Germany’s first experiment with liberal democracy was born of the 1919 Weimar Constitution, established after the conclusion of World War I. But the true story of the climactic event is far more complicated than the headlines suggest. It’s become a kind of political shorthand-a reference so familiar that New York Times columnist Paul Krugman only had to use the word “fire” in the headline of an inflammatory column about the Trump administration to call up images of national chaos and power grabs.

Bush, a comparison of President Barack Obama to Adolf Hitler, or numerous pundits invoking the incident to foment fear over President Donald Trump’s next potential executive order, the German arson is an irrepressible political motif. Whether it’s a congressman referencing the fire to question President George W. Whenever citizens and politicians feel threatened by executive overreach, the “Reichstag Fire” is referenced as a cautionary tale. Since then, it’s become a powerful political metaphor. It was the canary in the political coal mine-a flashpoint event when Adolf Hitler played upon public and political fears to consolidate power, setting the stage for the rise of Nazi Germany. At least, that’s what happened in Germany on February 27, 1933, when a sizeable portion of the parliamentary building in Berlin, the Reichstag, went up in flames from an arson attack.

Where there’s smoke, there’s fire, and where there’s fire, conspiracy theories are sure to follow.

The true story of the act