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![Onlookers in front of the Reichstag (German parliament) building after its virtual destruction by fire. [LCID: 75102]](https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/images/thumb/2672236d-c077-427f-bb9d-46c6b3e687b9.jpg)
On February 27, 1933, the German parliament (Reichstag) building burned down. The Nazi leadership and its coalition partners used the fire to claim that Communists were planning a violent uprising. They claimed that emergency legislation was needed to prevent this. The resulting act, commonly known as the Reichstag Fire Decree, abolished a number of constitutional protections and paved the way for Nazi dictatorship.
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Introduction to the Holocaust
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The Reichstag Fire
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Antisemitism: An Introduction
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The Nazi Persecution of Black People in Germany
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African Americans in Nazi Germany
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The Nazi Olympics Berlin 1936: African American Voices and "Jim Crow" America
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The Nazi Party
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How Many People did the Nazis Murder?
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World War II: In Depth![Women survivors huddled in a prisoner barracks shortly after Soviet forces liberated the Auschwitz camp. [LCID: 31450b]](https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/images/thumb/8fdec1b8-47fa-40f1-9a27-06e7262bad5e.jpg)
Learn more about personal experiences during the Holocaust
![Blanka Rothschild holds one of her prewar family photographs. [LCID: athbr039]](https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/images/thumb/11721704-922d-4af9-8e09-16ab9e4123c5.jpg)
Explore a timeline of events that occurred before, during, and after the Holocaust.
How and why was the Holocaust possible?
