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The "Beer-Hall" Putsch

The Violent Birth of Nazi Force

"TOMORROW THE WORLD.."

The Government Meeting in Bavaria was like other Government meetings. Over 3000 officials were in attendance. Southern Germany was in turmoil: a very conservative area with fractioned political parties, it had a strong over-representation of members and sympathizers of the fringe radical group "The National Socialists" (the Nazis) under the volatile little leader named Adolf Hitler and his cohort, Goebbels . Responding to the weak Weimar Republic, the National Socialists, preached law and order and a ridding of Communists and Jews: a popular political cry in 1923. While the Nazi Party was no where near what it would one day become in numbers and power, it had grown phenomenally in Bavaria and Southern Germany with many supporters. As the Weimar Government began to crumble admidst economic turmoil, attempts at controlling regional areas given over to the extreme right were made. One such attempt was in Bavaria.

The VOEKISCHER BEOBACHTER

In Bavaria and that region Germany, the extreme right wing through such as the National Socialists had succeeded greatly in amassing support and promoting fascist ideals. A newspaper which advocated such ideals was The VOEKISCHER BEOBACHTER, an oracle of the Nazis. The Weimar republic leadership was far from happy with the growing far-right anti-republic sentiment and sought

FACTS ON THE TAKEOVER

Date: November 8, 1923

Place: Bavaria

Event: Meeting of 3000 Officials

Officials in Attendance: Kahr,(Bavarian Gov.)'Seisser (Police), Lossow (Military)

Prominent Nazis: Hitler, Goebbels

to censor the newspaper, asking von Lossow, the General in charge of the military district of the region to outright ban the newspaper, a main factor in the dissension in the area. Lossow refused, but he and the government of Bavaria including Kahr, also refused to turn Bavaria over to the whims of Hitler and the National Socialists. In May of '23, the growing National Socialist Party, feeling they had garnered much support, first attempted to gather enough men and arms to stand up against and resist the Weimar Republic. This decision was in reaction to the payments which were about to be made to France and ... in war reparations as required by the Versaille Treaty in the War Guilt Clause. Many SA members and other early supporters which included old Kaiser loyalists, felt that the primarily Catholic Socialist Weimar government had betrayed Germany in agreeing to Germany's culpability in WWI: many did not want Germany to pay any money in reparations. However, their support at the time which they considered sound including local police leadership and other region officials, was less than they thought, and as Hitler and Goebbels came to access stored arms they were stopped and what came to be known as the May Day Putsch ended without the violence of the one to come.³

Hitler and the Nazis of Bavaria, decided to push the issue of a march on Berlin to take control (the reason for Weimar emergency censures) at a Beer-hall in Bavaria where a government meeting honoring Kahr, with Lossow and Seisser, the Chief of Police in attendance: the trio represented the Bavarian government, Military and Police, and Hitler knew they would be essential and powerful allies in any attempt to topple the Weimar Republic.

The Nazi Party decided to declare their stand by a 'coup' beginning at the Beerhall where the Government officials had come to meet. They were very clear regarding their motive: they meant to overthrow the weak Republic and replace it with a "New Germany" which fit their ideals. Violence was never out of the question. As the meeting began and the first speakers were called, the Nazi "Brownshirts"¹ burst into the Beerhall and Adolf Hitler burst into the center, jumping on tables and taking the podium. The Nazis heralded Kahr, Lossow and Seisser into a side room urging and demanding them to join them in their endeavor. They refused, until they were pressured by General Ludendorff. At that point, they succumbed to Hitler's demands and walked back into the assembly. The pressure for surrender was great, as the SA, had surrounded the building.

"The National Revolution has Begun"

Hitler announced "The National Revolution has begun" and jumped on a table and began to speak. Once the Bavarian officials had surrendered, he promised he would let them go, which he did. Roehm took over the local military but the National Socialists found our very quickly that they did not have the support they thought. Nevertheless, they gathered and continued the march on Munich, which would end in violence. Hitler was jailed for his role and imprisoned in Landsberg Am Lech, Fortress Prison for attempted coup against Weimar Government. Rosenberg took over party control while Hitler was in Prison. The Nazi Manifesto

which would provide a constitution and doctrine for genocide, "Mein Kampf" was written while Hitler was a prisoner. The Beer hall Putsch failed in toppling the Weimar, and Hitler was banned for a few years from public speaking, but by 1930 the Weimar would fold and an emergency government would rule Germany until '33. It took only 10 years from the time Adolf Hitler was jailed for violence and sedition to his appointment as president and chancellor of Germany.

OUTSIDE LINKS

FOOTNOTES & REFERENCES

¹ Early members of the Nazi Party were sardonically called "brownshirts" because of their para-military attire with brown shirts. They were known for violence, censorship, and viscious random acts anti-Semitic attacks, often humiliating German Jews in Streets and Public places. They were the beginnings of the SA.

²Rempel, Gerhard. "The Beerhall Putsch" Website: Western New England College
^2aSource Cited: Jackson J. Spielvogel, Hitler and Nazi Germany (Prentice Hall, 1996)
³Hitler: A Study in Tyranny

⁴Video Credits: Adolf Hitler - Der Putsch von 1923 (1/4)from: Europa Unterm Hakenkreuz : Der "Hitlerputsch" bzw. der "Hitler-Ludendorff-Putsch" der sich am 8./9. November 1923 in München ereignete, war ein Putschversuch Adolf Hitlers und weiterer Nationalsozialisten mit dem Ziel; Youtube.com-Anuson1.