Reichstag fire trial (1933)
국회의사당 방화 재판 (1933)
The trial of the accused in the Reichstag fire before the fourth criminal senate of the Reich Supreme Court in Leipzig, 21 September to 23 December 1933. Marinus van der Lubbe, the Communist Reichstag group leader Ernst Torgler and the Bulgarian Communists Georgi Dimitrov, Blagoy Popov and Vasil Tanev were charged with arson and attempting to overthrow the government.
In depth
The regime staged the trial as propaganda to prove a Communist plot, but Dimitrov, cross-examining Göring on the stand, turned the courtroom into an anti-fascist platform. Only van der Lubbe was convicted and was executed in January 1934; the other four were acquitted. Displeased, Hitler set up the People’s Court for political cases in 1934.