The Reichstag Fire and 911

On 22nd February 1933, a young communist called Marinus van der Lubbe carried out an arson attack on the the Reichstag  Building in Berlin which is the main assembley location for the German Parliament. Adolf Hitler had been sworn in as German Chancellor four weeks earlier and he used this as evidence of a communist plot in operation. He manipulated the situation President Paul von Hindenburg and persuaded him to pass an emergency decree suspending civil liberties which enabled Hitler to organise a series of mass arrests of Communist party members. This included all the Communist Party Parliamentary delegates and the Nazis thus managed to eliminate their main political rivals at a stroke and became the majority party in German Parliament.

Whether van der Lubbe acted alone is still a matter for debate and it has been suggested that the Nazis carried out the attack as an under cover operation to discredit their political opponents. Hitler and the Nazis certainly used the situation to consolidate their political power but was President von Hindenberg very naive in issuing the emergency decree. To be fair, he could not have forseen the far reaching consequences of his actions

On September 11th 2001, the World Trade Center in New York was attacked and the USA adopted a whatever it takes approach to punish those responsible. Security concerns were deemed to be more important than individual civil liberties but some of the tactics used, when details emerged, could be described as questionable at the very least. Tales of secret prisons, the rendition of terror suspects, waterboarding and the abuse of detainees at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq produced a collective guilty conscience in the USA population.  Widespead wire tapping, arrest without trial and invasive airport security are other examples which are not just confined to the USA and have gradually increased in severity 

It is difficult to ignore the similarities between the Reichstag fire and 911. In each case, ordinary people were persuaded to give up their liberty for increased security. What will be the consquences this time?

In 1945, Nazi Germany was defeated and Hitler committed suicide in his Berlin bunker. Twelve years after the Reichstag Fire and the world was able to move on. 

Thirteen years have passed since 911 and there is still no let up is in sight. A supposed terrorist threat means security is still more important than individual freedom and our hard won, long established civil liberties are still being slowly eroded. Each reduction is barely noticeable but taken as whole, over a period of time the effect will be very significant. Nobody notices and nothing is said. 

There is a famous quote by Edmund Burke:

"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing"

In Nazi Germany, the good men stood aside while the Jews were persecuted because it didn't concern them. In post 911 USA, the good men said nothing while innocent men were imprisoned without trial. 

Who will be next? Maybe it's your turn?