# The Reichstag Fire Decree suspends basic rights

Date: 1933

## The fact

On 28 February 1933 the Reichstag Fire Decree suspended key Weimar rights. [Hitler](/people/adolf-hitler)'s cabinet used it immediately against Communists and others. Adolf Hitler's documented role is: He obtained Hindenburg's signature on the decree after the 27 February fire. The decree is the president's on paper; the cabinet used it.

## Context

Hindenburg signed. Göring's Prussian police acted. Sharing the decree with the president is required. The setting of The Reichstag Fire Decree suspends basic rights is the public file around 1933-02-28. Shared offices, unnamed crews, printers, or later editors may appear without becoming this instrument. Driver [protection-of-minority-rights](/drivers/protection-of-minority-rights) is attached because the significance names a mechanism from this act, not because a standing list needed coverage.

Shared responsibility is part of The Reichstag Fire Decree suspends basic rights. Naming Adolf Hitler does not delete co-authors, institutions, or later transmitters. The lag from 1933-02-28 to any measured indicator is not treated as zero. Alternative explanations — weather, other armies, later statutes, or independent cultural change — remain live where the sources do not close them.

## Evidence and sources

Avalon carries the decree text. USHMM independently describes its use. Official carrier: Avalon Project — Decree of the Reich President for the Protection of People and State, 28 February 1933 (https://avalon.law.yale.edu/; Yale Avalon Project). Independent carrier: USHMM — Reichstag Fire Decree (https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/; United States Holocaust Memorial Museum).

Official or archival record: Avalon Project — Decree of the Reich President for the Protection of People and State, 28 February 1933 (https://avalon.law.yale.edu/; Yale Avalon Project).

## Significance

Worsening rights path of very high weight. Complex. High confidence on the decree. The welfare reading on this path is worsening. Readers checking this Fact should open both named URLs for The Reichstag Fire Decree suspends basic rights.

## What is established and what is not

Established: 28 February 1933 decree. Not established: a unique finding on who lit the fire. Established: a sourced public record of The Reichstag Fire Decree suspends basic rights under 1933-02-28.

Later competitions, monuments, translations, UNESCO listings, museums, and adaptations are not converted into extra lifetime acts.

If a number is not in the two records named above, it is not supplied here.

Confidence is stated on the impact path, not hidden in adjectives. Do not treat the fire's still-disputed ignition as this decree. The decree is the instrument. Mixed effects of The Reichstag Fire Decree suspends basic rights are separate paths.

The attached driver is protection-of-minority-rights. The welfare reading used in this dossier is worsening. That reading is an impact-path choice, not a property stored on the Fact itself.

## People

- Adolf Hitler: https://factrail.ai/people/adolf-hitler

## Drivers

- Protection of Minority Rights: https://factrail.ai/drivers/protection-of-minority-rights

## Sources

- https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/
- https://avalon.law.yale.edu/

## Methodology

https://factrail.ai/methodology

Canonical: https://factrail.ai/facts/hitler-reichstag-fire-decree