“how Nero Burned Rome,” Sold on Streets of Berlin, Also Tells of Reichstag Fire

The Jewish Times here reports that Berlin is agog with a new sensation. A cheaply-published brochure, selling for a pfennig, and entitled “How Nero Burnt Rome,” appeared on the streets of the city and was sold by the dozens of copies.

The first pages of the brochure really tell about Nero’s burning of the ancient city, but the rest of the pamphlet is devoted to an account of the burning of the Reichstag. Goering, the story says, agreed to the burning of the Reichstag when twelve members of Nazi Storm Troop 17 came to him and announced their incendiary intention. According to the story told in the brochure, Goering, hearing this, said that if they did so he would have them arrested, but that from his tone the Nazis inferred that their plan had his sanction.

Whereupon, the pamphlet says, the Nazis, with the help of Van de Lube, set fire to the Reichstag. The Nazis were given an opportunity to disappear into safe hideaways, but Van de Lube, a native of Holland, was arrested. His trial is being postponed until such evidence can be prepared as will bury the truth forever.

Characteristically, the Nazi police did not realize for some time the exact nature of the pamphlet, “How Nero Burned Rome,” so that many copies were sold before it was confiscated.