Political violence in Germany (1918–1933)

Germany saw significant political violence from the fall of the Empire and the rise of the Republic through the German Revolution of 1918–1919, until the rise of the Nazi Party to power with 1933 elections and the proclamation of the Enabling Act of 1933 that fully broke down all opposition. The violence was characterised by assassinations and by confrontations between right-wing groups such as the Freikorps (sometimes in collusion with the state), and left-wing organisations such as the Communist Party of Germany.^[1]

Date29 October 1918 — 23 March 1933
(14 years, 4 months, 3 weeks and 2 days)

Location

Germany

Result

Nazi Party seizes power
All opposition political parties are banned
Third German Reich established

Quick facts Date, Location ...

Political violence in Germany (1918–1933)

Part of the interwar period

Johann Lehner [de] with government troops on 3 May 1919, moments before they murdered him, mistaking him for Bavarian Council Republic official Fritz Seidel

Date	29 October 1918 — 23 March 1933 (14 years, 4 months, 3 weeks and 2 days)
Location	Germany
Result	Nazi Party seizes power All opposition political parties are banned Third German Reich established

Belligerents

Weimar Republic

Far-left

Far-right

Commanders and leaders

Friedrich Ebert
Paul von Hindenburg

Rosa Luxemburg

Karl Liebknecht

Karl Radek
Ernst Thälmann
Wilhelm Pieck
Richard Müller
Kurt Eisner †
Ernst Toller
Eugen Leviné

Erich Mühsam

Erich Ludendorff
Walther von Lüttwitz
Hermann Ehrhardt
Adolf Hitler
Ernst Röhm

Close

Between 1919 and 1922, there were at least 354 politically-motivated murders by right-wing extremists, primarily Freikorps, and a minimum of 22 murders by left-wing extremists. Compared to right-wing murders, left-wing motivated murders were criminally prosecuted much more frequently and received significantly harsher sentencing (Ten executions, three life sentences, and 249 total years of imprisonment compared to one life sentence and 90 total years of imprisonment).^[2]

Incidents of violent unrest in Weimar Republic

German Revolution of 1918–1919 (1918-1919)
- Kiel mutiny (1918)
- Christmas crisis (1918)
- November 1918 insurgency in Alsace–Lorraine (1918)
- Spartacist uprising (1919)
- Berlin March Battles (1919)
Greater Poland uprising (1918-1919)
Silesian Uprisings (1919-1921)
Reichstag Bloodbath (1920)
Kapp-Lüttwitz Putsch (1920)
Ruhr uprising (1920)
Feme murders (1920-1923)
March Action (1921)
Klaipėda Revolt (1923)
Cuno strikes (1923)
Küstrin Putsch (1923)
German October (1923)
Hamburg Uprising (1923)
Beer Hall Putsch (1923)
Blutmai (1929)
Stennes revolt (1931-1932)
Murder of Paul Anlauf and Franz Lenck (1931)
Potempa murder of 1932 (1932)
Kwami Affair (1932)
1932 Berlin transport strike (1932)
Altona Bloody Sunday (1932)
1932 Prussian coup d'état (1932)
Reichstag fire (1933)

References

Brown, Timothy S. (2009). Weimar Radicals: Nazis and Communists Between Authenticity and Performance. Berghahn.
Jones, Mark (2018). Founding Weimar: Violence and the German Revolution of 1918–1919. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1107535527.
McDonough, Frank (2023). The Weimar Years: Rise and Fall 1918–1933. New York City: Apollo Publishers. ISBN 978-1803284781.
Schumann, Dirk (2009). Political Violence in the Weimar Republic, 1918–1933: Fight for the Streets and Fear of Civil War. Berghahn.
Achilles, Manuela (January 22, 2026). Invisible Fatherland: Constitutional Patriotism in Weimar Germany (1 ed.). Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/9781009651028. ISBN 978-1-009-65102-8.

German language

Blasius, Dirk (2008). Weimars Ende. Bürgerkrieg und Politik 1930–1933 [The end of Weimar. Civil war and politics 1930–1933]. Frankfurt: S. Fischer Verlag. ISBN 978-3-596-17503-1.
Braune, Andreas; Dreyer, Michael; Elsbach, Sebastian, eds. (2021). Vom drohenden Bürgerkrieg zum demokratischen Gewaltmonopol (1918–1924) [From the threat of civil war to the democratic monopoly of violence (1918–1924)]. Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag. ISBN 978-3515131520.
Elsbach, Sebastian (2019). Das Reichsbanner Schwarz-Rot-Gold: Republikschutz und politische Gewalt in der Weimarer Republik [The Banner Black-Red-Gold: Republican defense and political violence in the Weimar Republic]. Franz Steiner Verlag. ISBN 978-3515124676.
Sabrow, Martin (2022). Der Rathenaumord und die deutsche Gegenrevolution [The murder of Rathenau and the German counter-revolution]. Göttingen: Wallstein Verlag. ISBN 978-3835351745.
Sabrow, Martin (2023). Gewalt gegen Weimar: Zerreißproben der frühen Republik 1918-1923 [Violence against Weimar: Tests for the early Republic 1918-1923] (2nd ed.). Göttingen: Wallstein Verlag. ISBN 978-3835354937.
Lindemann, Gerhard; Schmeitzner, Mike, eds. (2020). ...da schlagen wir zu: Politische Gewalt in Sachsen 1930–1935 [...there we strike: Political violence in Saxony 1930–1935]. Göttingen: V&R unipress. ISBN 9783847109341.
Zerback, Ralf (2022). Triumph der Gewalt: Drei deutsche Jahre (1932 bis 1934) [Triumph of violence: Three German years (1932 to 1934)]. Stuttgart: Klett-Cotta. ISBN 978-3608986488.

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Political violence in Germany (1918–1933)

Incidents of violent unrest in Weimar Republic

See also

References

Further reading

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