The Reichstag Fire Decree, officially the Decree of the Reich President for the Protection of People and State, was an emergency decree issued by Paul von Hindenburg on 28 February 1933, the day after the Reichstag fire and five days before the final elections in the Weimar Republic. Issued under Article 48 of the Weimar Constitution, the decree suspended key civil liberties guaranteed by the Weimar Constitution, including personal liberty, freedom of expression, freedom of the press, freedom of assembly, freedom of association, the privacy of postal and telephone communications, and protections against house searches and property confiscation.