The political backdrop changed dramatically after January 1933 when he Nazi party took power and lost no time in transforming Germany into a one-party dictatorship. The Reichstag fire at the end of February 1933 was immediately blamed on "communists", and politicians who were or had been active in communist politics found themselves at the top of the government target list. Philipp Fries was arrested in June 1933 an interned successively in the concentration camps at Esterwegen and Lichtenburg. However, he was released in December 1933. Following the unsuccessful attempt on the leader's life in July 1944 a mass-arrest of non-Nazis took place on the night of 22/23 August 1944. Philipp Fries was arrested and detained for a time, after which, fearing further arrest or worse, he spent the rest of the war in hiding.