Reichstag fire

High school (ages 12+)
History & Culture

Name:

Date:

Step 1 · Read the article

Open the article and read it at the level above. Then answer the questions below in your own words.

https://smallwhale.org/articles/reichstag-fire

Write what each word means, using the article.

Do not copy the article. Write two things you learned, the way you would explain them to a friend.

Reichstag fire. Small Whale. https://smallwhale.org/articles/reichstag-fire. Accessed 2026-09-23. Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Answers below are taken from the article’s stored facts, so they match what the student read.

1. From the article, write the date of incident:February 27, 1933
2. From the article, write the location of fire:Reichstag building, Berlin, Germany
3. What happened at the Reichstag on February 27, 1933?The Reichstag building, where the German parliament met, caught fire and was destroyed.
4. Who was arrested at the scene of the fire?Marinus van der Lubbe, a Dutch council communist, was caught at the scene and blamed for starting the fire.

Arson: The criminal act of deliberately setting fire to property, often with intent to cause damage or destruction.
Weimar Constitution: The constitution of Germany from 1919 to 1933, establishing a democratic republic.
Totalitarianism: A system of government that is centralized and dictatorial and requires complete subservience to the state.
Enabling Act: The law passed in March 1933 that gave Hitler dictatorial powers, effectively ending parliamentary democracy.