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The Reichstag fire was a pivotal event in the establishment of Nazi Germany. At 21:15 on the night of February 27, 1933, a Berlin fire station received an alarm call that the ''Reichstag'' building, the assembly location of the German Parliament, was ablaze. The fire seemed to have been started in several places, and by the time the police and firemen arrived the main Chamber of Deputies was in flames. Looking for clues, the police quickly found Marinus van der Lubbe, shirtless, inside the building. Van der Lubbe was a Dutch insurrectionist council communist and unemployed bricklayer who had recently arrived in Germany. Hitler used this as evidence that the communists were plotting against his government. That night Van der Lubbe and 4000 Communist leaders were arrested. Hitler forced President Hindenburg to pass an 'emergency decree' suspending all articles that guaranteed freedom and liberty. Hitler's police were then allowed to seize property and take people without any sort of trial. The death penalty was introduced again for many crimes and concentration camps were set up. The Nazis' twelve year terror over their opponents had started.