Marinus van der Lubbe

Dutch communist and alleged arsonist (1909–1934)

Marinus van der Lubbe (Dutch pronunciation: [maːˈrinʏs fɑn dər ˈlʏbə]; 13 January 1909 – 10 January 1934) was a Dutch communist who was tried, convicted, and executed by the government of Nazi Germany for allegedly setting fire to the Reichstag building – the national parliament of Germany – on 27 February 1933. During his trial, the prosecution argued that van der Lubbe had acted on behalf of a wider communist conspiracy, while left-wing anti-Nazis argued that the fire was a false flag attack arranged by the Nazis themselves. In 2008, nearly 75 years after the event, the German government granted van der Lubbe a posthumous pardon on the basis of a 1998 law that rules all criminal convictions in Nazi Germany "went against the basic ideas of justice." Sonja Heine, a spokesperson for the Federal Prosecution Office, elaborated that the pardon was "not a ruling on whether van der Lubbe was guilty or innocent." The general consensus of historians is that van der Lubbe was the arsonist, but they remain split on whether van der Lubbe acted alone or part of a larger conspiracy.

From Wikipedia, under CC BY-SA. More on occurri.