Comrade-Z
13th April 2006, 00:49
I've been doing a little bit of casual research on Germany between WWI and WWII and the Nazis' rise to power. I came across a book entitled Berlin Between the Wars by Thomas Friedrich. It is a fascinating book full of photographs and analysis of what Berlin was like during those years. It focuses on the Spartikist uprising and the Communists during those years to a surprising extent. I've also looked at a few other books. One was entitled The Last Battle by Cornelius Ryan.
Both of these books have interesting things to say about Berlin's radicalism in this period. The Last Battle talks about how Berlin was a much more cosmopolitan and internationalist city than most of the other German cities at the time. Berliners held themselves in high regard because of their, as they saw it, sophistication, familiarity with international affairs, and appreciation of the avant-garde in art and culture (such as the First International Dada Fair, which took place in Berlin in 1920). Women were active in many professions in Berlin and had a much higher degree of social appreciation and power. Morality was looser in Berlin, which had a number of cabarets, nude theater performances, and the like. Many Berliners found the nationalism and other reactionary principles of the Nazis embarrassing, irrational, absurd, and rather country-bumkpin-ish. In fact, even the Berlin Nazis weren't quite as reactionary or as zealous as Hitler wanted, and he would often have to ship in stormtroopers from Bavaria or some other place for his big demonstrations in Berlin so that the demonstrations would have the proper "flair."
Of course, in 1919 Berlin was the center of the Spartikist uprising. Then there are the depression years. Berlin Between the Wars states, "It is often claimed that years of mass unemployment and the resultant sense of despair were among the princial reasons behind the NSDAP's electoral successs and subsequent rise to power. If this were true, Berlin, with its higher than average quota of unemployment, should surely have been a Nazi stronghold. In fact, the opposite was the case, since the NSDAP's share of the vote in Greater Berlin was always below the national average. When in September 1930 the Nazis became the second largest party in the Reichstag with 18.3% of the vote, their share in Berllin was no more than 12.8%. At the last "free" Reichstag elections in Germany in November 1932, the Nazis won 33.1% of the votes in the coutnry as a whole, while polling only 26% in Berlin. And even as late as 5 March 1933, a week after the fire that destroyed the Reichstag building, when a wave of terror and arrests was already rolling across the land and the SPD and KPD had been forced underground, the Nazi party received only 34.6% of the votes in Berlin, as against the 43.9% in the country overall. Fiver weeks after the transfer of poewr to Hitler, the Nazis had still not achived the level of votes of the KPD and SPD in Berlin -- and this in spite of support from their German National coalition partners. While the NSDAP and the nationalist "Battle Front Black-White-Red" (the colours of the Empire) polled 1.36 million votes in these final Reichstag elections...the SPD and KPD received 1.38 million votes [in Berlin]."
This book goes on to say that on 6 November 1932, the KPD actually achieved a plurality in Berlin (!) with 31%, compared to 26% for the Nazis and 23.3% for the SPD.
Also according to this book, by 1928 the KPD's Red Front Fighter's League had 100,000 members nationally. At the beginning of 1933, the SA had a national membership of 420,000. Of that, the Berlin-Brandenburg district only had roughly 30,000 members.
As a final piece of evidence to demonstrate that the Nazis were comparatively weak in Berlin, which was more radical than other German cities at the time, I point to this famous photo of apartment buildings in Berlin during a rent strike in 1932 (see below). The writing on the wall at the back says, "First food! then rent." You will notice that there are only two Nazi flags hanging from the left building, whereas there are 5 communist flags, as well as at least 2 other communist flags hanging from the building opposite.
From what I've read and seen, it seems very likely that Berlin itself was more staunchly communist than Nazi. It was the rest of Germany, though, that tipped the balance in favor of the Nazis. It also seems that the Nazis were not at all influential among the working class and the unemployed, but rather the KPD dominated these sectors (along with the SPD). Indeed, I read an analysis of where Nazism's support came from, and the most prominent groups were: ex-military, petit-bourgeois, the peasantry, professionals/careerists, and capitalists.
Finally, another interesting factoid I discovered:
I read an account of an SPD youth who was walking along the street one night with a few friends when they ran into a much larger group of SA. The SPD youth immediately noticed that the Nazi youth were equipped with brass knuckles, a whip, and metal implements. The SPD youth make a quick getaway and when to their SPD office to tell the local SPD leaders about it. The kids wondered if they should be arming themselves too, at least for defensive purposes in circumstances like that night. The local SPD leaders, in fact, explicitly forbade those SPD youth from carrying around any things that could be construed as weapons!
Both of these books have interesting things to say about Berlin's radicalism in this period. The Last Battle talks about how Berlin was a much more cosmopolitan and internationalist city than most of the other German cities at the time. Berliners held themselves in high regard because of their, as they saw it, sophistication, familiarity with international affairs, and appreciation of the avant-garde in art and culture (such as the First International Dada Fair, which took place in Berlin in 1920). Women were active in many professions in Berlin and had a much higher degree of social appreciation and power. Morality was looser in Berlin, which had a number of cabarets, nude theater performances, and the like. Many Berliners found the nationalism and other reactionary principles of the Nazis embarrassing, irrational, absurd, and rather country-bumkpin-ish. In fact, even the Berlin Nazis weren't quite as reactionary or as zealous as Hitler wanted, and he would often have to ship in stormtroopers from Bavaria or some other place for his big demonstrations in Berlin so that the demonstrations would have the proper "flair."
Of course, in 1919 Berlin was the center of the Spartikist uprising. Then there are the depression years. Berlin Between the Wars states, "It is often claimed that years of mass unemployment and the resultant sense of despair were among the princial reasons behind the NSDAP's electoral successs and subsequent rise to power. If this were true, Berlin, with its higher than average quota of unemployment, should surely have been a Nazi stronghold. In fact, the opposite was the case, since the NSDAP's share of the vote in Greater Berlin was always below the national average. When in September 1930 the Nazis became the second largest party in the Reichstag with 18.3% of the vote, their share in Berllin was no more than 12.8%. At the last "free" Reichstag elections in Germany in November 1932, the Nazis won 33.1% of the votes in the coutnry as a whole, while polling only 26% in Berlin. And even as late as 5 March 1933, a week after the fire that destroyed the Reichstag building, when a wave of terror and arrests was already rolling across the land and the SPD and KPD had been forced underground, the Nazi party received only 34.6% of the votes in Berlin, as against the 43.9% in the country overall. Fiver weeks after the transfer of poewr to Hitler, the Nazis had still not achived the level of votes of the KPD and SPD in Berlin -- and this in spite of support from their German National coalition partners. While the NSDAP and the nationalist "Battle Front Black-White-Red" (the colours of the Empire) polled 1.36 million votes in these final Reichstag elections...the SPD and KPD received 1.38 million votes [in Berlin]."
This book goes on to say that on 6 November 1932, the KPD actually achieved a plurality in Berlin (!) with 31%, compared to 26% for the Nazis and 23.3% for the SPD.
Also according to this book, by 1928 the KPD's Red Front Fighter's League had 100,000 members nationally. At the beginning of 1933, the SA had a national membership of 420,000. Of that, the Berlin-Brandenburg district only had roughly 30,000 members.
As a final piece of evidence to demonstrate that the Nazis were comparatively weak in Berlin, which was more radical than other German cities at the time, I point to this famous photo of apartment buildings in Berlin during a rent strike in 1932 (see below). The writing on the wall at the back says, "First food! then rent." You will notice that there are only two Nazi flags hanging from the left building, whereas there are 5 communist flags, as well as at least 2 other communist flags hanging from the building opposite.
From what I've read and seen, it seems very likely that Berlin itself was more staunchly communist than Nazi. It was the rest of Germany, though, that tipped the balance in favor of the Nazis. It also seems that the Nazis were not at all influential among the working class and the unemployed, but rather the KPD dominated these sectors (along with the SPD). Indeed, I read an analysis of where Nazism's support came from, and the most prominent groups were: ex-military, petit-bourgeois, the peasantry, professionals/careerists, and capitalists.
Finally, another interesting factoid I discovered:
I read an account of an SPD youth who was walking along the street one night with a few friends when they ran into a much larger group of SA. The SPD youth immediately noticed that the Nazi youth were equipped with brass knuckles, a whip, and metal implements. The SPD youth make a quick getaway and when to their SPD office to tell the local SPD leaders about it. The kids wondered if they should be arming themselves too, at least for defensive purposes in circumstances like that night. The local SPD leaders, in fact, explicitly forbade those SPD youth from carrying around any things that could be construed as weapons!