Nazis

Excerpts from the Weimar Constitution

Article 20

The Reichstag (house of government) is composed by the representatives elected by the

German People.

Article 48

If a state (8) does not fulfil the obligations laid upon it by the Reich constitution or the Reich

laws, the Reich President may use armed force to cause it to oblige.

Article 109

All Germans are equal in front of the law.

In principle, men and women have the same rights and obligations.

Legal privileges or disadvantages based on birth or social standing are to be abolished.

Article 113

Reich communities speaking a foreign language may not be deprived by legislation of their

national identity

Article 114

The rights of the individual are inviolable. Limitation or deprivation of individual liberty is

admissible only if based on laws.

Article 118

Every German is entitled, within the bounds set by general law, to express his opinion freely in

word, writing, print, image or otherwise.

Article 135

All Reich inhabitants enjoy full freedom of liberty and conscience. Undisturbed practise of

religion is guaranteed by the constitution and is placed under the protection of the state.

“Stabbed in the Back”

An illustration from a 1919 Austrian postcard showing a caricatured Jew stabbing a personified German Army in the back with a dagger. The “defeat” of Germany was blamed upon the unpatriotic populace,

Communists, the Weimar Republic, and especially the Jews.

Political Violence

During the stable periods, Weimar Chancellors formed legislative majorities based on

coalitions primarily of the Social Democrats, the Democratic Party, and the Catholic Center

Party, all moderate parties that supported the Weimar Republic. However, extremist left- and

right-wing parties formed to try to stir revolution and to seize power from the government.

Some of these organizations formed from paramilitary groups made up of disgruntled soldiers

who returned from the war. Political violence filled the void for many returning soldiers who

lost their positions in the German army after the Treaty of Versailles shrunk it to merely

100,000 men. As time went on, as the economic situation deteriorated in 1930, many

disillusioned voters turned to extremist parties, and the Republic’s supporters could no longer

command a majority. German democracy could no longer function as its creators had hoped.

Spartacists Proclamation of the Free Socialist Republic

The Spartacus League - communist group who wanted a full-scale revolution. They did not

trust the Weimar government to protect the proletariat (working class).

“The day of the revolution has come. We have enforced peace. Peace has been concluded in this

moment. The old has gone. The rule of the Hohenzollern (former German monarch dynasty),

who have resided in this palace for centuries, is over. In this very hour we proclaim the Free

Socialist Republic of Germany. We greet our Russian brethren, which have been ignominously

chased out four days ago ... The day of liberty has begun. Never again a Hohenzollern will enter

this place. 70 years ago at this place Friedrich Wilhelm IV was standing, and he had to take off

his cap to honour the 50 corpses, covered with blood, of those who died fighting at the

barricades in the defense of the cause of liberty. Another defile passes here today. It is the

spirits of the millions who have given their lives for the sacred cause of the proletariat (working

class). With a split skull, soaked in blood these victims of the rule of force totter along, followed

by the spirits of millions of women and children who were depraved in the cause of the

proletariat. And further millions of blood-victims of this very world war follow them. Today an

incalculable mass of inspired proletarians stands at this very place, to pay homage to the liberty

newly gained. Party comrades, I proclaim the Free Socialist Republic of Germany, which shall

include all tribes (1), where there are no more servants, where every honest worker will receive

his honest pay. The rule of capitalism, which has turned Europe into a cemetery, is broken ...

We have to collect all our force to establish a government of workers and soldiers, to create a

new stately order of the proletariat, an order of peace, of fortune, of liberty of our German

brethren and of our brethren all over the world. We stretch out our hands to them and call on

them to complete the world revolution.”

Karl Liebknecht (Spartakusbund)

The Freikorps (right-wing German paramilitary group) were employed by the government to

fight off Communists and other left-wing extremist groups attempting to overthrow the

government during what was known as the German Revolutions between 1918-1919. In some

instances, hundreds of Germans were killed in fights between left- and right-wing extremists

groups.

Freikorps In Berlin During the German Revolution 1918

Kapp Putsch (Putsch = violent overthrow of the government) occurred in 1920, where Wolfgang Kapp

and the Freikorps (mostly ex-soldiers) stormed Berlin and managed to remove the Weimar leader from

power for 4 days.