Abstract
Ernst RÖhm, the head of the NAZI Storm Troops (SA), wrote in his memoir of a curious incident that had taken place in the early 1920s. One day, he wrote, “an alarmed statesman” approached Bavarian Police president Ernst Pöhner and whispered in his ear, “‘Herr President, political murder organizations exist in this country!’ Pöhner replied, ‘I know—but there are too few of them!’”1 This remark provides an apt introduction to the subject of death squads in Weimar Germany: first, because of the tolerant, if not to say favorable, attitude toward them among many government officials; second, because of the prominent role played in this story by local and regional governments and their functionaries; and third, because the scope of the violence perpetrated by death squads was limited to a few dozen victims in the time period 1920–23.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Notes
Ernst Rohm, Geschichte eines Hochverriiters, 7th ed. (Munich: F. Eher Nachf., 1934), 131, quoted in Robert G. L. Waite, Vanguard of Nazism: The Free Corps Movement in Postwar Germany,1918–1923, reprint (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1970), 213.
Eberhard Kolb, The Weimar Republic, trans. P.S. Falla (London: Unwin Hyman, 1988), 34.
James M. Diehl, ParamilitaryPolitics in theWeimarRepublic (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1977), 24–30 (direct quotation from p. 28); Waite, Vanguard Hagen Schulze, Freikorps und Republik, 1918–1920 (Boppard: H. Boldt, 1969); and Harold J. Gordon, TheReichswehr and the GermanRepublic, 1919–1926 (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1957). All organizations, including these paramilitary forces, were required by German law to register with government authorities.
E. J. Gumbel, Vier Jahre politischer Morde (Berlin: Verlag der neuen Gesellschaft, 1922); Heinrich Hannover and Elisabeth Hannover-Druck, Politische Justiz 1918–1933, 2nd ed. (Bornheim-Merten: Lamuv, 1987).
Gordon Craig, Germany, 1866–1945, paperback ed. (New York: Oxford University Press, 1980), 426–32.
Kuenzer, Reichskommissar fur die Uberwachung der öffentlichen Ordnung (Commissioner for the Observation of Public Order), report to the Reichsminister des Innern, 20 February 1926, in Bundesarchiv Deutschland, Abteilung Koblenz (BA-K), Akten der Reichskanzlei, R431/2732, pp. 98–115, esp. 100 (reel 557, 79–97).
Howard Stern, “The Organisation Consul,” Journal of Modern History 35, no. 1 (March 1963): 24.
Akten der Reichskanzlei, Kabinett Wirth, “Erkarung” of 1 December 1921, BA-K, Finanzministerium, R2/24686, cited in T. Hunt Tooley, National Identity and Weimar Germany: Upper Silesia and the Eastern Border, 1918–1922 (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1997), 298, note 60. Further: Otto Gef3ler, Reichswehrpolitik in der Weimarer Zeit (Stuttgart: Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt, 1958), 221, cited in Nagel, 34.
Kalle, Prussian Staatskommissar der öffentlichen Ordnung, letter to Reichsminister des Innern, 21 July 1921, BA-B, Reichsministerium des Innern, R1501/13306, p. 135.
Gordon Craig, The Politics of the Prussian Army, 1640–1945, paperback ed. (New York: Oxford University Press, 1964), 402.
Kuenzer, Reichskommissar, report of 20 February 1926, 101 (reel 557, 83).
[Bruno Ernst] Buchrucker, “Schwarze Reichswehr. Gessler und seine ‘Arbeiter,”’ typescript, undated (ca. 1928/29), BA-K, Nachlaf3 Walter Luetgebrune, N1150/152, pp. 6–7.
Deutsche Liga fur Menschenrechte (DLM), ed., Wei/3buch iiber die Schwarze Reichswehr “Deutschlands Geheime Rustungen” (Berlin: Verlag der Neuen Gesellschaft, 1925); J. H. Morgan, “The Disarmament of Germany and After,” Quarterly Review 242, no. 481 (October 1924): 415–57. After Morgan estimated the strength of the SR at 500,000 men, the DLM distributed a translation of Morgan’s article in Germany. See Reinhold Lutgemeier-Davin, Pazifismus zwischen Kooperation und Konfrontation. Das Deutsche Friedenskartell in der Weimarer Republik (Cologne: Pahl-Rugenstein, 1982), 174–91; Otto Lehmann-Russbuldt, Der Kampf der Deutschen Liga fur Menschenrechte vormals Bund Neues Vaterland fiir den Weltfrieden 1914–1927 (Berlin: Hensel & Co., 1927), 116; and Michael Salewsky, Entwaffnung und Militiirkontrolle in Deutschland 1919–1927 (Munich: Oldenbourg, 1966), 280–315.
Berthold Jacob, “Pladoyer fur Schulz,” Die Weltbiihne 23 (1927): 446–50.
Hagen Schulze, Weimar. Deutschland 1917–1933, 2nd ed. (Berlin: Siedler Verlag, 1982), 240.
Editor information
Copyright information
© 2000 Bruce B. Campbell and Arthur D. Brenner
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Brenner, A.D. (2000). Feme Murder: Paramilitary “Self-Justice” in Weimar Germany. In: Campbell, B.B., Brenner, A.D. (eds) Death Squads in Global Perspective. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230108141_3
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230108141_3
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, New York
Print ISBN: 978-1-4039-6094-8
Online ISBN: 978-0-230-10814-1
eBook Packages: Palgrave Political & Intern. Studies CollectionPolitical Science and International Studies (R0)