00:32:15.800
The door was locked
and firemen were trying to open it.

00:32:16.200 --> 00:32:18.680
I shouted, "Break it down!"

00:33:23.720 --> 00:33:26.080
The security guard shone his lamp

00:33:26.240 --> 00:33:29.480
and we advanced towards
the Plenary Chamber.

00:33:29.640 --> 00:33:31.720
We could already smell burning.

00:33:32.560 --> 00:33:34.240
Outside the Plenary Chamber,

00:33:34.600 --> 00:33:37.080
papers were scattered around.

00:33:38.560 --> 00:33:43.200
Then I saw a huge flame leap
from behind the President's chair.

00:33:48.920 --> 00:33:52.840
The lieutenant immediately said,
"It's arson, draw your pistols."

00:34:12.440 --> 00:34:13.840
It was pitch black,

00:34:14.000 --> 00:34:20.040
but I made out something
coming towards me along Corridor 56.

00:34:21.480 --> 00:34:27.720
I found myself about
a meter and a half away from a man.

00:34:27.880 --> 00:34:31.520
He was dressed
just in his pants and shoes.

00:34:32.840 --> 00:34:34.720
I shouted, "Hands up!"

00:34:34.880 --> 00:34:38.720
As I was shouting,
a police officer got close to him

00:34:39.120 --> 00:34:41.160
and arrested him.

00:34:41.480 --> 00:34:45.800
He immobilized him
with his hands behind his back,

00:34:45.960 --> 00:34:48.880
and I moved over to the right,

00:34:49.040 --> 00:34:52.240
just behind the arrested man.

00:34:58.200 --> 00:35:01.280
I shouted, "Why did you do this?"

00:35:01.440 --> 00:35:04.680
And he answered, "Protest! Protest!"

00:35:04.960 --> 00:35:09.240
That's what he immediately said:
"Protest! Protest!"

00:35:45.680 --> 00:35:49.760
The heat was so intense
I could barely keep on my feet.

00:35:50.360 --> 00:35:54.520
The room was so full of smoke,
like a thick fog.

00:35:55.320 --> 00:35:59.800
When we opened our hoses,
the room was already in flames.

00:36:00.120 --> 00:36:02.560
The room was a sea of flames.

00:36:40.480 --> 00:36:44.000
I can't say exactly what time it was.

00:36:44.360 --> 00:36:48.360
The NSDAP foreign press representative,
Hanfstaengl,

00:36:48.520 --> 00:36:51.080
informed me over the phone.

00:36:51.240 --> 00:36:54.760
He said,
"I'm right opposite the Reichstag,

00:36:54.920 --> 00:36:58.480
"and flames are coming out of the dome."

00:36:58.640 --> 00:37:01.240
Even the Fuhrer couldn't believe it.

00:37:01.400 --> 00:37:04.160
The news came
as a huge surprise to us all.

00:37:18.960 --> 00:37:21.040
Even before I spoke to him,

00:37:21.200 --> 00:37:25.800
the Chancellor said,
with unshakeable determination:

00:37:25.960 --> 00:37:30.880
"This signal bears the hallmark
of the Communists."

00:37:31.040 --> 00:37:35.320
To me, it was like the curtain
suddenly coming down

00:37:35.480 --> 00:37:37.960
and I could clearly see their game.

00:37:38.920 --> 00:37:40.840
And I instantly knew

00:37:41.000 --> 00:37:45.160
that the Communist Party was guilty
of setting fire to the Reichstag!

00:38:03.360 --> 00:38:06.400
We have no desire to allow
the Communist beast

00:38:06.560 --> 00:38:09.280
to rip apart the German people.

00:38:09.440 --> 00:38:14.200
I therefore see it as my duty
to organize our fight back.

00:38:14.360 --> 00:38:16.760
For this battle,

00:38:16.920 --> 00:38:20.520
all available forces will be mobilized.

00:38:20.720 --> 00:38:22.720
My first task shall be

00:38:22.880 --> 00:38:25.400
to eradicate Communism

00:38:25.720 --> 00:38:27.720
from our people.

00:40:22.560 --> 00:40:25.200
I will begin this declaration

00:40:25.360 --> 00:40:30.440
by stating in all sincerity
that I am totally innocent.

00:40:30.600 --> 00:40:36.360
I have absolutely nothing to do
with the arson attack on the Reichstag,

00:40:36.520 --> 00:40:40.920
neither directly nor indirectly,
neither close in nor from afar.

00:40:41.080 --> 00:40:45.880
I formally protest that me and my party

00:40:46.040 --> 00:40:49.920
have been associated
with this criminal fire.

00:41:24.680 --> 00:41:27.840
To my belief, one man alone
in the debating chamber

00:41:28.000 --> 00:41:31.160
would have needed
at least 20 to 25 minutes

00:41:31.320 --> 00:41:35.040
if the equipment was already in place.

00:41:37.160 --> 00:41:42.240
We also discovered
that coke firelighters with naphthalene

00:41:44.200 --> 00:41:47.640
had been soaked in a flammable liquid

00:41:47.800 --> 00:41:52.480
and placed on a support
doused with oil or gasoline.

00:42:46.840 --> 00:42:51.880
Van der Lubbe was brought to me
right after his arrest.

00:42:52.440 --> 00:42:55.040
From the beginning of our interview,

00:42:56.080 --> 00:42:59.320
I had the impression
I was dealing with a Communist.

00:43:23.640 --> 00:43:28.520
Do you consider yourself
to be a Communist?

00:43:29.400 --> 00:43:30.360
No.

00:43:30.520 --> 00:43:33.320
Are you an anarchist?

00:43:33.480 --> 00:43:34.560
No.

00:43:35.120 --> 00:43:40.200
Did you intend your fire
to bring about a revolution?

00:43:41.200 --> 00:43:42.080
No.

00:43:42.240 --> 00:43:46.520
Yet, you say that the workers
must be awoken.

00:43:46.680 --> 00:43:49.840
If not for revolution, why awaken them?

00:43:50.720 --> 00:43:52.280
I can't say.

00:44:25.320 --> 00:44:30.160
I had the intention of hanging
Van der Lubbe that very night.

00:44:31.120 --> 00:44:33.200
The only reason I didn't

00:44:33.360 --> 00:44:36.480
is because I thought to myself:

00:44:36.800 --> 00:44:41.760
We only have this one,
when we want to get the whole gang.

00:44:42.360 --> 00:44:45.840
So I might need him
as a witness later.

00:46:32.840 --> 00:46:36.160
My instruction was,
"When you shoot, it's me shooting.

00:46:36.320 --> 00:46:39.440
"If you kill someone, I killed him."

00:46:42.000 --> 00:46:46.360
I wanted to strike the Communist hydra
with a single blow!

00:46:46.800 --> 00:46:49.600
So hard that it could never stand again.