An affidavit given by a former member of the Assault Battalion, more than 60 years old, bolsters the position that Adolf Hitler's National Socialist Party was responsible for the 1933 Reichstag fire, according to German media. This document, revealed by media group RND, dates from 1955 and comes from the archives of the Hanover administrative court. The court confirmed that it is authentic.
This testimony rehabilitates the alleged perpetrator of the arson, Dutch communist trade unionist Marinus van der Lube, who was sentenced to death and executed in 1934. The former SA member recounts driving the young man, who he said appeared to be in confusion, from the infirmary of the Assault Battalions to the Reichstag. When they got there they noticed, like other members of the organization, "a strange burning smell" and "smoke coming from the rooms".
According to the German Agency, which has a copy of this statement, witness Hans Martin Lennings (1904-1962) said that he and other SA members protested the arrest of the Dutchman. "Because we were convinced that van der Lube could not be the arsonist since we found that the fire had already started in the Reichstag when we took van der Lube there," he was quoted as saying.
Because of this protest, they were all taken into preventive custody and forced "to sign a document declaring that they knew nothing." This testimony was given in 1955 in the context of the posthumous investigation of van der Lube's case.
The young Dutchman reportedly confessed to setting fire to the building and acting alone. Hitler denounced a communist conspiracy and used the arson as a pretext to establish his dictatorship. After the war, many doubts were raised and different positions were expressed as to whether or not the Nazis were responsible.
In the late 1950s, the writer and former civil servant Fritz Tobias published research that reinforced the individual action scenario on the part of the Dutch trade unionist. This opinion was also published by the authoritative magazine Der Spiegel. But according to RND, after Tobias's death in 2011 he was found to be in possession of a copy of Lennings' deposition. The paper was not published because it contradicted the author's position.
SOURCE:APE-ME