Antisemitism in the Weimar Republic and the Third Reich

The Meanings and Function of Anti-System Ideology in the Weimar Republic Ben Lieberman There are few, if any, ideological terms in the extensive historiography of the Weimar Republic so omnipresent and yet at the same time so obscure as the word “system.” Historical accounts of the Weimar Republic are strewn with references to the “system.” In recent works on the Weimar Republic Hagen Schulze points to the opposition of bourgeois (bürgerliche) parties to the “Weimar ‘system,’ “ Detlev Peukert notes “hatred of ‘the system,’ the political and social order of the Republic”; Knut Borchardt observes the loss of faith in the capacity of “the system” to satisfy expectations; and Hans Mommsen refers to the “political system,” the “party system” and the “parliamentary system.” 1 Historians, whatever their other differences, agree that mounting opposition to the System weakened the Weimar Republic, but the usefulness of this observation requires analysis of the meaning or meanings of the System. What, then, was the Weimar System? Surprisingly, many accounts of the Weimar Republic do not even attempt to provide a definition of the System, and the term receives only cursory treatment in several specialized works on ideology of the Weimar era. 2 Anti-System politics does receive attention, but Thomas [End Page 355] Childers’s insightful and pioneering essay on “anti-system politics” concentrates on mobilization against the System rather than on the problem of defining it. 3 The best existing analysis of the System in Kurt Sontheimer’s valuable study of anti-democratic thought in the Weimar Republic suggests that historians cannot take the meaning of the term as a given. Sontheimer establishes that the System formed part of the array of anti-democratic thought of the Weimar Republic, but he also notes that the term’s meaning cannot easily be pinned down. The System conveyed a variety of political and economic meanings and ultimately formed a “nationalist counter myth.” 4 During the Weimar Republic, attacks against the System emanated from a wide range of sources, most notably from a variety of nationalists as well as from Communists. Nationalists of many leanings detested the System. The DNVP (German National People’s Party), the largest political party of the right for most of the Weimar Republic, hated the System. So, too, did conservative revolutionaries and völkisch (ethnic or racist nationalist) groups including nationalist associations and the National Socialists. At the other end of the political spectrum, attacks against the System also surfaced in the pronouncements of the KPD (German Communist Party). 5 No single ideological line of attack doomed the Weimar Republic, but use by an extraordinarily broad range of political groups lent tremendous force to anti-System discourse. Adopted by foes who sometimes agreed on little else, the System was the targets of repeated attacks spread across the German political spectrum and called into question Weimar legitimacy. Analyzing this broad pattern of use raises several tasks. As a prelude to investigating anti-System terminology, it is necessary to map out the patterns of use of the System during the Weimar Republic. The very ability of rival groups to adopt anti-System suggests that the System incorporated varied meanings. Beyond investigating the meaning or meanings of the System, an analysis of anti-System terminology should also explore the appeal and influence of anti-System terminology. Why did such a broad range of groups adopt anti-System discourse, and how did acceptance of anti-System terminology help to discredit the Weimar Republic and designate alternatives for Germany’s future? [End Page 356] Describing Weimar’s perceived failings, anti-System terminology simultaneously provided a partial guide to a presumably-better Germany without the System. The System came to envelop many institutions of German public life, but attention should also be paid to spaces left unoccupied by the System. What, if any, institutions or structures of public life were left untainted by the broad wave of attacks against the System? If the hated System could be swept away, what would be left in its place? It is noteworthy that the many enemies of the System generally desired a strong state. Exploring the effects of broad attacks against the System, analysis of the System should also...

The Meanings and Function of Anti-System Ideology in the Weimar Republic Ben Lieberman There are few, if any, ideological terms in the extensive historiography of the Weimar Republic so omnipresent and yet at the same time so obscure as the word “system.” Historical accounts of the Weimar Republic are strewn with references to the “system.” In recent works on the Weimar Republic Hagen Schulze points to the opposition of bourgeois (bürgerliche) parties to the “Weimar ‘system,’ “ Detlev Peukert notes “hatred of ‘the system,’ the political and social order of the Republic”; Knut Borchardt observes the loss of faith in the capacity of “the system” to satisfy expectations; and Hans Mommsen refers to the “political system,” the “party system” and the “parliamentary system.” 1 Historians, whatever their other differences, agree that mounting opposition to the System weakened the Weimar Republic, but the usefulness of this observation requires analysis of the meaning or meanings of the System. What, then, was the Weimar System? Surprisingly, many accounts of the Weimar Republic do not even attempt to provide a definition of the System, and the term receives only cursory treatment in several specialized works on ideology of the Weimar era. 2 Anti-System politics does receive attention, but Thomas [End Page 355] Childers’s insightful and pioneering essay on “anti-system politics” concentrates on mobilization against the System rather than on the problem of defining it. 3 The best existing analysis of the System in Kurt Sontheimer’s valuable study of anti-democratic thought in the Weimar Republic suggests that historians cannot take the meaning of the term as a given. Sontheimer establishes that the System formed part of the array of anti-democratic thought of the Weimar Republic, but he also notes that the term’s meaning cannot easily be pinned down. The System conveyed a variety of political and economic meanings and ultimately formed a “nationalist counter myth.” 4 During the Weimar Republic, attacks against the System emanated from a wide range of sources, most notably from a variety of nationalists as well as from Communists. Nationalists of many leanings detested the System. The DNVP (German National People’s Party), the largest political party of the right for most of the Weimar Republic, hated the System. So, too, did conservative revolutionaries and völkisch (ethnic or racist nationalist) groups including nationalist associations and the National Socialists. At the other end of the political spectrum, attacks against the System also surfaced in the pronouncements of the KPD (German Communist Party). 5 No single ideological line of attack doomed the Weimar Republic, but use by an extraordinarily broad range of political groups lent tremendous force to anti-System discourse. Adopted by foes who sometimes agreed on little else, the System was the targets of repeated attacks spread across the German political spectrum and called into question Weimar legitimacy. Analyzing this broad pattern of use raises several tasks. As a prelude to investigating anti-System terminology, it is necessary to map out the patterns of use of the System during the Weimar Republic. The very ability of rival groups to adopt anti-System suggests that the System incorporated varied meanings. Beyond investigating the meaning or meanings of the System, an analysis of anti-System terminology should also explore the appeal and influence of anti-System terminology. Why did such a broad range of groups adopt anti-System discourse, and how did acceptance of anti-System terminology help to discredit the Weimar Republic and designate alternatives for Germany’s future? [End Page 356] Describing Weimar’s perceived failings, anti-System terminology simultaneously provided a partial guide to a presumably-better Germany without the System. The System came to envelop many institutions of German public life, but attention should also be paid to spaces left unoccupied by the System. What, if any, institutions or structures of public life were left untainted by the broad wave of attacks against the System? If the hated System could be swept away, what would be left in its place? It is noteworthy that the many enemies of the System generally desired a strong state. Exploring the effects of broad attacks against the System, analysis of the System should also...

Reviewed by: The Devil's Wheels: Men and Motorcycling in the Weimar Republic by Sasha Disko Nathaniel D. Wood (bio) The Devil's Wheels: Men and Motorcycling in the Weimar Republic. By Sasha Disko. New York: Berghahn Books, 2016. Pp. 374. Hardcover $120. This book, the second in the series "Explorations in Mobility," edited by Gijs Mom, Mimi Sheller, and Georgine Clarsen, follows Mom's book Atlantic Automobilism (Berghan, 2014) and precedes a forthcoming text on Fascist motorways. It also fits nicely with Peter Fritzsche's A Nation of Flyers (Harvard, 1992), which explores similar sources, as well as the numerous studies of automobiles and culture in Germany, the birthplace of the automobile. What makes The Devil's Wheels innovative and worthwhile is its fresh take on consumption, masculinity, mobility, and modernity in Weimar Germany, using the lens of the less-considered topic of motorcycling, which was much more widespread than aviation or automobilism. By the end of the Weimar Republic, motorcycle ownership had increased eightyfold and Germany produced more motorcycles than any other country in the world. Motorcycles were particularly important harbingers of the economic and social changes of the era, and unlike automobiles, which remained too expensive for ordinary people to afford, functioned as the true vehicles of mass motorization. Disko positions her book as a counter-perspective to the majority of [End Page 635] studies of masculinity in the Weimar Republic that have largely considered the militarization of society, or studies that have tended to associate consumption with femininity. With motorcycling, she argues, consumption is obscured "behind the twin pillars of modern manliness: production and possession," yet she shows how motorcycles were much more than mere machines for those who purchased them (p. 1). In idealized versions of themselves, motorcyclists conquered nature, space, time, and the machine. Using a source base ranging from trade publications and club journals, maps, insurance policies, races and rides, ownership statistics, registration records, legal records, films, drawings, song lyrics, and fiction all the way to Heidegger and a few other cultural theorists, Disko explores ways that Germans articulated their relationship with the noisy and thrilling motorcycle. The book advances the overall argument that "for many Germans during the Weimar Republic, motorcycling became a vehicle for negotiating the modern world," by showing how depictions and discussions about it reflected the thrills and danger of modern mobility, sexuality, and consumerism (p. 16). In seven chapters and an epilogue, the book explores the growth of the motorcycling industry, engineers and advertising, the role of motorcycles for the "everyman," debates about motorcycling as a sport, deviant behaviors on motorcycles, women motorcyclists, sexuality, and motorcycling's gradual decline under the Nazis and after WWII. In her chapter on the first forty years of motorcycle manufacturing in Germany, Disko asserts that WWI had, on balance, a negative impact on motorcycle production. Yet in the years following the war, industrialists sought an outlet for their factories and motorcycles offered an attractive option. Smaller two-stroke engines were louder and messier than four-stroke engines, but cheaper. Rationalization of assembly methods, which many Germans sought to differentiate from Fordism by asserting its "German" twists, made the production of a true volksrad (people's motorcycle) possible. Chapter three offers a deep exploration of "Motorcycles for the 'Everyman,"' noting the shifting demographics of motorcycle owners, before turning to their "habitus" by discussing "ideal types," as defined by motorcyclists themselves in club journals. Here Disko disputes "the concept of a uniform, singular concept of German motorcyclist masculinity," noting the differences between various ideal types (p. 149). Notions of the "new man," who was clean-shaven, slender, strong, mechanically competent, and a consumer of gadgets, predominated, but there was room for differentiation, as marked by consumer choices and behavior. Debates around sportsmanship or deviant behaviors like drunk driving, joyriding, noise pollution, and violence, discussed in the next two chapters, further this point. Letters about how motorcyclists should treat dogs on the road, some of which seem remarkably cruel by today's standards, reflect contested notions of violence, entitlement, and masculinity. [End Page 636] The next two chapters, about women motorcyclists and sexuality, likewise note contestation and differentiation. "[Female] motorists during the Weimar Republic both...

604 Reviews git Haas), Veza Canetti (Julian Preece), Rudolf Brunngraber (JiirgenHeizmann), Hans Carossa (Erich Unglaub), and the newly rediscovered novelist Friedo Lampe (Carsten Lange). There isdiscussion of how dramatists presented the abortion issue (Karin Theesfeld) and the naval mutinies at the end of the FirstWorld War (Sascha Kiefer). There is testimony to the ethnic diversity of Weimar culture in contributions on the?predominantly nostalgic?writings ofRussian exiles (Artem Lyssenko) and on socio-cultural tensions between Jewishauthors (Carsten Schapkow). Specific di mensions of thedebate about realism in the period are also explored with reference tophotography (Steve Giles), to the cultural significance of interiors and accessories (Sabine Kyora), to the practice of satire (Stefan Riegl), and tomythic constructions in the sense associated with Roland Barthes (Stefan Neuhaus). The volume also contains the speeches thatwere made on the occasion of the award of the Ernst Toller Prize to the young novelist JuliZeh in 2003. St John's College, Cambridge David Midgley Sacramental Realism: Gertrud von le Fort and German Catholic Literature in the Weimar Republic and Third Reich (1924-46). By Helena Tomko. (MHRA Texts and Dissertations, 68; Bithell Series ofDissertations, 31) London: Maney for theMHRA. 2007. xv+226 pp. ?35. ISBN 978-1-904350-36-1. In theAnglo-American world, the fieldof literature and theology has proven to be very fruitful.Some British and American institutions, including non-religious uni versities such as Boston University or theUniversity of Glasgow, have established highly visible and vital centres in order to foster the interdisciplinary dialogue. Scholars working on the intersections of religion and literature even have their own venues, including high-quality academic journals such as Literature and Theology and Religion and Literature. Unlike Britain and North America, Catholic theologians spearhead theproject inGermany, while literaryscholars tend toview this emerging fieldwith scepticism. Not surprisingly, theGerman theologian Georg Langenhorst recently lamented the dearth of a true dialogue between German literature profes sors and theologians. One of the reasons why many German scholars avoid tackling religious themes is their lack of theological literacy.And even though interdisci plinary research has been greatly emphasized inGerman higher education in recent years, literatureprofessors seem to be at odds with religious texts. Helena Tomko's impressive dissertation on Gertrud von le Fort may very well inspire at least a younger generation of German literature scholars to investigate religious themes and motifs, as well as important but often unjustly overlooked texts by authors, such as le Fort, whose works were influenced by their religious beliefs. In contrast tomany previous studies on this author, Tomko's monograph succeeds inaddressing the complexity of leFort's works by illuminating thepolitical, cultural, and religious contexts. By highlighting the broad spectrum of intellectual Catholicism during the Weimar Republic, ranging from progressive to reactionary, Tomko's book generates new insights, as Catholic thinkers of that era have often been viewed as being monolithically anti-modernist. Clearly, one of the strengths MLR, 104.2, 2009 605 of this study is the fact thatTomko is conversant with both the secondary literature on the author and her period, as well as with Catholic theology and thought during the Weimar Republic. By drawing on le Fort's intellectual and spiritual biography, Tomko offerscareful interpretations ofworks spanning fromHymnen an die Kirche (1924), her firstbook afterconversion toCatholicism, toDerKranz derEngel (1946), the authors most important publication of her inner emigration period. Interwoven with her analyses of le Fort's counter-cultural Catholic texts are autobiographical accounts aswell as excerpts from correspondences, which provide important details, especially regarding thepoetics of le Fort's works. The titleof thebook, Sacramental Realism, adequately conveys the paradoxical nature of leFort's poetological project, as it indicates the authors sacramental perception of reality,as well as her aesthetic Catholicism' (Wolfgang Braungart). In addition to providing balanced and some times critical readings of fivemajor works, Tomko provides a thorough discussion of theCatholic Reich debate during the 1920s and 1930s which is indispensable if one wants to understand le Fort's complicated view of national identity. Although this book mainly focuses on le Fort's textswhich emerged during the Weimar Republic and the Third Reich, readers interested in le Fort's literarypro duction after the Second World War will also benefit from Sacramental...

When, a hundred years ago on the 16th July 1876, a 'Sunday child', baptised Alfred, was born to the Danzig insurance official Hugo Stock and his wife Hildegard, a heart began to beat whichwas destined, in the course of its 70 years' existence, to live through all the heights and depths of its earth— ly fate. A human being entered life, whose extraordinary research and organisational ability swiftly raised him to scientific fame and international re— cognition. His physical strength was increasingly consumed in the service of chemistry until he closed his eyes for the last time on the 12th August 1946 in a small town on the river Elbe, at the end of a life full of successes and honours, extensively paralysed after indescribable suffering from the hard— ships of refuge during the aftermath of the last war and the loss of his very last possessions, in the simplest of surroundings, quiet and unrecognised in the confusion of the postwar period. Let us follow the changing fate on his long road from the unhindered start to the bitter end, a life which bridged the wide span of periods of German history from the 'Kaiserreich' through the 'Weimarer Republik', the 'Drittes Reich' to post—war Germany, and whose course saw the introduction of signif i— cant developments in inorganic chemistry. But it was Alfred Stock and his congenial contemporary Otto Ruff who, by their modern working methods and successful achievements, rescued Inorganic Chemistry — which, after the great discoveries of the .18th and the beginning of the 19th century, gradually became more and more insignificant and, at the turn of the century, was living a Cinderella's existence beside its two more attractive sisters, Organic Chemistry, already in full bloom, and Physical Chemistry., which was just beginning to flower — from the rale of the serving maid and raised it to the ranks of equal status. Alfred Stock spent his school years in Berlin, to where his parents moved two years after his birth. At that time he was already beginning to love this active, lively and gay town, in which he spent a total of nearly five decade of his life. It is surely no coincidence that he started his 'Lehrjahre' (Student years) (Berlin, Paris), 'Gesellenjahre' (early research period) (Berlin, Breslau), 'Meisterjahre' (years as Professor) (Berlin, Karlsruhe) and 'Ruhejahre' (retirement) (Berlin, Warmbrunn), each time from this same city, always returning and beginning again at a higher, more mature and more enlightened stage of his life.

Book Review| July 01 1992 Review: Film and the German Left in the Weimar Republic: From "Caligari" to "Kuhle Wampe" by Bruce Murray Film and the German Left in the Weimar Republic: From "Caligari" to "Kuhle Wampe"Bruce Murray Kristin Thompson Kristin Thompson Search for other works by this author on: This Site PubMed Google Scholar Film Quarterly (1992) 45 (4): 36–38. https://doi.org/10.2307/1212871 Views Icon Views Article contents Figures & tables Video Audio Supplementary Data Peer Review Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn MailTo Tools Icon Tools Get Permissions Cite Icon Cite Search Site Citation Kristin Thompson; Review: Film and the German Left in the Weimar Republic: From "Caligari" to "Kuhle Wampe" by Bruce Murray. Film Quarterly 1 July 1992; 45 (4): 36–38. doi: https://doi.org/10.2307/1212871 Download citation file: Ris (Zotero) Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All ContentFilm Quarterly Search This content is only available via PDF. Copyright 1992 The Regents of the University of California Article PDF first page preview Close Modal You do not currently have access to this content.

The German in Weimar Republic: Studies in History of German Conservatism, Nationalism, and Antisemitism, edited by Larry Eugene Jones. New York & Oxford, Berghahn Books, 2014. xxiv, 332 pp. $95.00 US (cloth). What is role and responsibility of political right in Weimar Republic--which consisted of a myriad of political parties, associations, and combat leagues--when it comes to rise of Nazi Party and Hitler's ascendance to chancellorship in Germany in 1933? This new collection of essays, edited by Larry Eugene Jones, on political, organizational, and social history of German right in Weimar Republic offers useful insights into this long-debated question and makes a number of persuasive arguments. The picture that emerges from this book is of a political right characterized by continual quarrelling, disunity, competition, and ongoing and increasing fragmentation. The volume is made up of ten individual chapters that look at some of major players of Weimar's Right. Half of studies deal with history of German National People's Party (Deutschnationale Volkspartei, DNVP) and that of Pan-German League (Alldeutscher Verband, ADV); other essays focus on German combat leagues, Catholic right, Reich President von Hindenburg, jurist and political theorist Carl Schmitt, and Protestant theologian Friedrich von Bodelschwingh, director of Bethel Institutions. The volume is impressively coherent for an essay collection and thus convincingly achieves what Jones claims as its purpose in his cogent and useful (especially historiographically) introduction: to reinforce through several case studies master narrative that the disunity of was every bit as important as a prerequisite for establishment of Third Reich as schism on socialist Left or fragmentation of political middle (2). The organizational and ideological disunity of political right is clearly demonstrated by scholars here, with individual essays often complementing each other by highlighting different shards of fragmenting movements. For example, pieces by Daniela Gasteiger and Jones both look at fissures in German National Party. Gasteiger's essay focuses on DNVP leader Count Guido von Westarp and his relationships with volkisch politician Albrecht von Graefe-Goldebee (initially a member of DNVP and then founder of German-Racist Freedom Party [Deutschvolksiche Freiheitspartei, DVP] and Central Association of German Conservatives [Hauptverein der Deutschkonservativen]), closely examining deterioration of both relationships. The collection's next is Jones' analysis of inner-party quarrels within DNVP and inconsistency of party in regard to Jewish question. The reader is convinced by both essays not only of disunity of DNVP, but also of its multiple disunities. The Jewish question is a topic of other essays here as well, and again internal divisions are identified. Brian E. Crim's essay looks at Jewish question in regard to German combat leagues. The anti-Semitism Crim finds in two largest, Stahlhelm, League of Front Soldiers (Stahlhelm, Bund der Frontsoldaten), and Young German Order (Jungdeutscher Orden, Jungdo), is mostly a strategically chosen ideology, a situational antisemitism derived from opportunism, pragmatism, and vicious competition in a crowed German Right (195). Variations of this diagnosis are also made (implicitly) in essays by Gasteiger and Jones on DNVP and in essay by Bjorn Hofmeister on Pan-German league. …

El «padre» del principio de la lealtad federal - Rudolf SMEND - ha pasado a la historia por su aportación en la obra «Derecho Constitucional no escrito en el Estado Federal Monárquico.» Por primera vez en la historia del constitucionalismo alemán y en contra de la doctrina constitucionalista del Imperio de 1871, presentó y analizó el principio lealtad federal de forma jurídica y sistemática dotándolo de fuerza normativa. Aunque originariamente fue desarrollado para el contexto de una monarquía constitucional, lo fue adaptando a las diferentes épocas y formas de Estado. Por ello, desde el punto de vista histórico los enfoques bajo la Constitución del Imperio Alemán de 1871 y Constitución Republicana de Weimar de 1919 son de suma importancia. Muestra de ello es que el Tribunal Constitucional Federal Alemán en sus más tempranos pronunciamientos sobre la lealtad federal (ej.: STCF 1, 299; 12, 205) hace explícita referencia a la obra de SMEND. En concreto, son sentencias sobre el principio fundadas en las «profundas raíces dogmáticas e históricas» del ordenamiento alemán. Por ello, todavía hoy las posturas doctrinales sobre el principio del Bundestreue en las fases iniciales de formación del Estado alemán son de decisiva importancia. En el caso español los trabajos sobre el desarrollo histórico de este principio destacan por su ausencia. Carencia que dificulta entender su significado y alcance. Ha sido precisamente el objetivo de este trabajo el llenar este vacío.

Abbreviations Introduction: The German Right in the Weimar Republic: New Directions, New Insights, New Challenges Larry Eugene Jones Chapter 1. Hindenburg and the German Right Wolfram Pyta Chapter 2. From Friends to Foes: Count Kuno von Westarp and the Transformation of the German Right Daniela Gasteiger Chapter 3. Conservative Antisemitism in the Weimar Republic: A Case Study of the German National People's Party Larry Eugene Jones Chapter 4. Academics and Radical Nationalism: The Pan-German League in Hamburg and the German Reich Rainer Hering Chapter 5. Realms of Leadership and Residues of Social Mobilization: The Pan-German League, 1918-1933 Bjorn Hofmeister Chapter 6. Continuity and Change on the German Right: The Pan-German League and Nazism, 1918-1939 Barry A. Jackisch Chapter 7. Weimar's Burning Question: Situational Antisemitism and the German Combat Leagues, 1918-1933 Brian E. Crimm Chapter 8. Antisemitism and the Jewish Question in the Political Worldview of the Catholic Right Ulrike Ehret Chapter 9. Eugenics and Protestant Social Thought in the Weimar Republic: Friedrich von Bodelschwingh and the Bethel Institutions Edward Snyder Chapter 10. Carl Schmitt and the Weimar Right Joseph W. Bendersky Notes on Contributors Select Bibliography of New and Standard Works on the History of the German Right, 1918-1933 Index

The article deals with the Great Economic Depression of 19291933. The research problem is the depression’s negative consequences on the economy of the German Weimar Republic. The aim of the article is to present the main causes and consequences of the global economic and financial crises known as the Great Economic Depression and to investigate how this depression influences the economy and finance of the newly democratic post-war German state called as the Weimar Republic. The particular importance of this research subject is the fact that among all European states at the time it was exactly the Weimar Republic to be mostly affected by the global crises with terrible consequences on social and political life which finally brought Adolf Hitler and his NSDAP to the power in Germany. From the methodological point of view we used a relevant scientific literature followed by the historical sourses. We found that a global Great Economic Depression had mostly nagative economic, social and political influences to the German Weimar Republic which finally became on January 30th, 1933 a prison of Hitler’s NSDAP party in order to seek its salvation.

Book Review| July 01 1992 Review: Film and the German Left in the Weimar Republic: From "Caligari" to "Kuhle Wampe" by Bruce Murray Film and the German Left in the Weimar Republic: From "Caligari" to "Kuhle Wampe"Bruce Murray Kristin Thompson Kristin Thompson Search for other works by this author on: This Site PubMed Google Scholar Film Quarterly (1992) 45 (4): 36–38. https://doi.org/10.2307/1212871 Views Icon Views Article contents Figures & tables Video Audio Supplementary Data Peer Review Share Icon Share Twitter LinkedIn Tools Icon Tools Get Permissions Cite Icon Cite Search Site Citation Kristin Thompson; Review: Film and the German Left in the Weimar Republic: From "Caligari" to "Kuhle Wampe" by Bruce Murray. Film Quarterly 1 July 1992; 45 (4): 36–38. doi: https://doi.org/10.2307/1212871 Download citation file: Ris (Zotero) Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All ContentFilm Quarterly Search This content is only available via PDF. Copyright 1992 The Regents of the University of California Article PDF first page preview Close Modal You do not currently have access to this content.

Reviewed by: The Creation of the Modern German Army: General Walther Reinhardt and the Weimar Republic, 1914–1930 James Biedzynski The Creation of the Modern German Army: General Walther Reinhardt and the Weimar Republic, 1914–1930. By William Mulligan. New York: Berghahn Books, 2005. ISBN 1-57181-908-8. Notes. Bibliography. Index. Pp. 247. $75.00. General Walther Reinhardt appears only sporadically in the scholarly literature on the Weimar Republic. Unlike figures such as Paul von Hindenburg, Friedrich Ebert, or Gustav Stresemann, the reader really must dig for mention of him. Professor Mulligan has brought together a variety of sources in the book under review here to give us the first complete view of General Reinhardt. Reinhardt was a professional soldier and nationalist who created the Reichswehr, Germany's first truly national army. Before 1918, the Prussian Army along with the armies of the larger German states constituted a German army under the command of the Kaiser. After 1919, this was swept away and the army was commanded from Berlin and responsible to the President of the Republic. Germany would now have a single War Minister and not several (one for each component state of the old Reich). Organizing the Reichswehr was no mean feat. It had many opponents, such as the radical street militia, the ultra Right-wing Freikorps, and nervous Allied powers who desired as small a German army as possible. Reinhardt required a great deal of tact and diplomacy to accomplish his mission. Over time, the Reichswehr became a highly professional organization and served as a strong foundation for Hitler's military build-up during the 1930s. Mulligan tries to prove that Reinhardt created a prototype of the later Blitzkrieg type of warfare. We should note, however, that many German officers were doing a great deal of soul-searching about how to win the next war. We should not forget the path-breaking theories of generals Guderian and Rommel. The Blitzkrieg was ultimately a joint product of many minds. If German officers had anything in abundance during the Weimar era, it was time to think about what went wrong in 1918 and how victory might be attained the next time around. As Mulligan demonstrates, we should not lose sight of the fact that Reinhardt was a Rightist who disdained the 1918 armistice and the Versailles Treaty. He had ties to the Freikorps which in the long run were not conducive to formation of a professional army loyal to the Republic. The efforts he and his colleagues made to circumvent the restrictions imposed on Germany by the Versailles Treaty were highly ingenious. We can only speculate about how Reinhardt would have handled a major war, but it likely would have been an impressive performance. Mulligan's research is prodigous and demonstrates to me that there remain important German officers of the interwar era of whose careers we know little. Perhaps his book will stimulate future biographies of these men. German military history during the Weimar period is more than generals Groener and Seeckt and it is high time we learn more of the other officers who built and managed the Reichswehr. James Biedzynski Middlesex County College Edison, New Jersey Copyright © 2005 Society for Military History

Contemporary interest in the so-called ‘Arab Spring’ extends beyond the study of constitutional law or the field of legal studies more generally. One cross-cutting topic that has attracted the attention of jurists and non-jurists alike is the wave of constitutional changes that have accompanied the revolts that have occurred in many Arab countries since 2010. This scholarship generally either discusses constitutional changes in one country in particular or situates it within wider regional or international context. This paper focuses upon Egypt’s “semi-presidential government”, it draws upon scholarship that has been produced by both lawyers and non-lawyers. Specific emphasis will be placed upon constitutional articles that were introduced or re-confirmed, and which are essential preconditions if a system of government is to be considered semi-presidential. In addition, the article will also focus upon the question of how this constitution and regime impact upon the separation of powers, the rule of law and associated rights and freedoms. This paper begins with a “post-Duvergerian definition”, which applies the term ‘semi-presidentialism’ to countries which satisfy two criteria: firstly, the executive should evidence the attribute of duality – this entails that the executive will be headed by a (often popularly elected) president, who will draw upon a more or less extensive list of prerogatives; in addition it will also include a prime minister and his/her cabinet, who are individually and collectively responsible to the Parliament and also to the President; secondly, it should be characterized by interdependency between the executive and the ‘House of Representatives’. The Government can therefore – usually subject to the approval of the President - dissolve the House and the House retains the right to ‘positively’ (power of vote) or ‘negatively’ indicate its confidence in the government or measures that it proposes. Once it is acknowledged that semi-presidentialism is a constitutional category within a democratic government that is grounded within the separation of powers, it becomes increasingly apparent that it is, in the aftermath of the Arab Spring and the effective or aspired transition to democracy, appropriate to apply this label to the Egyptian political system. This is reflected by the fact that external observers appear increasingly predisposed to describe the Egyptian system of government as ‘semi-presidential’. This paper is hardly unique in finding the experience of the Weimar Republic to be an instructive point of engagement. A closer engagement with the literature reveals that it is increasingly recognized that the Weimar Republic was the first historical instance of what Duverger, in referring to the French Fifth Republic, would later label as semi-presidentialism. Cindy Skach, who has contributed extensively to the theorization of semi presidentialism as a constitutional category, has previously referred to empirical examples which include, inter alia, the Weimar Republic. Other scholars have instead approached and engaged the Weimar Republic through a more general interest in semi-presidentialism. I will proceed to demonstrate this point by applying the example of the Weimar Republic from three different angles. I will initially discuss the relationship between the constitution and the republic, and will seek to demonstrate how the drafting of a constitution, and the engineering of a political system can directly influence, or at the very least symbolize, the transition to democracy. I will then proceed to outline the different institutions that are required for a system to be considered semi-presidential in character.

Hyperinflation, depression, and the rise of Adolf Hitler

Preface - Culture and Catastrophe - German Jews Beyond Bildung and Liberalism: The Radical Jewish Revival in the Weimar Republic - 'The Jew Within': The Myth of 'Judaization' in Germany - Nietzsche, Anti-Semitism and Mass-Murder - The German-Jewish Dialogue at its Limits: The Case of Hermann Broch and Volkmar von Zuehlsdorff - Hannah Arendt and Karl Jaspers: Friendship, Catastrophe and the Possibilities of the German-Jewish Dialogue - Small Forays, Grand Theories and Deep Origins: Current Trends in the Historiography of the Holocaust - Notes - Index