In January 1933 the Nazi Party took power and lost little time in transforming Germany into a one-party dictatorship. The Reichstag fire at the end of February 1933 was promptly blamed on "communists" and those who had been politically active in the (now illegal) Communist Party of Germany either fled abroad or else found themselves targeted by the authorities. On 10 March 1933 Hertha Sturm was arrested in Berlin by members of the ruling party's quasi-military wing (SA): she was held in "protective custody" until 17 January 1934.