Political Violence in the Weimar Republic, 1918-1933

Dirk Schumann is Professor of History at Georg-August University, Göttingen. He is the co-editor of Life After Death (2003), Violence and Society after the First World War (first issue of Journal of Modern European History [2003]), Between Mass Death and Individual Loss (2007). Most recently, he has edited Raising Citizens in the "Century of the Child". The United States and German Central Europe in Comparative Perspective (2010).

• PrefaceList of Illustrations and TablesList of AbbreviationsNote on the administrative structure of PrussiaIntroductionPART I: THE CIRCUMSCRIBED CIVIL WAR 1919-1921Chapter 1. Radicalization and Violence 1919Chapter 2. New Mistrust, Old Enemies: The Massive Experience of Violence during the Kapp Putsch of 1920 and its AftermathChapter 3. Preventive Offense and Improvised Uprising: the “March Action” of the Prussian Government and the Communists 1921PART II: SYMBOLIC FIGHTING AND THE STRUGGLE FOR TERRITORY 1921-1923Chapter 4. The Political Murders of 1921/1922 and their Consequences in the Province of SaxonyChapter 5. The Catastrophe that did not Happen: Food Protests and Political Violence under Hyperinflation 1922/1923PART III: YEARS OF CALM? POLITICAL VIOLENCE 1924-1929Chapter 6. The Rise of the Combat Leagues (Wehrverbände)Chapter 7. The Continuity of ViolenceChapter 8. A Parade of Men. Violence in the Political CulturePART IV: THE ESCALATION OF VIOLENCE: 1929/30-1933Chapter 9. The Rise of the Nazi Movement and the Persistent Weakness of the CommunistsChapter 10. Escalation without Limits? Political Violence in the Final Phase of the Weimar RepublicChapter 11. Misjudgment, Downplaying, Approval: Interpretations of Political Violence 1930-1933Conclusion: Political Violence and the Weimar Republic’s Chances of SurvivalBibliographySubject IndexIndex of People and Places

“In his exceptional regional study of the Prussian province of Saxony, Schumann offers a richly detailed analysis of political violence in the Weimar Republic…This is a wordy but methodical and ultimately convincing work of scholarship.” • Choice“In noting that political violence was the product of choices made by political actors rather than the result of irresistible forces …Schumann issues a pertinent warning while making a first-rate contribution to the scholarly literature on the Weimar Republic.” • Central European History“Today’s readers, living in what Charles Maier calls ‘a new epoch of vanished reassurance’, will find this book absorbing and troubling.” • The Historian“[A[ well-documented and skillfully argued book.” • German Studies Review“Schumann … calls into question some assumptions, provides interesting nuances, and helps to refine our understanding of the nature of political violence in Weimar Germany.” • Journal of Modern History“… provides a well-documented, solid narrative and challenging analysis of Weimar’s political violence…” • American Historical Review“[This] definitive work, rich in source material and analysis, dispels stereotypes of political violence in the Weimar Republic.” • Historische Zeitschrift