Cambridge University Press 978-1-108-49407-6 — The German Right, 1918–1930 Larry Eugene Jones Frontmatter More Information THE GERMAN RIGHT, 1918–1930 The failure of the Weimar Republic and the rise of National Socialism remains one of the most challenging problems of twentieth-century European history. The German Right, 1918–1930 sheds new light on this problem by examining the role that the non-Nazi Right played in the destabilization of Weimar democracy in the period before the emergence of the Nazi Party as a mass party of middle-class protest. Larry Eugene Jones identifies a critical divide within the German Right between those prepared to work within the framework of Germany’s new republican government and those irrevocably committed to its overthrow. This split was greatly exacerbated by the course of German economic development in the 1920s, leaving the various organizations that comprised the German Right defenceless against the challenge of National Socialism. At no point was the disunity of the non-Nazi Right in the face of Nazism more apparent than in the September 1930 Reichstag elections. is Professor Emeritus in the Department of History at Canisius College in Buffalo, New York, where he has taught since 1968. His previous publications include the award-winning German Liberalism and the Dissolution of the Weimar Party System, 1918–1933 (1988) and Hitler versus Hindenburg: The 1932 Presidential Elections and the End of the Weimar Republic (2015). © in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-1-108-49407-6 — The German Right, 1918–1930 Larry Eugene Jones Frontmatter More Information © in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-1-108-49407-6 — The German Right, 1918–1930 Larry Eugene Jones Frontmatter More Information THE GERMAN RIGHT, 1918–1930 Political Parties, Organized Interests, and Patriotic Associations in the Struggle against Weimar Democracy LARRY EUGENE JONES Canisius College, New York © in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-1-108-49407-6 — The German Right, 1918–1930 Larry Eugene Jones Frontmatter More Information University Printing House, Cambridge CB2 8BS, United Kingdom One Liberty Plaza, 20th Floor, New York, NY 10006, USA 477 Williamstown Road, Port Melbourne, VIC 3207, Australia 314–321, 3rd Floor, Plot 3, Splendor Forum, Jasola District Centre, New Delhi – 110025, India 79 Anson Road, #06–04/06, Singapore 079906 Cambridge University Press is part of the University of Cambridge. It furthers the University’s mission by disseminating knowledge in the pursuit of education, learning, and research at the highest international levels of excellence. www.cambridge.org Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9781108494076 DOI: 10.1017/9781108643450 © Larry Eugene Jones 2020 This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press. First published 2020 Printed in the United Kingdom by TJ International Ltd. Padstow, Cornwall A catalogue record for this publication is available from the British Library. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Jones, Larry Eugene, author. Title: The German right, 1918–1930 : political parties, organized interests, and patriotic associations in the struggle against Weimar Democracy / Larry Eugene Jones, Canisius College, New York. Description: Cambridge, United Kingdom ; New York : Cambridge University Press, 2020. | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: LCCN 2019038331 (print) | LCCN 2019038332 (ebook) | ISBN 9781108494076 (hardback) | ISBN 9781108713863 (paperback) | ISBN 9781108643450 (epub) Subjects: LCSH: Germany–Politics and government–1918-1933. | Conservatism–Germany– History–20th century. | Political parties–Germany–History–20th century. | Deutschnationale Volkspartei–History. | Nationalism–Germany–History–20th century. | Pangermanism– GermanyHistory–20th century. Classification: LCC DD240 .J588 2020 (print) | LCC DD240 (ebook) | DDC 943.085–dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019038331 LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019038332 ISBN 978-1-108-49407-6 Hardback Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of URLs for external or third-party internet websites referred to in this publication and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate. © in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-1-108-49407-6 — The German Right, 1918–1930 Larry Eugene Jones Frontmatter More Information Dedicated to the memory of my mother Lila Maurine Berg Jones (1909–1996) © in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-1-108-49407-6 — The German Right, 1918–1930 Larry Eugene Jones Frontmatter More Information © in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-1-108-49407-6 — The German Right, 1918–1930 Larry Eugene Jones Frontmatter More Information CONTENTS List of Figures page ix Acknowledgments x List of Abbreviations xvi Introduction: Setting the Context 1 1 Revolution and Realignment 16 2 Infrastructure of the German Right 48 3 Forging a Conservative Synthesis 77 4 Growth and Consolidation 114 5 The Radical Right 144 6 1923 – A Missed Opportunity? 176 7 From Triumph to Schism 207 8 Stabilization from the Right? 241 9 Paladins of the Right 270 10 A Resurgent Nationalism 299 11 The Road Back to Power 331 12 The Burden of Responsibility 363 13 From Defeat to Crisis 394 14 Reverberations and Realignment 432 15 The Chimera of Right-Wing Unity 461 16 Schism and Fragmentation 493 vii © in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-1-108-49407-6 — The German Right, 1918–1930 Larry Eugene Jones Frontmatter More Information viii 17 The Brüning Gambit 524 18 The September Earthquake 555 Epilogue: The Price of Disunity 589 Select Bibliography 598 Index 610 © in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-1-108-49407-6 — The German Right, 1918–1930 Larry Eugene Jones Frontmatter More Information FIGURES 1. Photograph of Oskar Hergt, DNVP party chairman from 1918 to 1924 and vice chancellor and Reich minister of justice in 1927–28. 33 2. Otto v. Kursell, antisemitic handout for the 1919 elections to the Weimar National Assembly. 37 3. Unknown graphic designer, “Deutsche Frauen, wach auf!,” DNVP campaign placard for the 1919 elections to the Weimar National Assembly. 39 4. Photograph of Karl Helfferich, DNVP Reichstag deputy from 1920 to 1924 and the party’s most prominent critic of German reparations policy. 133 5. Photograph of Adolf Hitler at a rally of right-wing forces at the Deutscher Tag in Nuremburg, 1 September 1923. 192 6. Unknown graphic designer, “Frei von Versailles!,” DNVP campaign placard for the May 1924 Reichstag elections. 223 7. Photograph of Count Kuno von Westarp, DNVP Reichstag deputy from 1920 to 1930, chairman of the DNVP Reichstag delegation from 1925 to 1929, and DNVP national party chairman from 1926 to 1928. 337 8. Paul Jürgens, “So sprach er zum Mittelstand,” Business Party campaign placard for the May 1928 Reichstag elections. 396 9. KWO, “Wählt Volksrechts-Partei!,” People’s Justice Party campaign placard for the May 1928 Reichstag elections. 398 10. Herbert Rothgaengel, “Mehr Macht dem Reichspräsidenten!,” DNVP campaign placard for the May 1928 Reichstag elections. 406 11. Photograph of Alfred Hugenberg, DNVP Reichstag deputy from 1920 to 1933 and DNVP national party chairman from 1928 to 1933. 415 12. Unknown graphic designer, “Noch 60 Jahre in Ketten gefesselt,”placard in support of the referendem against the Young Plan, 1 October 1929. 487 13. Herbert Rothgaengel, “Bis zum 60 Jahre soll dieses Kind Tribute zahlen!,” placard in support of the referendum against the Young Plan, 1 October 1929. 488 14. Henry Boothby, “Konservative Volkspartei, Liste 16,” KVP campaign placard for the September 1930 Reichstag elections. 558 15. H. P. Schnorr, “Soll es so kommen?,” CSVD campaign placard for the September 1930 Reichstag elections. 562 16. Unknown graphic designer, “Her zu uns! Kämpft mit für Freiheit und Brot,” NSDAP campaign placard for the September 1930 Reichstag elections. 582 ix © in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-1-108-49407-6 — The German Right, 1918–1930 Larry Eugene Jones Frontmatter More Information ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This book has its origins in the 1960s, a time when the United States found itself in the midst of a crisis that severely tested the strength and resilience of its democratic institutions. As a young graduate student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, I was quickly swept up in the wave of student protest that was engulfing American campuses throughout the country and became an embittered opponent of the Viet Nam War. This coincided with my introduc- tion to Marxism, first under the tutelage of Richard DeGeorge at the Univer- sity of Kansas and then under that of Harvey Goldberg and William Appleman Williams at Wisconsin. Even though I never thought of myself as a Marxist in anything more than a vague, undefined sense of the word, my encounter with