Violence and Opposition in a Young Germany- the Early Crises of the Weimar Republic
March 11th, 1919. The People’s Marine Division, a militia formed to protect the newly founded Republican government in Germany, was ordered to appear on Franzosische Strasse in Berlin to pick up discharge papers. The scene which followed was described in Gabriel Kuhn’s translation of A Documentary History of the German Revolution, “About three hundred men came. A lieutenant Marloh told thirty of them to step forward, and the rest were ordered to leave. Those remaining stood in the yard, when, suddenly, machine gun fire erupted. Twenty nine of them died. (141)” Freikorps guards cavalry division lieutenant Marloh would later be found not guilty of murder. The machine-gunner was never arrested.
Scenes like this dotted the early history of the Weimar Republic. Germany found itself at a crossroads between its imperial, monarchistic past and a liberal future. Several factions stood between Germany and a democratic future- an insurgent Communist movement saw popularity in Germany’s urban working class, and Prussian aristocrats reluctant to let go of the imperial past were persistent in trying to take ahold of power from the Republic. Perhaps most notable were the Freikorps: radically nationalistic veteran mercenaries of the Great War whose relationship with the Republic fluctuated between begrudging respect and outright war.
After Germany’s last emperor fled the country and abdicated the throne, he left responsibility for forming Germany’s new government to his chancellor, prince Maximillian von Baden. Eventually, a deal was settled between Maximillian and the populist sections of Germany’s parliament in the form of the Council of People’s Deputies. This six-man council, composed of three delegates from the moderate Social Democratic party and another three from the more radical Independent Socialists, held executive authority over Germany until their split over the Christmas Crisis of 1919.
The crises Germany saw in its first three years as a Republic would in many ways foreshadow its Nazi takeover in 1933. Still mostly led by aristocrats and former nobility, the Prussian general staff stayed resistant to democratization in the military. Starting with the Christmas Crisis, an increasingly divided Left would slowly become impotent in the face of the rising Fascist movement. This only intensified with the Spartacist Uprising of 1920 when Freikorps guard’s cavalry patrols apprehended and brutally murdered the leaders of Germany’s newly founded Communist Party. Worse still, in the years following a threat from the Right would begin to loom as well. The Kapp Putsch, supported by several Freikorps divisions as well as backing from elements of the Reichswehr, brought the Republic to its knees. Right-wing violence only increased in the time following through shadowy terrorist cabals such as Organisation Consul, who successfully assassinated many of the Republic’s early leaders.
With the end of the First World War, many soldiers in the former Kaiser’s army began to experiment with self-governance. Partially inspired by similar developments among the Bolsheviks in Russia, soldiers’ councils became common among returning veterans. Also popular were workers’ councils, who protected the rights of laborers during the turbulent interregnum between monarchy and republic. Typically radical in their views, the council movement aimed to have a large say in the burgeoning republic.
Meeting between December 16th and the 21st of 1918, the First National Congress of Workers’, Officers’ and Soldiers’ Councils convened to set an agenda and pressure the People’s Deputies to adopt reforms. Noted in doctor Richard Breitman’s 1981 history of Weimar-era politics German Socialism and Weimar Democracy, this meeting would be subject to an interruption, “Soldiers’ council representatives from the Berlin garrison interrupted the assembly to present a number of demands for military reform. Walther Lamp’l then presented the case for seven specific changes already adopted in Hamburg, including the election of officers. (33)” People’s deputy and Social Democratic party chairman Freidrich Ebert, considered a conservative even among his fellow party members, attempted to stall this. Putting forward a counter-proposition that the reforms be adapted as suggestions. Ebert was outvoted and the congress resolved to implement the reforms.
This was, understandably, unpopular with the Prussian elites staffing most of the German high command. In the days following the resolution, telegrams were sent to the People’s Deputies, communicating that the general staff, admiralty, and peace commission all intended to resign should the reforms go forward. The council quickly relented, eventually only adapting the reforms symbolically as guidelines for military organization. Failure of military reform could only mean bad things for the Republic. The force meant to protect the newfound government had, while nominally subservient to the CPD, split allegiances at best.
It was only weeks after that the newly formed Reichswehr would see its first combat. The Volksmarinedivision, regarded as the elite forces of the revolution, served as the People’s Deputies’ honor guard in what used to be Germany’s imperial palace. Initially numbering around a thousand soldiers, commander Otto Wels decided to begin downsizing the division. Wels intended to press the paramilitary into downsizing by denying them payment until they moved their quarters outside Berlin and reduced their numbers.
This did not have the intended effect. On December 23rd, members of the Volksmarinedivision stormed the Imperial Palace. The People’s Deputies were placed under house arrest and phone lines leading out of the building were cut. A sortie of paramilitary soldiers staged an attack on the headquarters of Otto Wels- capturing him and several of his officers. Council leader Freidrich Ebert is eventually able to contact military officials through a secret phone line in his office..
Soon enough, the paramilitary position in the Imperial Palace was attacked by an overwhelming amount of federal soldiers- thanks to superior firepower, the People’s Marine Division was eventually forced to relent. Ebert’s secret phone call to military officials was done without the consent of the rest of the People’s Deputies. This was especially to the ire of the Independent Socialist deputies, who quickly resolved to resign from the council. Now the CPD would be seated with six deputies from the Social Democratic party.
Perhaps fearing more issues from the radical elements in the German government, the CPD issued an order to Independent Socialist police chief of Berlin Emil Eichorn to resign. The Independents viewed this as an attack on their party, and, along with the Revolutionary Steward’s Union as well as the Communists staged a large demonstration in Berlin. This demonstration quickly turned violent, and only two days later left-wing insurgents had control of Berlin.
This attack would have widespread consequences. Needing an easy out, and fearing left-wing elements in the soldiery, the CPD resolved to hire Freikorps mercenaries to retake the capital. Taking command of the volunteers would be Social Democratic leader Gustav Noske, who, Breitman notes, was quoted as saying “Someone must be the bloodhound; I will not shrink from that responsibility. (36)” Bloodhounds they were.
As it became clear they were faced with imminent doom, the Independent Socialists attempted to negotiate with the federal government. These communications were ignored. Within days of entering the city, Freikorps patrols stumbled upon Communist leaders Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht. Academic Ralf Holfrogge discusses their killings in his 2014 history Working Class Politics in the German Revolution, writing “… they were beaten and shot ‘on the run.’ Liebknecht’s body was brought to the mortuary as an ‘unidentified body…’ Luxemburg’s was thrown into the Landwehr canal. (107)” If tensions between the radical and moderate elements of the German Left were high before, they now were utterly irreconcilable.
This would not be the end of resistance to the Republic. That same year, an even larger threat would present itself in the figures Wolfgang Kapp and Walther von Lüttwitz. Social Democrats would see a resounding success in the first German elections of 1920. Defense Minister Gustav Noske issued an order to Freikorps units Erdhardt and Lowenfeld to disband- both were under the command of Lüttwitz. Captains of both units outright refused the order to disband, and Lüttwitz organized a meeting between Noske, president Freidrich Ebert, and himself.
This meeting between the three quickly devolved into a shouting match. Lüttwitz, multiple times, threatened Ebert and Noske that he would overthrow the government and institute a military dictatorship. A flustered Noske eventually had enough of this, and relieved Lüttwitz of his command on the spot. Noske’s decision nearly proved fatal to the Republic.
Only three nights later, several thousand soldiers of the Reichswehr and Lüttwitz’s Freikorps units, adorned with swastikas, marched on Berlin. Military high command saw itself as a neutral party in the situation. Breitman notes an emergency meeting between Noske and his generals, writing “Most generals regarded the risk of a leftist uprising as too great for the military to begin a fight with its own troops. Noske’s final remark was a sad, rhetorical question: “Am I then entirely abandoned? (51)” Regarding the military, at least, Noske indeed was entirely abandoned.
Before fleeing the city, the Social Democratic party declared a general strike in Berlin. This declaration was soon followed by similar ones from the Communists, Independents and Liberals. This last-ditch effort proved successful. In days the German economy ground to a halt. A young Adolf Hitler takes a flight into Berlin as the city’s power is cut- to his surprise, putschist Wolfgang Kapp had already fled to Sweden once Hitler arrived.
As insurgency fell out of fashion with antirepublican factions, more secret methods of organization would become common. Especially on the Right. The proto-Fascist secret society Organisation Consul achieved particular notoriety. While on a walk one Spring morning in 1921, Finance Minister Matthias Erzberger was shot to death by two former naval officers. German-Jewish industrialist and Foreign Minister Walther Rathenau shared a similar fate. His convertible was approached by a Mercedes as he was being driven from his house- a man of Organisation Consul sat in the backseat. Rathenau was fatally struck by submachine gun fire.
The murder of Rathenau was particularly contreversial. A session in the Reichstag turned into a brawl in the days following as the elderly Social Democrat Karl Kautsky shouted “murderer!” at a far-Right National People’s Party (DNVP) representative. Outraged at Rathenau’s assassination, several younger Communist deputies leaped from their seats to attack the DNVP delegates. They had to be physically held back by the President of the Reich and his staff, after which point he stood at his podium and led three cheers for the Republic.
If anything, the formative years of the Weimar Republic were signals of what was to come. Though a huge step forward was made with Germany’s political system being democratized, the same cannot be said about its military. Headed by the former military nobility of Imperial Germany, the Reichswehr resisted reform and once left the Republic to be attacked by putschists. As the Christmas Crisis and Spartacist Revolt had shown, more radical elements of the German Left had anything but good feelings for the new government. Especially so after their leaders were shot by Freikorps under the command of Social Democrats
Political violence only became a larger threat in the aftermath of the Spartacist Revolt. Aristocrat Walther von Lüttwitz and journalist Wolfgang Kapp nearly seized control of the government that same year. Though their attempts were thwarted, the issue would only change the form in which it presented itself. Trading Freikorps mercenaries for secretive assassin organizations, violence only continued. Particularly notable were the killings of Erzberger and Rathenau, both prominent cabinet members in the early Republic.
It was only roughly a decade later that Adolf Hitler accomplished what Kapp failed to do. The early days of his chancellorship saw Communist members of parliament arrested and taken to concentration camps. Similar was the fate of the Social Democrats- twenty six of whom had already been taken to camps by the time the bill was introduced. The law passed 444–94. Germany’s failing Republic soon became eclipsed by an industrialized genocide and the largest conflict in human history.
