Contested Narratives of the Weimar Republic 11,C Case of Thc "Kutisker
Weimar Publics/Weimar Subjects Rethinking the Political Culture of Germany in the 1920s
("..•• ""
Edited by
KATHLEEN CANNING KERSTIN BARNDT & KRISTIN MCGUIRE
„, -· ~-~ "fi'~r";bäfi~f.·')fooks .l./,f, . 4:, ~ ~ .... -.,J}C New York • Oxford . , " f' I ' ,... . l ·' ) :" ~ ~ I ' ,;.. ~o : • 1 ' ., v' , . \.. ~ ;~ . / . .J ···'' , ·. [ 1 '-"" • First published in 2010 by Berghahn Books www.berghahnbooks.c:om
©2010 Kathlcen Canning. Kerstin ßarndt, and Kristin M\'.Guire
All rights rescrved. Except for the quotation of short ~assagcs for rhe purposes of criricism and review, no part of ch1s b~ok may be reproduc:ed in an)' form or by any means, electromc or mechanical, including phorocorring. recording, or any information storage and retrieval sysrem now known or to be invenced, without wriccen permission of rhe publi~hcr.
Library of Congress Caraloging·in-Publication Data 'Weimar publics/Weimar subjcccs: rethinking the polirical culcure of Germany in ehe l 920s / edired by Kachleen Canning. Kersrin Bamdr & Krisrin McGuire.
p.~m. lncludes bibliographical referenccs and index. ISBN 978-1-84545-689-4 (hbk.: alk. paper) 1. Policical culture-Germany-Histor}'-20th cenrury. 2. Popular culmre Germany-Hisrory-20rh cenrury. 3. Germany-Polirics and government- 1918-1933. 4. Germany-lntcllectual life-20th cenrury. 5. Germany-Social conditions-1918-1933. 6. Social conAicr-German}'-Hisror}'-20ch cemury. 7. Social change-Germany-Hiscory-20rh cencury. 1. Canning, Kachleen. IL Barndr, Kerstin. III. McGuire, Krisrin. DD240.W3925 2010 943.085-dc22 200904 2366
Brirish Lihrary Cataloguing in Publication Data A caralogue record for this book is availablc from the Brirish Library
Princed in thc Unired Srares on acid-free paper.
ISBN: 978-1-84545-689-4 Hardback
„'"" „, r r'l \,. ~· ·~ „ 1 .... f 1 f - .· ,.,,, : ' ": CONTENTS •·~
List of Illustrations Vll
Preface lX
List of Conrriburors X Imroducrion: Weimar Subjccrs/Weimar Publics: Rethinking rhc Polirical Culrure of Germany in rhc 1920s 1 Kathlcen Canning
Purt I. Defeat and the Legacy of War 1. 1he Return of rhe Undead: Weimar Cinema and the Great War 31 Anton Kaes 2. 111e Work of Art and the Problem of Politics in Berlin Dada 42 Brigid Doherty 3. Tue Secret H istory of Photomontage: On rhe Origins of the Composite Form and the Weimar Phoromontagcs of Marianne Brandt 66 Elizabeth Otto
P,1rt II. New Citizens/New Subjectit.'ities 4. Morhcrs, Cirizens, and Consumcrs: Female Readers in Weimar Germany 95 Kerstin Barndt 5. Claiming Cirizcnship: Sutfrage and Subjecriviry in Germany after rhc First World \Var 116 Kathlccn Cm111i11g 6. Feminist Polirics bcrond rhe Reichsrag: Helene Stöcker and Visions of Reform 138 Kristi11 Mc:Gi1irc 7. Producingjews: Matanit}'• Eugcnics, and rhe Embodimenr of rhe Jcwish Subjccr 153 Sl>'1ro11 Gillam,w
I vi ": Corite:nts
Part III. Symbols, Rituals, and Discourses of Democracy 8. Reforrning the Reich: Democratic Symbols and Rituals in ehe \\Teimar Rcpublic 175 A1anuela Acl,ilfes 9. High Expectations-Deep Disappointmenc: Structures . of ehe Public Pcrcepcion of Politics in ehe Weimar Rcpubhc 192 'fäomas A1ergel 10. Contested Narratives of the Weimar Rcpublic: Tue Case of the "Kurisker~Barmac Scandal" 211 Martin H. Geyer 11. Poliric.al Violence, Conrested Public Space, and Reasserted Masculinity in Weimar Germany 236 Dirk Sclnunann
Part IV. Publics, Publicity, and Mass Culture
12. "A Self1 Representacion of ehe Masses": Siegfried Kracauer's Curious Americanism 257 Miriam Hansen 13. Neicher Masses nor lndividuals: Representations of the CoUective in Interwar German Culrure 279 Stefan }onsson
14. Cultural Capital in Decline: Inflation and ehe Distress of Incellecruals 302 Bernd '\Viddig
Part V: Weimar Topographies 15. Defini~g the Nation in Crisis: Cicizenship Policy in the Early Weimar Republic 321 Annem~rie Sammartino 16. Gender and Colonial Politics after ehe Versailles Treaty Lora Wildentf,al 339
17. Tue Economy of Experience in Weimar Germany Peter Fritzsche 360
Bibliography 383 Index 402 CHAPTER 10 ("'.. • •""' Contested Narratives of the Weimar Republic 11,c Case of thc "Kutisker ... Bar1nat Scandal"
MARTIN H. GEYER
he so·callcd Kurisker· Barmat scandal unfolded in ehe firsr half of 1925, T when Reich President Friedrich Ebert, along wich other leading Social Democrars and members of ehe Center Party, were accused of being corrupred by Ostjuden (Jews from Eastern Europe) who supposedly had used rheir politi, cal connecrions ro procure by fraud and bribery large loans from the Prussian Stare Bank and the Postal Service. ll1e prelude eo the affair starred at ehe end of 1924 when it became clcar rhesc loans could not be repaid. Tue arrest of ehe Lirhuani:rn citizen Iwan Kuriskcr in mid, December 1924 and of Julius and Henry Barnur, Russian Jews living in Amsterdam and Berlin, on ehe very last day of rhe ycar prompred a highly anri,Semiric campaign in which members of rhe government wcre also arcacked by an odd coalirion of Communisrs, Ger, man Narionalisrs (DNVP), and mcmbcrs of rhe radical polirical Righr. There was ralk of this scandal being a "Panama" for rhe \.Veimar Republic, refcrring ro the Panama Scandal rhar had rockcd rhc French Rcpublic in rhe 1890s, in which Jcwish fi.nan(iers wcre bL11ncd for bribing parliamentarians eo sink mil, lions of govcrnment funds inro rhc ill·faced canal projt:ct in Cenrral America.1 In rhe wecks rhat followcd rhcsc initial arrests, ehe 'vVcimar Rcpublic was irnmerscd in a form of scnsarion:dist polirics rhar appcalcd to a rarhcr shocked rnass audicnce. Anger mixed \Virh frusrrarion. Tue mcmory of ehe hardship broughr about by ehe war, infbrion, and rhc srabilization of ehe currency was srill painfully vivid. 111c facc char Jcwish foreigners could luve rcccived millions ar a time whcn crcdit was cxtrcmdy hard ro ger scemcd ourragcous, a point ehe polirical RigJ1r reiceratcd inccssanrly to rhc public, nor ehe lease by raising rhe qucsrion of "Jewish inHuencc" in ehe rcpublic. For chcir part, ehe Communiscs found prnt)f rhat capiralism had corruprcd rhc Social Dcmocrars and ehe re, public. Tue conservatives instigated the creation. of p~rliamc~1ta~y .f~ct-finding committees in both ehe Reichstag and the Pruss1an D1et, which mmared hear ings as early as January 1925.2 These public hearings and detailcd ncws rcporrs
011 rhe srate attorney's investigations, in addition to some leakcd confidenrial informarion and many rumors, helped to make the Kutiskcr-Barmat scandal one of the main polirical evenrs of the year. Indeed, the scandal overshadowcd the dcbate on the complicated proccss of political coalition building, in thc Reichstag, in ehe Prussia Diee, and in the election for ehe Reich preside.ncy. In all rhese cases, efforrs were made to discredit the Social Democrats in order ro 3 build Bürgerblock governments. · Tue dcbate focused almost obsessively on ehe question wherhcr leading So cial Democrats-including Reich President Friedrich Ebert, whose son had becn employed shortly by ehe Barmat enrerprise-had wielded eheir inAucnce on behalf ofJews .4 Dcrogatorily they were callcd the Barmatokr11tie or the Bar matiden.; Such criticism paralleled ehe \'icious aeeacks on Eberr's purportedly "rreasonous" behavior in ehe January Strike of 1918, all of which was respon sible for Ebert's dearh on 28 February 1925.6 Politics became a huge spectade and a \'icious strugg1e amidst ehe flourishing rumors about polirical corruprion, the influence of Os~uden in German economic and political life, and rhen, the fatal heart attack suffered by the highly incriminaced Center Party member and Reich Post Minister Anton Höfle while he was in pretrial detenrion. Some contemporaries spoke of a "Barmat psychosis"7 and that a "pogrom armosphere" pervaded the public mood.8 Tue case of Kuc:isker-Barmat is a good example of a modern rrpe of "spcc tacular politics,"9 which enables us to analyze ehe \Veimar Republic's comesred polirical culrure. Tue aim of this essay is not primarily to reconstrucr. and evalu· are ehe case of fraud and bribery. Insread, ie examines an almost excessive "sur plus· of flourishing narratives and rumors, images and myths rhar surrounded rhe case. Embedded in rhis case were highly conresred and polirically charged narratives of rhe political and moral order of ehe republic, narratives rhat re· vol\'ed around war and defeat, money and ehe dccay of economic ethics. As in many oeher scandals, the multidimensionality of the Kurisker-Barmar affair is comparable ro ehe many layers of an onion. HO\\'C\'er, thcse layers are not just tri\'ial incidences to be peeled away in order eo get to ehe "core." Insccad rhey rhemsel\'es consritute ehe crux of a modern rrpe of "specracular polirics." Therefore, rhis essay will explore rhe stories thar revolved around cerrain people and incidems and rhereby blended facr and ficrion from ehe \·ery starr. Ir will be shown how rhe names Barmat and Kurisker bccame polirical and culrural code words chat were readily used in ehe contcmporary discourse of boch rhe Lcfr and ~he Righr. 10 Tue essay starts out by asking how ir was possible rhar chese o:~u4-le11 epitomi:ed widely circularing imagcs of the "rrofitccr," rhe so callcd Krregs-wd lnflMionsgewimilcr. 1hen a doscr look is offcrcd of sorne of ehe narratives of ehe Communist Left and ehe political Right rhae helped srage ehe cvcncs of 1925. All of rhese stories rcvolvc around images of luxury and
gift1 giving, which arc cxamincd nexr. In a final seceion, ir is illusrrared how ehe succcssful managcmenr of ehe Kuriskcr,ßarmar crisis also could provide a positive narrative for ehe Weimar Republic, conresred as ehe rcpublic was from ehe very beginning.
Constructing the Jewish Profiteer
Depcnding on who was eelling rhe srory in ehe inrerwar pcriod, ehe Kutisker Barmae scandal was cirhcr cynical, rragic, or cven comical; bue ir always re mained a srory of vicrimization. From ehe· vcry bcginning, ehe biographies of Julius (or "Judko" as hc was callcd by his friends and enemics alike) Barmar and Iwan Kurisker werc lumped rogcrher, norwirhsranding ehe facr rhat chey had ncver known each orher personally or professionally. Whac helped esrablish rhis connecrion was ehe accusarion of credit fraud, rhe facr thac rhe Kurisker case led ro invesrigarions inro ehe business of ehe Barmars (as weil as rhar of anorhcr player, Jacob Michel), and finally ehe polirical decision eo have rwo parliamentary facr,finding committees invcsrigare rhese cases. Bur there was more ro ir: from ehe very beginning, ehe rwo main proragonisrs signified almosr archcrypically ehe career of what was dccried as ehe "jewish profireer;'11 and thcir hyphenated names became a culrural code for exacdy char stereotype on which anri,Semirism Aourishcd.12 lc was difficulc ro escape chis srereotyping, a poinr excmplified weil by Wal, rer Mehring's play Der K,Hljt1Mnn von Berlin. Ein historisclJcs Schauspiel ,ms der deutschen Inflation, which prcmicrcd in September 1929 in an avant,garde bur nor very succcssful srage producrion by Erwin Piscaror. Tue prorngonist of rhis play was-nonicn cst omen-Benjamin Chaim Kaftan, a poor, s01newhat naive Jew, who arrives in Berlin from rhe casr wich a Yiddish Jcccnr, goodwill, and one hundred dollars in his pockec during ehe inflarion. Mud1 ro ehe dcspair of his dollar-crazy environmcm, rhis man does not wanr eo spend his money, but eagerly rries eo incrcase it. He cvcntually gcrs his chance when he becomcs rhe puppct of ochers ( one of ehern bcing a rcrircd general and clever busincssman) who cnrhronc hirn wich his possession of a mcre one hundrcd dollars as a bank director. In curn, he becomcs rich by dcaling in scrap mecal acquired from rhe former army, which is, howcvcr, full of dcpll)}'J.ble weapons to be used for rhe purpose of civil w;1r. \Vieh rhe rcpucarion of a "\V,!1Je11sc1Jid1er," an arms profi, teer, our proragonisr is givcn "unlimircd crcdir." To make a long story short, ehe putsch fails, alrhough angry swasrika wcarcrs do descroy ehe Jewish <-1uarrcr in thc GrcnadiersrraGc ( which cpitomizcd Jc.:wish irnmigrarion to Berlin from ehe e:isc). Kaftan chus bccomes a viaim in a double sense. Firsc he bccomes the 214 <": Martin H. Geyer
rargct of ehe angry, paupcrized masscs, '"·ho blame him, as a profircer, for thcir plighc. Mehring rcfcrs here to rhe anti-Semitic riocs thac occurrcd in rhc Ber liner Scheunenviercel in November 1923. Second, Kaftan is finally droppcd by thc very people who had pullcd ehe scrings behind rhe sccnes, bur only afrer rhey squeeze as much money as possible out of him for cheir military venturcs. Once ehe currency is scabilized, he cnds up as poor as he bcgan. In Piscator's intcrprerarion, Kaftan is captured by ehe policc, flghrs the chargcs againsr hirn in court, has a breakdown, and ends up as a corpse on ehe auropsy rablc whilc studencs hold a funeral oration. In the original play, Kaftan decides to rerurn to his village, buc ac ehe crain station Alexanderplatz, he happens ro ovcrhcar young men from his village who are eager eo follow ehe parh of chcir succcss ful mencor Kaftan and therefore are searching for him in ordcr eo reclaim rhe money ehe villagers had entrusted eo him before he left. The play was ehe object of an array of criticisms. For one, Piscaror's attempt to reenact ehe acmosphere of ehe inflation by fading in piccures, proclamarions, and large, rocaring celegraphic ticker princoucs of dollar exchangc rares led somc to fault his "mechanical" staging. Tue play was also said eo convey anti-Semiric messages, despite ehe efforcs of both Piscator and Mehring ro expose anci Semitism. In the end, ehe play pleased no one and was quickly cancelled. Indecd, ehe stereotype of ehe profiteer was so powerful and laden wirh rcsenrmencs rhar ir \\.'as nearly impossible ro depicc a person like Kaftan as a victim; for anri-Semires this was an absurd proposition to begin wich. Finally, the play appeared to excul pate chose "pulling rhe scrings" behind ehe "Kutisker-Barmat scandaI:'13 Orhers criticized ~fehring for having written a "Barmat play withour ßar• mac,"14 a good point given that Kutisker and Barmat were conAaced in ehe play. Acrually, Mehring's plot followed, albeit quire freely, the career of Iwan Kurisker, who allegedly could neither speak nor \vrice German properly, alrhough nei
rher he nor ehe Barmats spoke Yiddish. i; After ehe war, ehe real Kutisker dealt
in German army equipmenr, a business he conrinued after he arri\1 ed in Ber lin in 1919 wich several recommendations in his pocket, including some from military comaccs. At the end of 1921, Kurisker boughr rhe Stein Bank, which enabled him ro emer into transacrions wich ehe Prussian Stare Bank. Larer, the court came eo the conclusion chat he had deliberacely deceivcd officials abom rhe securiries pur up for ehe lo.ans; orhers had bcen bribed. Among rhese se· curities was a huge army depot, ehe Hanauer Waffenlager, which upon closer inspection was not much more chan a huge, highly O\'ervalucd pile of scrap metal. This depot had apparendy kindled all sorrs of fantasies and wishful thinking on ehe parr of chose invoh·ed in this business, including some officials fr.om ehe army and ehe Prussian Stare Bank. By ehe time rhis fraud \\ras finally d1SCO\'Cred, the officials had made perfect fools Out of themsclves. J\·fost evCr)'· bodr agreed rhar rhe manner in which ehe Hanauer depot had bccn handled "provided dclighrful material for a comical opcrcrra of ehe best t)l'e,"1<- in part CM1tcstcd N..irr.1ti vcs •lli.l tl,c C1sc of tl": "K11tiskcr-ß,1r11111t Scandal" :"' 215 because ehe Sovict Union and Lichuania wcrc supposed ro luve shown some inrcrcsc in ic, buc cvcn morc so bccause of ehe appearance of a dubious Roma nian "consul" wich whom ficcirious concracts werc signed "in order eo milk ehe srare ba nk like a good dairy cow:' 17 Alrhough rhere were many good reasons ro interprer ehe Kucisker case as polirical, nor ehe lease because of ehe army's involvemenr, mosc coneemporaries dismisscd rhis aspccr-ic was a case of bribcry, fraud, and corrupcion. Tue Kurisker case d cmonscrares chac in order for a scandal eo bc policical, ic had eo involve republkan poliricians, parricularly cheir alleged conneccions wich Jews. However, ic did play an imporcanr role in reaffirming cliches of ehe Jewish profirecr. In almosc all accounrs of ehe scandal, Kurisker appeared as ehe greedy Jew: "In bis choroughly indescribable greed, Kurisker seeks norhing orher rhan acquisirion, and rherefore he musr be labeled as noching orher chan an un scrupulous merchanc," claimed ehe Cenrer Parry represenracive in ehe Prussian parliamcnrary facc-finding commirree, an argumcnr char was heard time and again. 1tl Kucisker's scory was rhus quinresscnrially one of a man obsessed wich money, who acquircd loans from ehe Stare Bank eo rapaciously buy companies, villas, luxury cars, and all ehe accessories rhac cypified ehe proficeer and Berlin's newly rich. This was ehe reason why Gocbbels's propaganda miniscry lacer was also inreresced in the case and commissioned ehe novelisr Hans Fallada eo wrire a novel on rhc case during ehe war. 19 In what we know from Fallada's lose manuscript, Bannac und Kuriskcr werc again merged inro a single cluraceer (alchough Fallada was mosrly inrcrested in Kurisker). He did nor want ro wrice a "cheap anci-Scmiric novel in ehe sryle of Der Stürmer" bur wrocc insread rhar ic was ro be abour an "oldjcw, a lunaric wich a money complcx:' In Fallada's srory there was ro bc no "skirr-chasing, lirrle bribing, no luxurious inroxicarions only money, moncy, money!"20 In rhc end, ehe ediror ar rhc H eyne Verlag was amazed ar Fallada's abiliry ro writc a "non-anti-Semicic anri-Semicic novcl" chac fir very weil wich ehe Propaganda Ivlinis(ry's concepc of a "bellerriscic work suicable for anri-Scmiric propaganda abroad."21 Compared wirb Kucisker, ehe five Bannar brorhers wcre far less colorful in hoch cheir busincss vcnru r~ s and rheir lifcsrylcs, buc rhey operared on a far biggcr scale. Alrhough chis scand:il also had eo do \Vieh moncy, ir provided rhe esscnrially policical rwisr eo ehe !arger srory of scandal: in ehe Barmar srory of rhc polirical Righc, Jcws wcrc connecred ro Socialisrs, who gavc ehe Jcws ehe opporruniry eo scrrle in Gcrmany and eo bccomc cconomically st11:cessful ar rhe expcnsc of rhc Gcnnan peoplc. In order ro cmphasize Julius ßarmar's cxploirarion of Gcrmany, ic was ncccs sary ro downpby his cconomk succcss as ::i sclf-made man in Holland before the war and to emphasi:e his povcrcy and his supposed jt:wish Orthodox up bringing in Easccrn Europc insrc:id. lndccd, rhis was ehe mosc common rheme in popular dcscriprions of borh G crman narionalisrs and rhc völkisch groups. 216 ": Marti". H. Gry~r
Such descriptions alluded to resentful images of Ostjuden Rooding Germany and other countries especially after the war.22 Within a short time after his arrival in Amsterdam in 1907, Barmat had married a Durch woman and had worked his way up from his position as a business correspondent and transla tor for ehe police and the courts. He became a millionaire businessman with connections eo Germany, Russia, and even Australia by dealing in musical in strumencs, foodstuffs, and tulip bulbs-the s~urce of some ridicule in Ger many-and by investing and speculating in ehe booming Amsterdam housing and real estate market.23 Thoroughly ignored was the fact that the Allied pow ers blacklisted him in the beginning of rhe war because of his business transac tions with Germany and ehe occupied territories in the East-a pro-German attitude did not fit inro rhe image of a profiteer, just as Barmat's business in the immediate postwar years was not interpreted in the context of desperate efforts to supply foodstuffs to a starving Germany. Instead, it appeared as if the new ruling Social Democrats and the agencies of the Reich fostered Barmat's busi ness with lucrative contracts for food deliveries, representing a boon to Barmat as well as to many others invol_ved in this business. After 1925, people were gready obsessed with Barmat's connections to the SPD, specifically with the allegation that Barmat, who had joined the Durch Social Democrats in 1908, had subsidized a pro-German Socialist newspaper during the war and housed for some time the office of ehe Second Interna· tional, exiled from Belgium, in the Keizersgracht, one the most elegant streets of Amsterdam. Moreover, after the war he supposedly became acquainted wich high·ranking members of the German Social Democratic Party, such as Fried~ rich Ebert, Otto Wels (head of the SPD-Reichstagsfraktion since 1919), Otto Gradnauer (minister president of Saxony in 1919 and, afrer a short interlude as minister of the inrerior in 1921, representative of Saxony in Berlin), Gus tav Bauer (chancellor in 1919-20), the "red king of PrussiaHErnst Heilmann (head of the Prussian SPD fraction since 1921), and Wilhelm Richter (head of the Berlin police since 1920). Tue latter chree were intimace friends ofJulius Barmat, and Heilmann and Bauer were even tied lÖosely to his business. No doubt ehe business deals with the agencies of the Reich and ehe Län• der responsible for provisioning Germany made Barmat an even richer man than he had been before. Like Kutisker, he was a ~'profiteer." There were indeed · warnings that he was a seedy businessman, someone to be careful of.2" Hun· dreds upon hundreds of pages of the fact-finding committee's report addressed the question whether Social Democracs had exerted their influence in securing contracts favorable to Barmat; there are numerous indications that this was the case. In this context, the committee pursued just as intensively the seem ingly ridiculous question about who provided visa permits for the Osljuden, namely, for Barmat's brothers Herschel (Henry), Solomon, and Isaac that al lowed them not only to encer Germany but also to find housing in a market suffering from a shortage. Conservatives and members of the radical Right had Contested Narrntivcs 'md the Case of tlJ1! "Kutisker·Barmat Scandal" ;.... 217 ofcen raised chese issues before, chereby invoking images of invading parasices and infeccious diseases. Tue figures of Barmat and Kucisker not only helped personalize the phenomenon of Ostjuden "flooding" Germany, buc evencually were also presumed tobe chose responsible for this influx.25 · During ehe _hyperinflacion, Barmat expanded his business, shifting in 1923 from ehe food erade eo ehe acquisidon of industrial enterprises. He acquired mosc of his eighty-odd encerprises-induding machinery, shipping, mining, paper, textiles, and banks-during ehe wincer and spring of 1923-24, that is, in a period of monecary srabilizarion well afrer ehe inflaeion had ended. Bar mat's stracegy of purchasing enrerprises, mosc of which were no longer profit able, proved economically devasraring, just as ie was for Hugo Scinnes, who was bankrupt by April 1925 wirh debcs of more chan 150 million marks.26 The rules of ehe game had changed: if ir was lucrarive eo go inco debr during ehe inßacion, in its afrermach debc chreacened eo break one's neck. Tue issue char exciced ehe public in 1925 was Barmac's seemingly unlimired access eo ehe credit he needed eo finance chese vencures-a total of 38 million ''hard" marks wirhin a year after December 192327-mainly from ehe Prussian scace banks, and larer, when rhac source had dried up, from ehe Reichspost (Na tional Poscal Service). How could men like Kurisker or Barmat obcain credir during an extreme credit crunch when interesr rares soared ro ascronomical heighcs? Bribery and corruprion seemed ehe answer, wich Socialists provid ing ehe key eo ehe public coffers. Tue first accusacion was indeed correce. Bur Barmac pleaded innocenr, alrhough chey argued rhat chey had become a target of anci-Semicism and rhar rheir business was ruined as a resulr of his incarcera cion. True ·as ehe first argument was, ehe second was false, for rheir business failure was iinmanenr by ehe time of rheir imprisonmenr.28 Viewed as parcicularly scandalous was ehe facr chat the Barmat enterprise, like Kurisker, lent ehe money eo private persons as weil as to businesses {indud ing banks) during ehe winrer and spring of 1924, and thereby cashed in on ehe difference berween ehe 'cheap" loans ir procured and ehe exorbitant monerary markec rate. This occurred ar a time when businesses were going bankrupt by ehe chousands because they lacked credir and when ehe shorcage of money in state coffers even led eo layoffs of srace officials. Time and again, farmers, arti sans, and governmene officials recurned to this image of ehe archerypical Jewish usurer, usurping ehe properry of producers. 29 In facr, one might argue chat ehe Kucisker-Barmac case perpecuared ehe tradicion of ehe persecutions of mainly Jewish usurers in ehe prewar period.30
Tue "Capitalist Corruption of Social Democr~ts"
Alchough ehe political Right chrived on ehe Kurisker-Barmac affair in 1925, ehe KPD's Rote Fahne had taken ehe mosr active role in iniciacing ehe policical cam- 218 "'°: Martin H. Gtytr paign againsc Barmat and Kutisker in 1924, before the conservative newspapers followed suic.31 The case evoked vivid memories of war and revolucion among the Left, but it also allowed ehe KPD eo draw on earlier events, wich anti-Semieic references also looming in ehe background. If deavages remained among rhe old factions of ehe antiwar Independent Socialisrs and rhe Majoricy Social Demo crars even afrer the rwo pareies reunited in 1922, they were nothing like the un bridgeable gulf thac emerged between Social Democrats and ehe KPD in 1925. How did ehe Social Democrats come to work wich Barmat, asked ehe Ger man Comintern expert Karl Radek in his pamphlet, Bannat und seine Freunde, which summed up many of the arguments published in rhe Rote Fahne. The answer was clear and obvious: such cooperarion was possible because ehe SPD had aligned itself wich hoch Hindenburg and capitalism durirtg the war, just as Eascem Jewry had done. According to the KPD, Barmat and the entire Kutisker-Barmat scandal were synonyms for ehe inevitable 'capicalisc corrup tion," not only of ehe SPD but also of rhe Second Inrernational.32 Barmat was an easy scapegoar because of his dose ti~s to a group of primarily conservarive Social Democrats who had enthusiastically supported the war efforr, maincain ing their allegiance to Imperial Germany until the very end, as was rhe case -with many Social Democrats.33 In Radek's words, they had misleadingly tried to convince ehe workers "rhat they would die for a great cause, that they would die not for the interescs of German capital but for ehe fatherland, for the inter ests of ehe working dass:'34 However, there was more eo Radek's interpretation of the SPD's downfall than ehe highly contesred responsibility for ehe war. He buile on orher srories that were readily available in 1925 among hoch the Lefi: and the Right. One of these stories connected Barmat wich 'Alexander Helphand, a Jewish Russian political emigre from ehe 1905 revolution known as Parvus and one of ehe mosr colorful figures associated wich ehe German Left. A promising lefi:ist rheoreri cian before the war, Parvus-this "un.believably fat Socraresn whose "intellect was as broad as his body"35-had become a shrewd businessman during the war, arrfully mixing money and politics. Parvus viewed a German victory as ehe precondition for the victory of socialism, so in his view Hindenburg und Ludendor.ff were nothing other than ehe execurives of the future socialism, first in Germany and then in Europe. He forged links eo those Scandinavian Social ists who were friendly to Germany, reaping significant economic benefits from these ties, like the famous coal deliveries eo his Danish comrades that the Reich subsidized in order to oust cheaper English coal and influence.36 Yet one of Parvus's biggest schemes was eo bring revolution to Russia, which in 1916-17 would not only relieve Germany of irs Eastern Front bur also provide him wirh a new polieical role. This is in itself a long story that finds Parvus ofren boasting not only abouc his great connections to Russian Socialisrs via Scandinavia but also ahout his ability to participaee actively in revolutionizing Russia.37 He was Contested Narratives and t1Je Case of tl,e "Kutisker-Barmac Scandal" :- 219
successful insofar as he convinced ehe Foreign Office ( which had helped him become a German ci tizen in 1916) to spend tremendous sums of money eo sup port his "Russian connections:' Tue question whether this money ever arrived in Russia or ended instead in Parvus's pockers or in his Scandinavian venrures is quite anocher matter. He was also accively involved in arranging safe passage for Lenin from Swiczerland to Russia chrough his clever business companion, Georg Sklarz. Parvus never left any doubt chac he disliked ehe Bolsheviks, par cicularly Lenin. In fact, soon after rhe Soviecs gained power, Parvus was again in concact wich the Foreign Office, atrempting to lure officials wich his ideas about establishing an anti-Bolshevist organizacion. At ehe time of ehe armiscice ·in late 1918, a forrune's worth of propaganda material, paid for by the Reich, remained sruck in ehe East. This incident, as well Parvus's earlier involvements in Russia and elsewhere, was firsc brought up in the fall of 1919 by Maximilian Harden in his journal, Die Zukunft: "All of these stories, and a hundred uglier ones have been circulating for monchs"; copies of official documents were also circulating. Harden compiled rhese dispersed bits of information into a plau sible account, thereby exposing the dubious alliance of Parvus wich ehe Foreign Office and prominent Social Democrats.38 This in itself constirured a scan dal in ehe view of many observers. Most aggravaring for ehe radical Left was that Parvus's companion Sklarz had received a highly lucracive carte blanche for .provisioning the government's troops during ehe revolutionary turmoil in January of 1918, specifically ehe Corps Lüttwitz, which had been responsible for killing Rosa Luxemburg, Karl Liebknecht, and orher revolucionaries.39 This was a sore issue on ehe Lefr, even more so because everybody knew rhar Barmat and Parvus were close friends. These connections also drew arcention eo ehe ethics of Social Democracic leaders associared wich ehe worsr rypes of profireers. A good many functionar ies drew additional incomes from the highly subsidized Parvus vencures, such as ehe Institut zur Erforschung der sozialen Folgen des Krieges (Instirute for the Research of ehe Social Consequences ofWar) in Copenhagen, ehe Verlag für soziale Wissenschaft in Germany, and ehe journal Die Glocke. Many of ehern had writcen ehe ominous anci-Bolshevist propaganda material menrioned above that had sparked ehe "Sklarz scandal." By and large ehe same group of people, namely, righc-wing Social Democracs, came under artack once more in 1925. Back in 1919-20, the former Reich chancellor Philipp Scheidemann had taken ehe brunt of ehe political attacks from ehe far Left. The man who had warnedjusc a shorc while before char "Der Feind steht rechts" {the enemy is on our right)40 was viciously accused of collaboracing wich "capiraliscs" and "reac tionaries:· Tue issue involved food contracrs and his (and his in-law's) personal and business relationships wich Sklarz und Parvus, who gladly shared wich him ehe ameniries of life, including Parvus's villa in Switzerland and later in ~erlin. In order eo contain rhis conflict, a facr~finding commiccee of ehe SPD 220 ": Martiu H. Geyer held hearings in 1919-20 eo invescigace ehe behavior of Scheidemann and ochers, leaving Scheidemann wich a tarnished rcputacion.41 Five ycars larcr, another former chancellor, Gusrav Bauer, confronrcd chargcs very sirnilar ro chose broughc against Scheidemann. In February 1925, Bauer was forced by his parcy ro resign from office as a mcmber of ehe Reichstag, and a spccial com mission of ehe SPD excluded him from ehe parcy, not ehe least bccausc of ehe "incredibly infuriated mood in ehe faccories:'42 For months, ehe involvcmcnt of Social Democrars like Bauer, \Vels, and Heilmann in Barmac's business shook ehe SPD, thereby raising ehe issues of ethics and politics and posing questions about ehe furure of socialism and capitalism and the path rhc party had caken since ehe war and the revolurion. All of chese issues were debaced at rhe SPD Party congress, held in Heidelberg in September 1925, wherc ehe parcy drafced a new program that represented a marked turn eo ehe lcft.43 Tue name ofJulius Barmat and his dealings wich rhe Reich and ehe state of Saxony were mentioned in German newspapers for the first time in conncction wich ehe controversial acrivities and business vencures of Sklarz and Parvus. Some of ehe informaeion revealed ehen came up time and again in ehe years thar followed.44 Although no clear connection between Sklarz and Barmat could ever be established, conservaeive critics argued thar the same mishandling of ehe case "on order from above" rhat had resulted in ehe withdrawal of an in, dictment against Sklarz in 1921 and ehe transfer of ehe Berlin state arcorney responsible for ehe case to ehe Reich Court in Leipzig would repeat itself in ehe case ofßarmat.45 Tue activism of ehe state arcorney's office in 1924-25 and ehe conservarives' outcry over polirical injusrice were rooted in these events.
From Rathenau to Barmat: Telling the Story of the Jewish "Rattenkönige"
By 1920, ehe radical Right had also raken norice of ehe information being cir, culated on Sklarz. An important, widely circulated pamphlet, entirled Der Rattenkönig und ihre Helfer. Die \Vahr/Jeit über den Fall Sklarz (The Rat King and his Helpers: The Truth about the Sklarz Case), appeared in 1920 under rhe pseudonym Sincton Upclaire (a transposition of the name of ehe Arnerican wrirer Upcon Sindair). Tue cover of ehe pamphlet states that ehe "rar king" reigned over a "society of racs, who are so rwisred together and tangled up in 4 their own filth and smuc in ehe nest thar they can no longer be separared." €\ Again, this was primarily ehe story of enrichment ofJewish proficeers and how they were enrangled wirh each other. Tue pamphlec deeailed ehe efforcs eo bring about Bolshevism in Russia by sending Lenin there, characrerizing Sklarz as ehe "financier of ehe special guard of ehe Reichstag during ehe unresc" of carly 1919-yet omitting ehe fact thae ehe troops were fighting ehe Comrnunist Left.47 lhe radical Right thus drew a connection beeween Jews, profirecring, and socialism on ehe one side, and bctwecn Jewish financing and republican combae leagues dose to the SPD, on ehe orher. Howcvcr, ehe brum: of ehe acracks of rhe polirical füghr was direcred against "Jewish war~profitccring" and rhc Kriegswirtschajtsgescllscl,aften, ehe semipublic bodies rhae had organizcd rhe war economy, which were depicted as a symbiosis between Jews running rhc war economy and Socialisrs. Since rhe early years of ehe war, vicious attacks had becn made on rhe Jcws, and Walther Rathenau, ehe head of ehe departmcne for war supplies ( Kriegsrohstoffabteilung) \'.'.aS a favorire carger of such abuse unril his murdcr in 1922.48 Tue argumenr of ehe right was simple: ehe Kriegswirtschaftsgesellschaften had exploieed ehe German popularion and corrupred economic life, rhereby causing prices ro explode and scarce re~ sources, including food, eo be wasred. Rarhcnau was rhus decried as a "rat king of socieeics rhar have to murually supporr and help each other, where one was always rhe vendor, customer, or moneylender of rhe orher:'49 Tue consequences of ehe "Rarhenau sysrem;' which had been "born of a Jewish mind;' were de~ picred as ehe final seed of deserucrion rhar broughr abour Germany's downfall in ehe war. 50 Tue Sk.larz case fit inro rhis narrative of warrime corruprion jusr as well as did rhe Kurisker,ßarmar affair. 1l1us ir was not far fetched ro argue, as did rhe Zionist \Viener l'vforgenzeitung, rhar "ehe Barmar Affair ... represencs rhe climax of agitation against Rarhenau:·si After all, Barmar was vilified as rhe new "rar king;· an image rhat also proliferared among agrarian groups.52 This corresponded wich narratives rhar viewed ehe "sphere of circularion," meaning ehe wareime system of rrade and disrribution, as the primary cause of ehe impoverishment and misery suffered by ehe German popularion. Jux, caposed to chis was ehe sphcre of producrion and men like Hugo Srinnes, an entrepreneur in rhe field of shipping, manufacruring, and heavy indusrry and a prominent member of rhc Gcrman Peoples Party (DVP). In 1924, Srinnes's business wem bankrupr. In an opcn lerrer ro Srinnes's widow in 1925, Alfred Rosenberg argued rhar Hugo Srinnes, like German arcisans and farmers, had becn financially ruined bccause he did nor undersrand ehe "nature of a world, wide Jewish coopcration ( Zuscw1menspids) and had not prepared himself for ehe bacrle againse ruinacion." He daimed rhac ehe Jcwish "\Veltbw1pj" (world, wide srruggle) would conrinue umil all Gcrman enrerprises were in Jewish 53 hands. In rhe novcl Der K~w.J;11,w11 VOH 1\-Iü/Jlheim published rhar same rear, Scinnes was porrrared as a national hero-as a fighrer againsr Versailles and for the working dass but also as a dcfcnder of "produccive c1pical" againsr ehe dark forccs of finance."4 Inspired by conspiracy chcorics on ehe "r~ijfi:ndc Kc1pict11" (hoarding capiral), völkiscl, groups spun o[her srnrics char circularcd widcly in the mid, l 920s. For example, the anci-Scmitic journal Da H'111u11cr referrcd eo a "prorocol" prov~ ing chat lcading Social Dcmocrars had rncr wich Parvus in Schwanenwerdcr in 1919, whcre chey had aJlegcdly decidcd ro suspend chcir calls for socialization and to scek inscc;id eo bring abouc ehe "contiscacion of all properry'' by way 222 r-: Martin H. Gcytr of inRation: "This satanic plan has succeeded. People and princes have been robbed of their cash. Only. the money belonging to the Jews has been spared because they rule the international monetary market:•ss In 1925, anti-Semitic radicals argued chat "ßarmat and Co:' offered the best proof that the "Protocols of the Elders of Zion" were real. They especially referred to one passage in the "Protocols": "Just to be on the safe side, we will manipulate the presidential election toward such candidates whose past proves to have a certain sicuation, a 'Panama' known only to us. This person will then be the obedient executor of our orders, mocivated by fear of disclosure and ehe understandable desire to continue enjoying all the privileges, income, and honors linked to presidencial office." Legally, it was tricky eo argue like this, especially to suggest concrctely that "Ebert possesses a dark point from his past before his election and is therefore committed, come what may, eo the Jewish parasites." Having prof fered this legal caveat, it was furcher argued rhat "the Kutiskers and Barmats have obviously tried everywhere and among all leading personalities eo create a 'Panama' in order to have them in their hands •••• So, as always, the Jewish plan macches-how could ir be otherwise-Jewish instincr and its effects:'56 In this sense, the story of Parvus, Sklarz, Kutisker, and Barmat provided powerful dues in a conspiratoriaI narrative of the polirical Right and völkisch groups particularly in a .time of war, revolution, and inflation. Parvus and Sklarz were linked with Lenin's Bolshevist revolution in Russia (an obituary on Parvus ref~rred to him as the "Head of the Nordic Central Committee for Bolshevist Propaganda in Western Europe"),57 and there was something to the rumor that Barmat sought ro align himself with the Ukrainian Bolsheviks in 1917-18. All three of these men allegedly supported the new "Marxist" revo lutionary governments in Germany. Not only were they depicted as bribing the new politicians but also as manipularing them so rhar Parvus, Sklarz, and Bar mat-as representatives of "international Jewry"-could gain control of ehe Prussian Stare Bank at rhe expense of the broader German economy and the population at large. The ensuing trial was interpreted as just one more example of a "Gefesselte Justiz" (captive law) {Zarnow), a judicial system the hands of · which were tied by the "Panama" thar was allegedly buried in the resume of every republican politician. lt is the scory of rhe republic in the hands of hoch Jews and Socialiscs. Thus it is not astonishing that· the military organization of the Social Democrats, the Reichbanner Schwarz-Rot-Gold, was soon re ferred to as the "Barmat Boys" and th~ "special guard of the Je"ws:•ss
Gifts, Luxury, and Schwanenwerder
What enraged rhe opposition as much as the public was the involvement of money and gifts and the suspicion of dependencies that were created by favo.rs, Coutcstcd Narratives and tJ,c Casc of t/,c w Kutiskcr-Barmat Scandal" :"' 223
which made ehe Social Democrats particularly vulnerable eo eh arges of hypoc risy. Their opponents pointed ro an inconsistency between their lofty rhetoric of social justice, imbued with a more or less implicit critique of capiralism, and ehe behavior of many Social Democrats who seemed to have profired from a close relationship with Barmar. Whac might be acceprable among bourgeois parcies, namely, that money and politics mingled all too easily, should not have been acceptable to Socialisrs.59 Tue case of Barmat presenred a special rwist to ehe relationship between money and morals in 1925 because Barmat, like Kutisker, was not just any businessman or financier. As a profireer, Barmat evoked memories of ehe re- . cendy experienced "world turned upside down"-rhe period of inflarion in Germany, followed by rhe time of economic stabiiization, when material de privarion, hunger, and ehe loss of a sense of "Treu und Glauben" (good fairh) was evident everywhere, while a select but conspicuous few in sociery indulged chemselves in luxurious excess. A dense web of srories and images of such ex cesses exisred in the German collecrive memory, ready for immediate recall.60 Indeed, one can interpret ehe vicious attacks of 1925 as rerriburion for rhose who appeared eo have pushed the moral destabilization of German sociery to ehe extreme in rheir crazed pursuic for money. Tue facc char ehe offenders were Jews, in particular Ostjuden who had found their way into German sociery, im plied a srraregy of distancing, whereby ehe "others;' strangers, were blamed. The first chaprer of Gottfried Zarnov's book Gefesselte Justiz. enrirled "ehe New German Iliad," begins wich a subchaprer called "Tue Sybarite Island of Schwanenwerder" in which ehe rich sociecy of western Berlin was epitomized more than anyehing eise. In early 1923, Bannar moved eo rhis exclusive and redusive peninsula, wich beauriful villas siruated in a large park and boat-piers on ehe Havel River. Rumors had it that Julius Barmat was arrested in the villa of ehe "big-rime profieeer" Parvus, who had sertled chere only a few years earlier and had died chere a few days before Julius Barmar was arresred.61 Notwith standing ehe fact rhac they lived in different homes, rhis enabled ehe personal faces and srories of rhese rwo figures eo be mingled once again. For Barmat was an equally rich man, who had lived in 1919 in ehe elegant Hotel Kaiserhof ( as did Parvus} and chen regularly in ehe Hotel Bristol. No doubt he spent some of his money engaging in rhe social life of Berlin, like his brorher Henry, who · had a large flat on ehe Kurfürstendamm and was just returning from a hunting parry when he was arresced. Since ehe days of Imperial Germany. Berlin's West Side had had ehe reputation of being "democratic." Especially ro conservarive observers, it was painful eo see how men like ehe Barmars invaded ehe social and political life of Berlin wich their concacrs eo poliricians.62 Julius Barmac seems eo have been a hard-working businessman: a J,omo eco nomicus judaicus (Penslar), yec one who spent his money freely.63 When ~is friend Heilmann argucd in ehe facc-finding commicree rhat Barmat was sans- 224 ": Martin H. Geyer fied ro eat herring and tripe, he was widely ridiculed ( as in a cartoon in ehe Rote .Falme). Tue public liked more juicy stories, such as the one first uncovcrcd by ehe Berliner Börsenzeitung abour an Austrian dancer by the name of Katharina Huber, also known under the pseudonyms of Marga Lundgreen or Kiry von Hagen, wich whom Barmat was said eo have been linked romantically. Pictures of rhis good,Iooking showgirl popping out of a cake, drcssed up as a barmaid, or dancing scantily clothed in the posh bar Nelson's near ehe Kurfürstendamm, where Julius Barmat apparendy met her afrer rhe war, fueled the public's fan tasy and the imagination of political conservatives. Such images were nearly primordial wich respect eo the Berlin of the early 1920s. For the conservative press, Katharina Huber was ehe Madame de Pompadour of ehe "Barmat circle" and allegedly bestowed sexual favors upon Heilmann and ehe head of ehe Ber lin police Richter when Barmat was out of rown, rhat is, until all rhree of ehern, as it was rumored, wished to rid rhemselves of her and forced her to leave Ber, lin in 1921. This story became confounded wich long,standing rumors abour Parvus, who was forced to leave Switzerland in 1919, due as much to his repu tation as a Russian revolurionary as ro his alleged sexual excesses, which were mentioned time and again wich respect to his unco.nventional lifestyle and his utter rejection of "bourgeois mores."64 These rumors added a risque rouch to ehe gatherings of leading republican poliricians and parry functionaries at rhe homes of borh Parvus and Barmat. lndeed, Schwanenwerder had become a so cial place where conservarive Social Oemocrats like Scheidemann, Otto Wels, Ernst Heilmann, ehe Prussian minister of education Haenisch, to name just a few, met and talked about politics and business.65 lt is difficulc to say what enraged the general public more: rhe fact rhat the Stare Bank had lost millions to these men or ehe innumerable srories about lirtle favors, small gifts, food packages, ehe so,called Liebesgaben or sexual fa vors, and the cash loans, large and small, rhat Barmat gave away freely-not only to his friends. Tue srories abour Sklarz, Barmat, and Parvus were rhose imbued wirh gifr giving and favor doing and were inrerpreted already at rhe time as illustrations of a straregy of"Einschmeicheln" (ingrariarion), of securing rheir acceprance into sociery and of crearing dependcncies.66 Under attack by ehe KPD for the favors he had bestowed on Social Democrats, Barmat revealed that a member of ehe KPD who had come eo Amsterdam in 1919 during a dockworkers' strike had also received a small personal loan rhar he had never paid back fully. 67 In ehe case of Gustav Bauer, it seems char Bannar had indeed tried r.o foster his dependency or favoricism. One of ehe officials of rhc Stare Bank, who was in good part responsible for rhe mess, was dcpicred as vicrim of the slyness, superior rheroric, and cosmopolitan appearance of ßarmat and particularly Kutisker.68 At any rate, contemporaries drew a connecrion berween thc favors Bannar dispensed and the favors he received. Tue facc rhar scories circulaccd about Co11tcstcd Ntimitivcs a11d tlJc Case of ehe "Kutiskcr-Barmat Scandal" :- 225
6 "whole barrels of margarinc" 'l char had perhaps been given eo parry officials says more about ehe deep,seaced memories of hunger lingering in the minds of ehe populacion ehan it does about anyrhing clse (as does, in a side nore, the story widely publicized and handled in ehe press during ehe winter of 1924-25 about a mass murdcrer named Haarmann who sold the human Aesh of his vic, cims). In ehe case of Berlin's police chief Richter, who had risen from rhe ranks of ehe mecalworkers, such gifrs provcd eo be his downfall. In cears, he admitted eo ehe parliamentary facc,finding committee and also ro ehe srare acrorney rhac he had not only received loans tocaling 8,100 gold marks and some scocks and bonds, but also a cuxedo, pajamas, a hat, a pair of cuffiinks, a lighter, cigars and cigar,dip, expense,paid trips eo Holland and Vienna, and cwo or chree free meals at ehe Hotel Briscol over a long period of rime.70
Containing the Barmat Affair: A Narrative for the Republid
As we have seen, the Kucisker,ßarmat affair scarred out as an atcack on ehe Social Democratic policical esrablishmenr of ehe Weimar Republic by borh ehe radical Lefc and ehe Righc, chen eurned rapidly inco a vicious anri,Semicic assaulr. Ir ended in 1928 when ehe court nnally handed down convictions in what seemed eo defenders of ehe republic eo be a success scory for the republic and, not ehe least, ics judicial sysrem: reason had prevailed over emocions and fcnded off vicious arracks on ehe republic, chus ran one explanacion.71 Indeed, in order to neutralizc ehe artacks, ir was necessary to take "polirics" and "poliri· cal excirem~nr" out of the enrire affair and eo rarionalize ir as a case of whice, collar crime and grave economic mismanagemenc. In light of the momemum the case had developed in rhc polirical and legal arenas and fueled by an escalar· ing media campaign, chis was not easy. By arresring businessmen and even plac, ing the Reich's posral minisrer in pretrial derencion, rhe srare prosccucor's otfice and especially two young officials, Kußmann and Caspary, creared a heighcened atmosphere of crisis. Considcring how much rhe DNVP had used rhe issue of the Os~udcn in previous elccrions, it is fairly impossible eo uncangle mcre political cakularions from anri,Semiric morivcs (although Caspary was Jew· ish). Ar any rate, in rhe eycs of conscrvatives, rhe rwo stare arrorneys bccarne heroes who promiscd eo cxpose, oncc and for all, ehe "RH"nwtsumJ-f' (Barnut morass). In facr, ehe prosecutors inquired inro rhe personal life of Barmar's associates and soughc ro uncover all sorrs of inaiminaring evidcnce chat wcnt far beyond ehe casc, unravcling earlicr cascs likc Sklarz and orher allegarions. TI1is would have made pcrfocr sense lud chcy been ablc to uncover a !arger conspiracy. ßur nothing of rhis sorr marcrializcd, especially no evidcnce of po, lirically morivarcd fraud and bribcry ar ehe Srare Bank, despire ehe fact thar rhe invesrigarive efforts produced ovcr a rhousand files.;2 Even weeks afcer ehe 226 ""': /\fortiu H. Geyer accused had been arrestcd and placed in derencion, they were not informcd of the formal charges leveled against rhcm.il Moreover, thcre was the case of Reich Post Minister Anton Höfle, whose death in police custody threatencd eo become a real "Panama" of the judicial system. This, togerher with ehe al· legation rhat confidencial material had been lcaked from ehe prosecutor's office eo ehe press, was the reason chat ehe rwo abovemcntioncd prosecutors werc dismissed from ehe case and larer even subjecred eo a disciplinary investigarion. By no means did ehe republic act like a cowardly lion; nor did it lack ehe means and guts ro contain ehe conflice. These were hold sreps to take, but this was parr of what onc may call the republican success story. Tue well·known Berlin atrorncy Siegfried Löwen· srein came ro ehe condusion in 1928 rhat deposing ehe two state an:orneys was an effort, albeit belared, eo "make amcnds for ehe damage done by excessive overzealousness." Rather rhan turning ehe case over ro "youthful, nai've, and overzealous department heads;' it was now "placed in ehe hands of judicious, carefully deJiberaring rrien" for furrher invcstigation.74 That there was a need in the heat of the political conresr in 1925-. eo correct whar had gonc wrong was soon noted also in ehe Prussian Dier's summary of irs inquiry inro the case. For example, ehe speaker of ehe German National Party, Deerberg, was asronishingly conciliaeory in his summary report for ehe Prussian fact~finding commirree. He argued rhat no "political influence" had been exerted upon au· chorities to remove ehe case from ehe docket of ehe cwo srare prosccutors.75 Oespite repeaced attacks by conservacive groups and individual right·wing pol· iticians on ehe handling of ehe case, a broad consensus emcrgcd ( exduding the KPD) by ehe end of the summer rhar ehe involvement and rhe responsibiliry of individual people had been gready exaggerated in Barmac's case, especially wirh respect eo ehe credit policy of ehe Srate Bank. Reich President Ebert was raken out of the line of fire altogecher, wich ehe argument thac he was not implicated in ehe case and chac he had kept his diseance from Barmae.76 Tue loans granted by ehe National Post were far more dubious, but Höfle was dead, and ir was apparently embarrassing eo many conservarives rhac a member of rhe Cenrer Party, a potential political ally, had been so deeply involved in ehe scandal. As the lefrist journal Die Weltbü/Jne commented sarcaseically, the involvement of ehe Center Party only demonstrated who was really "running the show" in rhe republic.77 Wich respecr to rhe reconciliatory rone of rhe Prussian fact·finding committee, Communisc commirree membcr Barrel frerted rhar "now all rhar is missing is a general reconciliarion celebrarion thae even Mr. Barmat would he allowed ro arrend:'78 lhere were many other good reasons why such obvious efforts were being made to deescalare ehe political conflicr. Tue head of rhe DNVP, Graf \Ve~ starp, warned already in February 1925 that "black sheep" were ro be found in all parries.79 Indeed, throughout that enrire year, many similar cases surfaccd in Coutcstcd N,irrlltives 11t1d tlJe Cisc of tl"! "Kutiskcr-B.irnwt Sc.indlll" :..... 227 which industrial and agriculrural businesses could no longer meet cheir credit paymencs. Tue case of Hugo Stinncs was mercly ehe most specracular of chese cases. Ac the final scssion of ehe Prussian Diet's commitcee, ehe Social Demo craric speaker hinred all too obviously ac ehe log rolling taking place behind ehe scenes whcn he stressed rhar his parry agrced tobe more "accommodaring" eo agriculture by extending credit where necessary. Furchermore, he cominued, ehe committee membcrs had become "rcalistic"-he spoke of NüclJternheit• so, more rhan anyching eise, ehe scandals of 1924 and 1925 were viewed as part of ehe gcneral phenomena accompan.ying stabilizarion. Tue presidenc of rhe Reich Bank, Hjalmar Schacht, had completely supporced ehis view, depicting quice cynically ehe incernal organizarion and ehe incompetencc of ehe Prussian offi.cials in running ehe Srarc Bank.80 In 1926, Kurisker was harshly punished; his appeal against ehe verdict came ro naught, and he dicd in prison a day before his verdict was eo be confirmed.81 1he case of Barmac, howevcr, conrained a special dimension. No ocher courr rrial in Gcrman hiscory had cvcr bcen scaged wich such extraordinary efforr: five scace atrorneys, four hundred wirnesses, and fifry experrs were involved. When ehe presidingjudge fell seriously ill a year into ehe rrial proceedings, his private bedroom was rransformed inro a courrroom uncil he could rerurn ro ehe formal courcroom. Borh ehe indiccmcnc of ehe scace attorney's office, published in rwo volumes, and ehe final verdicc of ehe courr were monumental in size.82 Observers emphasized rhat ehe exchanges berween defonse lawyers and state prosecucors may havc been heared ar rimes and rhat rhere were "fundamenral differences of opinion rcgarding ehe acrual and rhe legal assessmenr of ehe case;· bur rhat ehe proceedings were fair and had been fought "wich chivalry:'83 Jusrice had prevailed. "Praise ehe Judges" was ehe headline of rhe Berliner Börsenkurier, one proudly quoeed also in ehe RiclHerzeitung. 84 Tue court concencraced srriccly on ehe issue of ehe loans of 1923- 24, deflecr ing argumenes rhae only Julius Barmat's arrest had caused rhe collapse of rhe Barnut enrerprises.ti5 Tue courc considered ic as provcn rhar Julius and Henry Barmat had bribed ofticials of ehe Srare ßank, senrencing ehern eo eleven and six monchs in prison, respectively, and slapping each wich a heavy fine in addi cion. Only chree people from rhe Stare Bank received prison rerms and each of them were shore. 111e indicrment for fraud was dropped for lack of evidence in accordance wich ehe juridical principlc in dubio pro reo. In rerms of a narrative of ehe republic, rhc courr's reasoning is quitc intercst ing und was picked up by all commcnrarors. 1l1c courc argucd thar ßarmar's business deals occurred during a rime of gcneral confusion of valucs and senri-_ mencs rhat followed rhe period of war, revolution, and inflarion. As a result ~t the rare of dcvaluation, ar firsr slow and rhen quite rapid, "of whar lud unnl eben been revered as permanent valucs, individuals had lost rhcir capabili_r~ eo think in terms of srable values:' 1l1c lattcr only rccmcrgcd when the srabiliza- 228 <': Martin H. Gtytr tion of the currcncy made possible the reinstitution of new standards of value ('\Vertbegri.ffe). As it was argued, the court had to take into account the dccp confusion rhat had prevailed at ehe rime and had to consider that condirions in .1928 were markedly different from those of a few years earlier.s6 Tue more or less implicit argument was that the stabilizaeion of the currency had also dispensed wirh dubious characters like Barrnat and paved ehe way to intern:il stability of ehe rcpublic.
National Socialists and the "Gefesselte Justiz"
Tue efforcs to contain ehe scandals and finally the handing down of the sen tences in borh cases did not mark the end of ehe story. One man in particular refused to drop ehe matter. 111at man, an accountanr named Philipp Lach mann, had been assigned by the stare attorney's office ehe task of inspeceing the books of Kutisker's enterprises. lnstead of writing a _reporr on financial transactions, he wrote a type of criminal investigation report and indictment that was aimed not so much against Kutisker, but against his famous Berlin lav1yer Julius Werthauer and the larter's law parmer, who allegedly had known about the fraudulenc loans and had advised Kutisker. \Vieh ehe larter dead, thc case took a new turn. A private feud emerged berween Lachmann and Wer~ thauer, which prompted a series of lawsuits rhat Lachmann lost; on top of this, Lachmann also lost his standing as a sworn expert in Berlin. All of this spurred him on to write long memoranda and open letters rhar circulared not only in rhe newspapers of the political Right. He saw himself not only as a modern Michael Kohlhaas, thar archerypical figure in ehe play of Heinrich von Kleist who wanred ro have his personal injustices redeemed; he also saw himself in tradition of Cicero and others who ha4 artacked ehe corruption of ehe ancienr Roman Republic. 87 Lachmann's srory was tragic, but not only because he was heavily in debt by rhe early 1930s. Lachmann and the former state attorney Caspary, wich whom he had cl~sely collaborated in 1925 (as he already had wirh rhe latter's farher) were borh Jewish, and it was ehe political Right who was cashing in on this acrimonious campaign of Lachmann. Most people following the case thoughr rhe obstinate accouncanc was simply obsessed or downrighr crazy, an assessment confirmed by the psychiatric opinions of him solicited by ehe courts in connection wich the trials. In 1930, the journalist Gottfried Zarnow included the Lachmann case in his bestseller Gefesselte Justiz. in which rhe cases of Sklarz, Parvus-Helphand, Barmat, Kutisker, and others were rehashed in a semidocumentary manner.88 This time rhe National Socialisrs were able ro take rhe political initiative. In the winrer of 1932-33, the Prussian Diet once more set up a fact-6nding commitree, rhe so-called Zarnow Committee, which was tO investigate thc allcgations made in the book, ehus unraveling again the earlier cases of Barmar and Kuriskcr and rhose allegedly pulling ehe.... strings. This commirree met ehe last time ae ehe end of January i933 under the chair· manship of rhe NSDAP rcprescnr.arivc Roland Freislcr, ehe larer head of rhe Volk.sgericlJtshof, whose rurhlessncss towards his polieical enemies could alre.ady be seen.s-1 Tue srory of Julius Barmar does not end in rhe secmingly srable years of rhe lare \Veimar Republic. In his biography, hisrory did repear irself, and it is hard ro say wherher eo view rhis as a eragedy or a raeher cynical comedy. After his release from prison in 1930, Julius Barmar and his broehers senled again in Amsterdam. Soon he was linked eo what was known as ehe Sravisky afrair in France, a financial scandal similar in nature ehar deeply rocked rhe French nation in ehe first half of the l 930s. New "affairs" involving Barmar came up in Swirzerland, Holland, and Belgium, where fasdsr organizarions, apparendy aided by Germany, were acrive ro scandalize rheir business. Srarcing in 1934, Barmac found himself again involved in several courr rrials. In Belgium, ehe highly regarded Carholic minister·presidenr, van Zeeland, had eo defend him· seif againsr accusacions of making allcgedly crooked loans ro banks close eo Barmat during van Zeeland's cenure as vice-presidene of rhe Belgian national bank.90 Under massive public pressure, van Zeeland and all members of his cabinet were finally forced ro resign in 1937-Belgium had ics Barma scandal. Julius Barmar, who was eo be exrradired from Holland eo Bdgium, died on 6 January 1938. \Vhen one of his brothers allegedly fled eo Russia, ehe \/ölkisd1e Beobachter wrote sarcasrically rhar he had rurned eo ehe red diccaror for procec tion and was now "among his own." Julius Bannar had become ehe "Giftblüte der Demokratie" (poisonous Bower of democracy) and rhe "gravedigger of ehe dem· ocratic sysrem; ehe man who represenred ehe demise of ehe republic.91 \Vieh such a repueation, ir was no small wonder rhar ehe Reich Propaganda ~finisrry was looking for someone ro wrire ßarmar's srory-even if rhe srory turned our eo really be chac of Kutisker. Tue Barmars and Kurisker came eo epiromi::e in National Socialist propaganda ehe rats rhat infrsred ehe world-rhe Easeern Jews who rhrew off rheir cafrans, shaved rheir bcards, and became cosmopoli ean mcn-in orher words, rhey represenred ehe "Ewige]ide" (wandering}.~ w) 9 as depicred in rhe 1941 film of ehe samc name. :! By chen, Joseph Goebbels, ehe profireer from rhe "revolurion of 1933," had for a long time serrled in rhe elegant villa colony of Schwancnwerder. Roland Frcisler was one \vho advocared \ 'olk srecl,t, people's law, ehe pn::mises of which diYcrgcd from rhosc of the rul!! of "positive law" rhar was seen as having prorecred mcn like Bannar. lncidenc~llr, his brocher Georg Freisler had raken over ehe law practi(e of Johannes \\ a ehauer, who had escaped in 1933 ro Swirzerbnd."3 \Vcrrhauer had been one of ehe first rhirry people designarcd in August 193 3 not only to lose his Ger· man citizenship but also ro bc cxpropriared, which started rhe larger process 230 r-: Mttrtin H. Geyer of Jewish expropriation accivcly propagatcd by National Socialisrs also with respect to "Jewish war and inflarion profiteering:'94 Probably in 1934, Philipp Lachmann wrore rhe last of his lengrhy mcmorandums, this time to Hermann Göring in his function as minister-president of Prussia, arguing for some rctri bution "for seven years of fighting" and, more urgendy employmenr, for himsclf and Caspary. His efforts were to no avail. Not only was he considered a known complainer, but, now even more importandy, also aJew, and for the latter thcre was no place anymore in public service.95
Notes 1. lc is not clear who made ehe firsc reference ro a "Panama"; however, it was used equally both by rhe Left and ehe Righc. For ehe Panama scandal, see Srephen Wilson, ldcol· ogy and Experieuce: Antisemitism in Fmnce at t/Je Time of t/,e Dreyfus Ajfair (London, 1982), chap. 10. There does noc exisc a comprehensive history of the scandal; sec also Cordula Ludwig, Korruption und Nationalsozialismus in Berlin 1924-1934 (Frankfurt am Main, 1998), 66-75; Stephan Malinowski, "Polirische Skandale als Zerrspiegel der Demokratie. Die Fälle Barmat und Sklarek im Kalkül der Weimarer Rechten;' Jal1rbuch für Antisemitismusforsdmng 5 ( 1996): 46-65. 2. Winfried Sr~ffani, Die Untersuchungsausschüsse des preußischrn Landtags wr Zeit der \Veimarer Repulilik (Düsseldorf, 1960), 169-90. 3„ Hagen Schulze, Otto Braun oder Preußens demokratücl1e Sendung. Eine Biogmphie (Frankfurt am Main, 1977), 466-74; Heinrich August Winkler, Der Schein ,Jer Nor· rnalität. Arbeiter und Arbeiterbewegung in der \.Veimarer RepuMik 1924 bis 1930 (Berlin, 1985), 222-28. 4. Joseph Kaufhold, Der Barmat-Sumpf (Berlin, 1925); Karlludwig Rintelen, Ein imdc mokratischer Demokrat: Gustat' Bauer: Gewerkschaftsfiil„er-Freimd Friedrich Ebcrts Reichskanzler. Eine politische Biograpl,ie (Frankfurt am Main, 1993), 235-48. 5. See also Malinowski, "Politische Skandale;· 52. 6. Winkler, Sc1,ei>1, 229-31; Walter Mühlhausen, FriedriclJ Ebert 1871-1925. Rcic/,sprii· sident der \-Veimarer Republik (Bonn, 2006), 911-980. Iris somewhar curious rhat all of the more recenr biographies of Friedrich Ebert, including that of Walter Mühlhau sen, menrion the 1'.1agdeburger Hochverratsprozeß but not thc Barmac affair. 7. Sammlung der Drncksachen des preußisc/,rn Landtages, 2. Wahlperiode, 1. Tagung 1925, vol. 7, 2973. 8. Victor Schiff, Die Höfle-Tragödie. Gesc1'ic1Jte eines Justizmordes (Berlin, 1925), 7, 14, 88. 9. Murray Edelman, Coustructing t1'e Political Spect,1cle (Chicago, 1988); Murray Edcl man, The Syml10/ic Uses of Politics (Urbana, IL, 1985); Frank Bösch, "Pol irische Skan· dale in Deutschland und Großbritannien," Aus Politik imd Zeitgcsc1Jichte 7, no. 13 (Feb· ruary 2006): 25-32. 10. See, i.e., Heinz Reif, "Antisemitismus in den Agrarverbänden Nordosrdcutschlands während der \Veimarer Republik;' in Ostelbisc/,e Agrargesellsclu1Jt in Kaiscrreicl1 und Republik. Agrarkrise, junkerliche Interessenpolitik, Modernisicnmgsstratcgio1, cd. Heinz Reif (Berlin, 1993), 379-415. Reif scrcsses ehe importancc of ehe case ( 404). Howcver his dcscripcion on ehe basis of rhe agrarian press is a good example of how facr and concemporary ficeion are mixed. Coutcstc:J Narratives &and tlJc Case of tl,e "K11tiskcr-I3armat Scandal" :..... 231
11. Martin H. Geyer, Verkehrte Welt. Revolution, Inflation und Modeme: München 1914- 1924 (Munich, 1999), esp. chap. 8. 12. See also ehe brillianc book by Dicrz ßcring, Kampf um Namen. fürlrnrd Weiß gegen joscpl> Goebl1ds (Scungart, 1991 ). Almost no contemporary phorographs remain, yet an abundance of caricatures. For somc pictures of ehe peoplc involved, see Edmund · Schulz (mit einer Einleitung von Friedrich Georg jünger) ed., Das Gesicl>t der Demo· kr~Jtie (Leipzig, 1931), 93-98. No mcntion of ehe case is made in Cornelia Hecht, Deutschcjudc:n und Antisemitismus in der Weimarer Republik (Bonn, 2003). 13. See rhc compilation of critiques in Walter Mehring, "Der Kaufmann von Berlin;' in Drei Jüdiscl>e Drnmen. Mit Dokumentm zur Rezeption, ed. Hans J. Wcirz (Göttingen, 1995), 297-357, esp. rhe cririque of rhe Berliner Tagcbfott journalisc Ernst Feder, 325f, and rhe convcrsacion of ehe larrcr wich Mehring, who noced chac afrer many fi.ghcs wirh Piscacor he originally had wanted ro stop ehe play. Ernst Feder, Tagebücl>er eines Berliner Publizistt'n 1926-1932, ed. Cl~cile Lowenrhal-Hensel and Arnold Paucker (Srutcgare, 1971), 223f. For an analysis sec Hans-Peter Bayerdörfer, "Shylock in Ber· !in. Walcer Mehring und das Judenporrrät im Zeitstück der Weimarer Republik;' in Conditio Ju~foirn. Ji1dentum, Antisemitismus und deutscl>sprac1'ige Literatur vom Ersren Weltkrieg bis 1933/1938, ed. Hans Orro Horch and Horst Denkler (Tübingen, 1993), 307-23; howcver, ehe author does not menrion ehe acrual case. 14. "Linkskurve;· in Mehring, "Kaufmann von Berlin;' 306. 15. Fora derailed, although not complete descriprion, see ehe eighcy-page verdict handed down by ehe courc on 30 Junc 1926, Landesarchiv Berlin (LAB) A Rep 358, 62, vol. I. See also ehe references eo Kucisker in [he final summaries of rhe various parry rep· resentatives in the last session of ehe Prussian fact-fi.nding commicree: Sammlung der Drucksacl,c11 dl'S preußisclm1 LandMges, vol. 7, 1480. 16. Sammlung der Drucksacl1en des preußischni Lm1dtages, vol. 7, 2966. 17. Verdicr against Kutisker (notc 15), 76. 18. Sammlung der Dru~·ks cicl>cn des prrnßischen Lmdltlges, vol. 7, 2965; sce, i.e., "Zum An trag betreffend den Angeschuldigten Rühe;· n.d., Geheimes Sraacsarchiv Preußischer Kulcurbesirz(GSrA PK), l HA Rcp 84a no. 56550, fol. 156. 19. The best description (however, wirhour foomores) is by Günter Casper, "Der Kurisker· Roman;' in fall1ida-Scudien (Berlin, 1987), 218-32. Sec also Cecilia von Scudnitz, fa war wie ein RaimJ,. follttdil und sein Lebe11 (Düsseldorf, 1997), chap. 19. 20. Quorcd in Casper, "Kurisker-Roman;' 325. \Vieh respcct eo Fallada's anti-Semirism and planned novcl, sec also Ellis Shookman, "Making Hiscory in Hans Fallada's Bern· cm, Bonzen ·u11d Bomben: Schleswig· Holstein, Nazism, and rhe Lwdvvlkbt•wegrmg," Germm1 Studies Review 13 ( 1990): 461-80; l110mas Brcdohl, "Some lhoughrs on rhc Polirical Opinions of Hans Fallada: A Response eo Ellis Shookman;· Gemu111 Scudies Review 15 (1992): esp. 539-41. 21. Caspcr, "Kueisker-Roman,'' 229, 220. 22. Trudc Maurer, Ostjuden in Dt~11tschlit11d 1918-1933 (Hamburg, 1986). . 23. A very facrual busincss history of rhc Barmars can bc found in ehe publishc~ verdicc -~~ ehe courr, which is a rcmarkablc piccc of conn:mporary cconomic hisr~ry. Urtd des SdJtij Jcngericl1ts Berlin-Mitte:, Abteilung 206, iotHH 30 . .März 1928 in da Stnifs11(be gegen ~,mn , it und Gc11osm1 (Berlin, 1929). Some of ehe vcrdicr is bascd on thc indictmc:m, wluch was also published as A11kf,1gesd,rijt gegen B11rn11lt u11d Gt:lll>SWI, 2 vols. (Berlin, 1926). 24. "ßarmac und die Auskunfrcicn;' n.d., PdirisL"hcs Archiv des Auswärtigen Amres (PA· AA) R 30337 fol. 173-74. 232 r-: Aforti11 H. Geyer
25. Maurer, Ostjuden; Shulamit Volkov, "Die Dynamik der Dissimilation. Dcmsche Juden und die ostjüdische Einwanderer;· in Zd>roclJmt' Gcsd1ichtt', ed. Dirk Blasius and Dan Diner {Frankfurt am Main, 1991), 64-78. For cxample, see "Das Osrjudcnprob lcm," Nt•l4e Prc11ßisc1Je (Kreuz·) Zeitung, 1 February 1925; "Die Osrjudcn-Plagc," Nc11c Pm'.ßisclH~ (Kreuz-) Zeitung, 13 Fcbruary 1925; ''Henry Barmats \.Vohnung;· 26 Fcbru ary 1925. 26. Gerald D. Fddman, Hugo Stimrcs. Biograrl,ie eim·s Jn,l11striellcn 1870-1924 (Munic:h, 1998), 936. 27. Urteil des Sch~tfc11geric1'ts Berlin-Mitte, 11. 28. Verhör Julius Barmars, 12January 1925, 1 HA Rep 84;1 no. 56541, fol. 240-44; Hcnri Barmat ro Ministcrialdirekror Huber, 25 January 1925, 1 HA Rep 84;1 nr.56544, fol. 102-29. . 29. Urteil des Sd1öffc11gcriclJts fürlin-.Miue, 1Sf.1l1is political issuc was not parr of thc trial. This protesr, which muse be seen also in ehe comcxt of ehe firing of governmene offi.cials and ehe debares over "revaluation" of former dcbrs, cannot be dealt with here. On the difficulties of agriculture, see Heinrich Becker, Handl1mgsspielriiumt• der Agrarpolitik in der \.Veimnrer Rqmblik zwisc1m1 1923 und 1929 {Stuttgart, 1990). A strong cricique by rhe Bavarian Government rhae referred to a udeep-seared and dangerous excircmenr" among rhe populaeion can be found in Akten der Reichska11zlei. Die Kal>i11ette Luther {Boppard, 1977), 1:70-80. 30. For the changing debates over "\.Vuc/Jer" see Martin H. Geyer, "Defining the Common Good and Social Juscice: Popular and Legal Concepts of \VuclJer in Germany from ehe 1860s to the 1920s;· in Private Law and Social Inequality i11 the Industrial Age: Com· pttring Legal Cultures in Britain, Fra11ce, Germm1y. and the U11ited StMes, ed. \Villibald Steinmetz (Oxford, 2000), 457-83. 3 L The Communisrs were weil informed \vhen ir came to rhe Barmar scandal, according ro ehe conservative Kreuz-Zeitrmg: "ßarmar Verteidigung im Reichcsrag," Nrne Prcußisc1'e (Kreuz·) Zeitung 36, 22 February 1925. 32. Karl Radek, Die Barmat-Sozialdemokr,lfie (Berlin, 1925), 4 3. Nexr eo rhe arciclcs of ehe Rote Fahne, see also Anonymous, ß,irmat und seine Partei (Berlin, 1925); and ehe concluding comment br Barrels in rhe Preußische Untersuchungsausschuß, Sa111111l1111g der Druck.saclm1 des preußischen Lm1dtagrs, vol. 7, 2986-3004. 33. Robert Siegel, Die Lc11sclJ-C11now-Haenisc11-Grnppe. Eine Studie :wm reclJten Flügel da SPD im Weltkriege (Berlin, 1976). 34. Radek, B,mnat·Sozialdemokratie, 30. For an accounr of ehe SPD during rhc war, sec esp. Susanne Miller, Burgfrieden und Klassenkampf Die drntsche Sozi,ildwrokrntic im Ersten \Velrkrieg {Düsseldorf, 1974}. 35. Harry Graf Kessler, Tagehüc/,er 1918-1937, ed. Wolfgang Pciffer-ßelli (ßcrlin, 1961 ), 203. 36. For ehe following. see rhe early, rich accounc by Maximilian Harden, "Gold oder \Vcih rauch:' Die Zukimjt. 108 (1920): 1-29; Radek, Barmat· Sozic1fdcn1okratie, 32-37; \Vin fried B. Scharlau and Zbynek A. Zeman, Freil1e1ttcr der Revolution: Part'us-1-Jclrhm1d. Eine pofitisdJe Biographie (Cologne, 1964); Elisabeth Heresch, Gel1eimakte Parv11s: Die gekaufte Revofotion {München, 2000). 37. Scharlau and Zeman, Freibeuter, 151-243. 38. Maximilian Harden, "Für die Republik," Die Zt1kunft 107 (1919), esp. 276-82; sec also Harden, "Gold oder Weihrauch:' 39. Harden, "Republik," 279. 40. The Skbrz affair and Scheidemann's involvcmcnt is not mencioncd in ehe srandard ac councs of rhc SPD; for somc aspccrs of chis polirical scandal. see Niels H. M. Albrechc, "Die Mache einer Vcrlcumdungsbmpagne. Antidemokratische Agitationen der Presse und Justiz gegen die Weimarer Republik und ihren erseen Reichspräsidenten Friedrich Ebere vom "ßadcbild" bis zum Magdeburgcr Prozess" (Phil. Diss., Bremen, 2002), 13 3-50. In a scries of articles rcprinred in several conservarive newspapers, Eduard Kenkcl draws ehe connccrion between ehe Kurisker-Barmac casc and chat of Sklarz; see "Bilder aus der preußischen Jusriz,'' in Bergisch-M,frkische Zeitimg, 16-23 September 1925. 41. On ehe cstablishmcnr of ehe U11carndn111gscwmhuß, see Procokoll der Sitzung des Par teiausschusses, Berlin, den 13. Dezember 1919, in Protokolle der Sicz1111gen des P1~rte i1wml>usses der SPD 1912 bis 1921 (repr. Berlin, 1980), 1, 49-55; SPD, Uncersuchun grnusscl>uß z1m1 Fall Sklarz (Berlin, 1920). 42. For a dccailed description of Baucr's involvemenc, his arrempcs eo cover up his con ncccion eo Bannar, and bis larer cxposurc, sec Rimclen, U11demokratischer Dwiokrnt, 235-48, csp. 244-46. In ehe summer of 1924. he was reinscaced due to ehe efforts by ehe righc wing, bur rhis rcmaincd a contesecd issuc. 43. The impacc of rhe ßarrnac affair is alcogccher lcfr ouc by Winkler, Sc/Jein, 319-27. 44. "Sd1eidcmann gegen Sonnenfeld;' Vorwifrts 305 ( 17 June 1920). Maximilian Harden, "Das sechste Siegd;' Die ZukmUi 108 ( 1920): 88f. Otto Arm in (Alfred Roth), Die J~1di:n i11 de11 Kriegs-Gcsell$d>.:i)trn w1.I i11 der Kri<:gs- iVirtscl>cift (Munich, 1921 ), 72f. 45. This aspecc of ehe Story cannor bc pursucd hcre but was very prcsent in 1925 and lcd to vicious clashes in ehe facr-fmding commirtec. See, for example, "Auseinanderseezun gen im 'Barmat-Ausschuß,'" Bcrli11cr 1 ~ 1gebl,w. no. 60, S Fcbruary 1925. Schulze, Otto Bn1u11. 377-81. Gorrfried Zamow [Ewald Moritz], Gc:j~·ssdce }i1stiz. PolcisclJe Bilder aus Deutscher Gcgrnw11rt, 1 vol.; I~cchc 1111ti \\/illkiir im policisc/Jen PMtcienmrnc, 2 vols.; Politische Bilder aus dcutsdn:r Gegt»1wtll'C (Munich, 1930- 1932), 1:9-12. 46. l11c disrribmion of chis pamphlcc was banncd during rhe ~·car ic was published; ics amiquarian availabiliry roday is a good indicarion of how widesprcad it was. 47. Sincron Upcbir, Der R.:icw1ki511ig u11d ihre Hcljer. Die \V11hrheic iiba dw fol/ Sktt1rz (Berlin, 1920), 5-10, 12. For ehe emcrgen(c of thc anri-Semiric movemem. sce Uwe Lohalm, Völkiscl>a R,hlik.1li.rnws. Dfr Gesc/Jidne ,Jt·s Drnt:>clJ· VölkisdJ01 Schutz- 1111.l Trutzl1u11dcs 1919- 1923 (Hamburg, .1970). 48. Oero Armin (Alfred Roch). Vo11 R11CIJt'll11u ;:u B11r111'1t (Sruteg:m, 1925). In rhis pam· phlec ehe auchor usc.s passages c;1kcn fro1n his J11de11 i11 dt·11 Krii:gs -Gesc:ll5chcifce11. \Vcr ner Jochmann, "Die Ausbrcitun~ des Anciscmirismus;' in De11tsdJt•s Jidenru111 i11 Krit>g u11d Rt·voli1tio11, ed. Werner Mosse (Tübingen, 1971), 409-510; HcdH, A11tisw1icis- 11111s, 63-65, 138-52. 49. Otto Armin (Alfred Roch), R.1tln·11 55. f\-farkwart, ·oie HintermJnner; Hammer. Zeitschrift für 11,ttionales Leben, no. 25 ( 1926): 406f. 56. Anonymous. MBarmar und Co. oder der größte Sieg der Demokratie," Der \ \'elrkampf 5 (1925): 193. 57. Anonymous, ·Parvus-Helphand-Markus-Klein," Der H'eltkampf 2 (1925): 91. 58. Rumpelsrilzchen [Adolf Stein], Rumpe.lstilzcl,en 1924125: 1-foste \\!orte (Berlin, 1925), 152( Anonrmous, "Barmar und Co."; Karl Rohe, D.u Reicl1sbm111er Sdm·arz-Rot-Gold. Ein Beitrag zur Geschic/,ce und Struktur der politischen K,m11ft•erl1ä11de zur Zeit der \ \'ei marer Republik (Düsseldorf. 1966). 59. Rinrelen, 1mdemokratischer Demokrat, 24 3f. 60. Geyer, VerkelJrte \Veit, chap. 7. 61. Anornmous, ·sarmac und Co.," 22. 62. Tue newspaper columns of ehe conservacive journalisr Adolf Stein are full of such resentmenrs; see Rumpelsrilzchen, 1920121: Berliner Allerlei (Berlin, 1921 ), 27; for an escimace of ehe huge expendirures of the Barmars, sce Anklageschrift gegen Barm 81. For a harsh criciquc, sce Rechtsanwalt F. Nübdl, "Ocr Fall Kucisker;· Das Tageb 11cJ, (1926), 982-87; Ferdinand Nübell. "Kutiskcr und die Är:zce;' Die Vv'elthülme 23, no. 2 (1927): 92-95. 82. Löwensrein, "Betrachtungen;· 556. 83. lbid„ 557. 84. Bewer, "Oie Lehren des Barmar Prozesses-ein Lob der Richter," Deucsche Richter Zei ttmg 20 (1928): 228-29. 85. Urteil des Scl,öffrngerichu Berlin-Miete, Abtcilw1g 206, vom 30. März 1928 in der Straf· swclJt• gcgt·n B.1rni.1C u11..l Genossen (Berlin, 1929), 40. 86. lbid., 40f. 87. Philipp Lachmann an den ivtinisrerpräsidenten [Otto Braun J, 12 Ocrober 1927, I HA Rep 84a no. 56597, fol. 123-25; in this file rhere are several of his memoranda. See also Zarnow, Gefe»elte }rmiz, l :25-29. Nexr eo \Vcrrhauer, ehe Jewish Scnacssekretiir in the otfice of ehe minisrcr prcsidcnr Orro Braun, Robert Weismann, was attacked, also for his allcged involvcment in rhe Sklarz case in 1920-21, when \.Veismann was scill the firsr srare arrorncy in Berlin Mitte. 88. Just a year bcfore, anorber case in Berlin involving rhe brothcrs Skbrek had come up. a case rhar resembled the Kucisker-Barmar scandal. Christian Engeli, Gucscav Böß, Oberbiirgermeister vo11 Berlin 1921-1930 (Srurrgarr, 1971), 226-71. Dagmar Reesc, HSkandal und Resscnrimenr: Das Beispiel des Berliner Sklarek-Skandals;· in An11tomie des policisdw1 Skmufols, ed. Rolf Ebbinghause and Sigharr Necke! (Frankfurc am Main, 1989), 374-95; Malinowski, UPolirisi:he Skandale:· 89. Niedasd>rijte11 über die Verh1111.ilrmge11 des 19. Arwcliusses-U11cersuclm11gsaussclmss zur Priifimg der preußischen Rt'CliHpfiege-zum f"«ll Kutisker· \Vacl>auer, Preußischer Land tag 4. \:Vahlperiodc, 1 Tagung 1932, 1 HA Rcp 84a 56566 fol. 24-47: "Kurcner wehrr sich; Vossische Zeicimg, 7 February 1933. 90. Leon Degrelle, Fmn.:k. ß,mu.u. 1@1 Zed1rnd (Bruxclles, 1937). In 1934, ehe propa· ganda miniscry arranged thar macerials from ehe Barmac rrial were given eo a corre spondenc of ehe Amsterdam newspaper De Telegr.rn/ sec "Der Gcnersraacsanwalr bei dem Kammergericht an den Preußischen Jusrizminisrcr;· 29 Scpcember 1934, GScA PK 1. HA Rep 84a, no. 56542. 91. "Hcimgc funden," V'ölkis.:hi:r Beoh11chtcr, 12 November 19 37. "juJko Barmac, Osrjü · dische Abe:nreuer in ßdgien: Die Gifrblüre der Demokratie," Völkisd~u Beobachter, 8 January 19 38. 92. Yi:hak Ahrcn, Stig Hornsjh0h-M0lkr, .md Chrisroph B. ~·1dchers, "Der Ei~~ig( Jude:" \ Vie Godibds herzte. Uncas11dw11g1·11 zum 11atio1wlsozi11listis.:l>e11 Propng 1md.ijtlm (Aal.'hen, 1990). 93. Gere Buchcir, Ric/,cer i11 roter fü)k Fn:islcr. J>riisidmt dt.'s Volksgaiclmhoj~·s (München, 1968), 276f. 94. "Ausgesroßcn;· no menrion of ehe newspapcr, I 1-IA Rep 84a no. 56600, fol 12~. 95. Philipp Lad1mann eo Preugischcr Minim:rpr;isidl.'m, Genaal Göring, 20 April 1934, I Ha Rcp 84a no. 56603. f\>l. J 0-24.