The full story
Politics were in chaos, as militias controlled by the Nazis and the Communists fought for control of the streets. President Hindenburg made Hitler Chancellor in January 1933, and the Nazis quickly moved to take complete control of the entire nation. On February 27, 1933 a left-wing radical set afire the Reichstag building; the fire gave Hitler the opportunity to set aside the constitution. Tens of thousands of the political opponents fled into exile, or were imprisoned. All civic organizations, except the churches, came under Nazi control. Around 1933, some 160,000 Jews were living in Berlin: one third of all German Jews, 4% of the Berlin population. A third of them were poor immigrants from Eastern Europe, who lived mainly in the Scheunenviertel near Alexanderplatz.