On February 27, 1933, after Hitler came to power, the Nazis burned down the Berlin Reichstag (Parliament) building and blamed it on Communist terrorists to justify a "temporary" suspension of civil liberties to cope with the terrorist threat. This is how Hitler became an absolute dictator. The "temporary" suspension of freedom lasted until Germany was in ruins.

The Reichstag fire was the key event in the establishment of the Nazi dictatorship. On Feb. 28, 1933, the day after the fire, Hitler's dictatorship began with the enactment of a decree "for the Protection of the People and the State," which dispensed with all constitutional protection of political, personal, and property rights....