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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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...
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
As blatantly demonstrated in the past, Hitler had an undeniable hatred for the Jews. There were many forms of intentionalism displayed illustrating this hostility. These actions are believed to be in response to occurrences during World War I. In 1918, Hitler was stricken with mustard gas and partially blinded, while in the Hospital, Hitler was reached with the news of Germany’s withdrawal from the War. The armistice induced Hitler’s fury and lead to his Back Stabbing Theory. The Back Stabbing Myth was, to the anti-Semitic, a theory based on the belief that the German Army could have won World War I, but the civilians (Jews) called off the war; embarrassing the German Military. Soon followed was Hitler’s involvement in politics, h...
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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.
The main purpose of the book was to emphasize how far fear of Hitler’s power, motivation to create a powerful Germany, and loyalty to the cause took Germany during the Third Reich. During the Third Reich, Germany was able to successfully conquer all of Eastern Europe and many parts of Western Europe, mainly by incentive. Because of the peoples’ desires and aspirations to succeed, civilians and soldiers alike were equally willing to sacrifice luxuries and accept harsh realities for the fate of their country. Without that driving force, the Germans would have given up on Hitler and Nazism, believing their plan of a powerful Germany...
“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...
Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1969. Kitchen, Martin. A History of Modern Germany: 1800-2000. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, 2006. Sprout, Otto.