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]

Political violence in Germany (1918–1933)
Part of the interwar period
Johann Lehner [de] (*1901) photographed with government troops on May 3, 1919, moments before they murdered him because they had mistaken him for Bavarian Soviet 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 Nazi totalitarian state established
Belligerents
Weimar Republic Reichswehr Iron Front Reichsbanner SPD	Far-left Communist Party of Germany Free Workers' Union of Germany RFB Antifa IKD (1918) Spartacus League (1918–19) Soviet republics in Germany (1918–19) Black Band	Far-right Freikorps Der Stahlhelm Organisation Consul Nazi Party Sturmabteilung
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

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)
• 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)

See also

• Adolf Hitler's rise to power
• Fascist and anti-Fascist violence in Italy (1919–1926)