About Marinus van der Lubbe
Marinus van der Lubbe (Dutch pronunciation: [maːˈrinʏs fɑn dər ˈlʏbə]; 13 January 1909 – 10 January 1934) was a Dutch council 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. == Early life == Marinus van der Lubbe was born in Leiden in the province of South Holland in the Netherlands. His parents were divorced, and after his mother died when he was 12 years old, he went to live with his half-sister's family in the town of Oegstgeest. During part of his youth van der Lubbe worked as a bricklayer. He was nicknamed Dempsey after boxer Jack Dempsey because of his great strength. While working, van der Lubbe became acquainted with the labour movement; in 1925, at age 16, he joined the Communist Party of the Netherlands (CPN) and its youth section, Communistische Jeugd Holland. In 1926, he was injured at work, getting lime in his eyes, which hospitalised him for a few months and almost blinded him. Since the injury forced him to quit his job, he was unemployed with a pension of 7.44 guilders, equivalent to €168 in 2024, a week.
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