Burning Down the House

When it comes to current events in the US, they seem to follow a pattern eerily similar to those that took place in Berlin some 88 years ago. It may therefore be a good idea to read up on these events, and do some reflections related to them, before going out strongly in favour of any side.

The Reichstag fire of 1933 took place some 4 weeks into Hitler's first year in office, and was used by him to come down hard on all opposition and dissent. It proved in an instance that Hitler was no statesman, out to calm things down after a long period of unrest. Rather, he was a tyrant, hell bent on the permanent suppression of dissenting voices.

Given the relative insignificance of the fire, it would have been an easy task to make amends, call for unity and repair the damages. But this was not the path Hitler chose. He used the event as an excuse to go after every political adversary in sight. There was a purge of the media as well as the opposition. There could be no open discussion about the event, and entire political factions were silenced, banned, and ultimately rounded up an put into prison camps.

The actual events on the day of the fire are in this respect of only secondary importance. It doesn't matter whether the fire was an act of political arson. It doesn't matter who did it or why. All that matters is what the politicians of the day chose to do about it afterwards. Similarly today, we don't have to know precisely what happened and why. What's of interest is what the politicians are doing in response. Is the president elect calling for calm and forgiveness, or is he unleashing an army of thugs to suppress, humiliate and chase out the opposition? Is he repairing the damage, or setting up a permanent monument? Is he a statesman or a tyrant?

So far, there's been little in way of consolation and much in way of agitation. The purge has been swift and relentless. The opposition has come under heavy and relentless fire. Voices have been silenced. There's no room for dissent. A path seems to have been staked out. However, we may soon see some interesting deviations from the original plot, because history has a tendency to repeat itself, first as tragedy, then as farce.

The Reichstag fire

By Unknown author - This media is available in the holdings of the National Archives and Records Administration, cataloged under the National Archives Identifier (NAID) 535790., Public Domain, Link