Map of Down Town Weimar

1. Map of Down Town Weimar The Reichstag On the Reichstag Plaza Outside Nazi Party HQ Outside SA HQ A Cafe At Lucus Webb’s flat Outside Communist Party HQ Brownshirt Parade Ground Police Station

2. You take the keys and enter the cell. You see Dutch Communist, van der Lubbe, sitting in the corner of the cell. You ask him what happened on the night of the fire. He tell you, “I did it. I ran through the Reichstag carrying my rucksack full of firelighters. I set fire to my shirt and started a dozen fires before security caught up with me”. You hear a noise behind you. The head of the Prussian police is coming round. “Did you do this on your own?”, you ask him. “Yes, I did.” Another groan from the office. It is time to leave. In the cell.

3. At the Reichstag You look at the picture of the blazing fire then go inside the burnt out building looking for clues. It is a large building, but there are a lot of soft furnishings and wooden floors which would certainly burn easily. If someone started a fire it would spread quickly.

4. Outside the Nazi Party HQ You overhear Hitler boasting, “This fire is something really cunning. The chief of police claims van der Lubbe is merely a maniac acting alone, but I know different. This is a cunning scheme, prepared a long time ago. The communist criminals thought this out beautifully, but they’ve miscalculated, haven’t they? We have arrested 4,000 of them”.

5. At a café in Weimar You track Goering to an exclusive café in downtown Weimar. He is eating a large cream cake, and talking with a friend, who appears to be a lawyer. “At the trial”, Goering says, “I shall simply say that it never occurred to me that the Reichstag might have been set on fire; I thought the fire was an accident. Only after someone else said arson did it occur to me that this was probably the work of Communists.” “Who is that man?”, he says, staring straight at you. You make a quick exit.

6. Within the Nazi Party HQ In his office Goebbels has his back to you. You cough and ask if he would like the documents brought up from the third floor. As he turns you can see he is working on something marked “top secret”, for the eyes of Goering and Hitler only. “What are you doing in here? As a member of the SA you don’t have clearance. Get out”.

7. The Communist Party HQ is boarded up. The windows and doors are all sealed. Outside is standing a Brownshirt. He looks at you suspiciously, and you decide to clear off before he asks any awkward questions. By a side alley, a man in a trench coat gestures for you to come over. Communist Party HQ If you want to hear what he has to say click on him.

8. The Man in a Trench Coat The man in the trench coat looks afraid. He says to you, “You don’t look like a Brownshirt, from the way that Stormtrooper looked at you. If you are looking for Communists you won’t easily find any. The Party has been banned by the Nazis. They are using the fire, even if they didn’t start it themselves. Van der Lubbe wasn’t part of the Communist party here, and I should know. I had the membership list”.

9. You offer cigarettes to passing Brownshirts, then ask them about the fire. “Communist scum started the fire. We’ve been fighting those traitors for years, and with the election coming up they just can’t stand the fact they are going to lose once and for all. They’d rather burn down the Reichstag than see us is power. Tough luck! They’re all in prison now or dead, and a majority in the Reichstag will soon be ours. Must go. Parade’s moving on”. They leave and so do you.

10. Chief of Police’s Office Rudolf Diels You go into the office of Rudolf Diels. He tells you, “I interrogated van der Lubbe straight after the incident. He was naked from the waist up, and was sweaty. He told me a different story each time I asked him what happened. He had Communist pamphlets and a whole lot of fire starting stuff on him. It isn’t what the Nazis think, but he told me he acted alone, and I believe him”. You realise that this will be your best chance to get to Van der Lubbe, whose cell is connected to the office you are in. Click here if you want to club the Chief of Police over the head, and steal his keys. Click here if you want to leave quietly now.

11. Reichstag Plaza Halder looks shifty. He is a member of the Nazi Party, and a well-know rival of Goerings. “These are dangerous times in Germany. Goering has the ear of the Fuhrer and will do anything to win his favour. I heard him say, “The only one who know about the Reichstag fire is I, because I set it on fire. I wouldn’t normally say these things but you’re working for the S.S. aren’t you?” General Halder

12. Inside SA HQ You go to the SA building looking for Karl Ernst. He worked for Goebbels before the fire. You ask another Brownshirt where he is and he tells you that Karl Ernst hasn’t reported for duty since the night of the fire. He has disappeared. Karl Ernst

13. Lucas invites you to have a look at an extract from a Communist Newspaper from Paris. It has a statement from a member of the SA, Karl Ernst. “Amazing luck that Communist being in the Reichstag that night. Goering sent me down there with Franz and Walter and the rest of the crew to burn it down. We used that secret passage from Goering’s palace to the Reichstag, all set to cause a rumpus, but we were too late. The fools signed their own death warrant for us”. British Journalist Lucas Webb