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What happened to communist leaders after the Reichstag fire?

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Portrait of Adolf Hitler in a collared shirt and tie, facing forward with a serious expression, circa 1933. — Adolf Hitler Nazi Party leader Adolf Hitler, c. 1933.

Following the Reichstag fire in February 1933, the Nazi government utilized the event to justify a brutal crackdown on political opponents, specifically targeting the Communist Party of Germany (KPD).12

Mass Arrests: Adolf Hitler ordered the mass arrest of communist functionaries, which effectively dismantled the party’s structure. Among those detained was the party leader Ernst Thälmann, who was arrested on March 3, 1933, and remained imprisoned for over a decade before being executed at the Buchenwald concentration camp.2
The Arson Trial: Certain high-profile communists, including KPD Reichstag chairman Ernst Torgler and Bulgarian communist Georgi Dimitrov, were put on trial for the fire itself. Despite the Nazi regime's attempts to fix responsibility on them, all four defendants were acquitted due to a lack of evidence.1

The suppression of these leaders was a fundamental step in the establishment of the Nazi dictatorship, facilitated by the suspension of constitutional rights under the decree for the Protection of the People and the State.1