What started as a passing comment by Sir Neill Malcolm in 1919 soon escalated into something that ‘laid the ground for one of the most damaging legacies left to the Weimar Republic’ (Feuchtwanger 1995: 9). The myth was consequently hijacked and used to the ends of three different groups over the course of the next 15 years, resulting in three differing versions of the legend. In order to discuss the myth, it is necessary to identify the revolutionaries mentioned. This will be done by looking at each version of the myth. The first was concocted by the military elite in order to waiver guilt for the failure of the Imperial German army and largely blamed those responsible for organizing the strikes that crippled the nation during the closing stages of the war. It subsequently turned into the right-wing blaming the political left, and finally it evolved in the late 1920s into a form of anti-Semitic propaganda by the Nazis concerning a supposed worldwide Jewish conspiracy against Germany. As a myth in itself, it is commonly accepted that no version of the myth is true, yet what is true is that those propagating the myth managed to make it accepted by the German public. I will look at the origins of the myth and consider the three different versions, assessing each on their ability to fool the German public into believing the lie.
First and foremost, attention must be paid to the early stages of the myth. Limited significance should be attached to Hindenburg’s testimony that German forces were ‘von hinten erdolcht’ (Kellerhoff 2002: 33) by the civil population, given at the public war guilt investigation panel, initiated in November 1919 by the Weimar government. A transcript of his testimony shows use of the ‘Chairman’s bell’ and ‘co...
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...d future of a right-wing myth’. Harpers Magazine. http://harpers.org/archive/2006/06/0081080 (accessed March 10 2010)
(1920), ‘Stenographische Berichte über die öffentlichen Verhandlungen des 15. Untersuchungsausschusses der Verfassunggebenden Nationalversammlung‘ in Anton Kaes, Martín Jay and Edward Dimendberg (eds), The Weimar Republic Sourcebook‘, California: University of California Press
Mann, Thomas (1929), ‘The struggle against Fascism’ in Anton Kaes, Martín Jay and Edward Dimendberg (eds), The Weimar Republic Sourcebook‘, California: University of California Press
Feuchtwanger, E.J. (1995), From Weimar to Hitler: Germany, 1918-33, New York: St. Martin’s Press
Nicholls, Anthony James (2000), Weimar and the rise of Hitler, Basingstoke: Macmillan
Mommsen, Hans (2001), Aufstieg und Untergang der Republik von Weimar 1918-1933, Berlin: Ullstein Tb
Kershaw later depicts a comment made by Hitler discussing the dire need to deport German Jews, away from the ‘Procterate,’ calling them “dangerous ‘fifth columnists’” that threatened the integrity of Germany. In 1941, Hitler discusses, more fervently his anger towards the Jews, claiming them to responsible for the deaths caused by the First World War: “this criminal race has the two million dead of the World War on its conscience…don’t anyone tell me we can’t send them into the marshes (Morast)!” (Kershaw 30). These recorded comments illustrate the deep rooted hatred and resentment Hitler held for the Jewish population that proved ultimately dangerous. Though these anti-Semitic remarks and beliefs existed among the entirety of the Nazi Political party, it didn’t become a nationwide prejudice until Hitler established such ideologies through the use of oral performance and
Bodek, Richard. “The Not-So-Golden Twenties: everyday Life and Communist Agitprop in Weimar-Era Berlin.” Journal of Social History. Vol. 30, No. 1. Autumn 1996.
Koch, H. The Hitler Youth: Origins and Development 1922-1945. New York: Cooper Square Press, 1975. Print.
In March 11, 1900 in a German town called Konitz the severed body parts of a human were discovered. Almost immediately, the blame fell on the Jewish. As Smith points out, anti-Semitism had been on a steady decline, and the anti-Semitics were looking for ways to revitalize the movement. The murder was an opportunity for anti-Semitics revive their movement. After the identity of the body was discovered to be Ernst Winter, the Staatsburgerzeitung, an anti-Semitic newspaper, printed several articles focusing on Konitz. Using unverified accounts from people in the town, it claimed that the murder was a ritual murder that had been carried out by the Jewish. The use of fear mongering was affective because the paper was a Berlin based paper so distribution was wide, and news of the murder traveled far. A crucial facet of the rise of anti-Semitism was due to anti-Semitic newspapers taking stories such as the Ernst Winter murder and using them to promote their cause. One of Smith’s sources, the Preuβische Jahrbṻcher, had a printed article written by Heinrich von Treitschke who was an historian; in which one of his quotes was “The Jews are our misfortune.” His article was what later spurred the German population’s turn from liberalism a...
When a young boy is found brutally murdered in a small Prussian town called Konitz, once part of Germany, now part of Poland, the Christians residing in the town lash out by inciting riots and demonstrations. Citing the incident as an act of Jewish ritual murder, better known as blood libel, Christians rendered blame on the Jews. Helmut Walser’s Smith, The Butcher’s Tale, details the murder account and the malicious consequences of superstitious belief combined with slander and exaggerated press propaganda. Foreshadowing the persecution of Jews which would take place three decades later, Smith analyzes and explains the cause and effect of anti-Semitism in Imperial Germany at the turn of the century. Utilizing Smith’s book as a primary source,
Fritzsche, Peter. Life and Death in the Third Reich. 1st Ed. ed. Cambridge, MA: Belknap of Harvard UP,
“ Hitler used propaganda and manufacturing enemies such as Jews and five million other people to prepare the country for war.” (Jewish Virtual Library), This piece of evidence shows Hitler’s attempt of genocide toward the Jewish race a...
Overseas News 21. "Modern World History: Nazi Germany." British Broadcasting Corporation. 27 November 2001 < http://www.bbc.co.uk/education/modern/nazi/nazihtm.htm >.
Slobodian, Quinn. Foreign Front: Third World Politics in Sixties West Germany, Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2012.
Mckale,Donald M.. Hitler’s Shadow War, the Holocaust and World War 2. New York: Cooper Square.2002.Print.
Norton, James. The Holocaust: Jews, Germany, and the National Socialists. New York: The Rosen Publishing Group, Inc., 2009. Print.
To this day it remains incomprehensible to justify a sensible account for the uprising of the Nazi Movement. It goes without saying that the unexpectedness of a mass genocide carried out for that long must have advanced through brilliant tactics implemented by a strategic leader, with a promising policy. Adolf Hitler, a soldier in the First World War himself represents the intolerant dictator of the Nazi movement, and gains his triumph by arousing Germany from its devastated state following the negative ramifications of the war. Germany, “foolishly gambled away” by communists and Jews according to Hitler in his chronicle Mein Kampf, praises the Nazi Party due to its pact to provide order, racial purity, education, economic stability, and further benefits for the state (Hitler, 2.6). Albert Speer, who worked closely under Hitler reveals in his memoir Inside the Third Reich that the Führer “was tempestuously hailed by his numerous followers,” highlighting the appreciation from the German population in response to his project of rejuvenating their state (Speer, 15). The effectiveness of Hitler’s propaganda clearly served its purpose in distracting the public from suspecting the genuine intentions behind his plan, supported by Albert Camus’ insight in The Plague that the “townsfolk were like everybody else, wrapped up in themselves; in other words, they were humanists: they disbelieved in pestilences”(Camus, 37). In this sense “humanists” represent those who perceive all people with virtue and pureness, but the anti-humanist expression in the metaphor shows the blind-sidedness of such German citizens in identifying cruel things in the world, or Hitler. When the corruption within Nazism does receive notice, Hitler at that point given h...
In that year and half he had mastered the machine of State, suppressed the opposition. asserted his authority over the party and the SA, and secured for himself the prerogatives of the Head of the State and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces.’ I believe that gaining the support of the army was of the greatest significance in the ensuing aftermath of the Night of Long Knives. The army pledged an Oath of allegiance to Hitler and securing this patronage was fundamental. It facilitated Hitler’s consolidation of power as Reich Fuhrer and enabled Hitler’s totalitarian control of Germany.
Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1969. Kitchen, Martin. A History of Modern Germany: 1800-2000. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, 2006. Sprout, Otto.
“Among these dictators was Adolf Hitler, who called on the German masses to restore the national glory that had been damaged by defeat in 1918. He urged German scorn democratic rights and roo...