ASSASSINATION

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A conspicuous part of Weimar history was political murder.Rosa Luxemburg* and Karl Liebknecht,* leaders of the new KPD, wereassassinated in Berlin* on 15 January 1919 by Waldemar Pabst's* Gardekavallerie-Schu¨tzendivision (Guard-Cavalry-Rifle Division). Kurt Eisner,* leaderof a coalition socialist government in Bavaria,* was murdered on 21 February1919 by Anton von Arco-Valley,* a misguided aristocrat. Leo Jogiches, erstwhilecompanion of Luxemburg, was killed while in police custody on 10 March1919, while Hugo Haase,* chairman of the USPD, died on 7 November 1919of complications from a gunshot wound.From 1920, with abolition of the Freikorps,* political violence was institutionalizedunder the heading Femegericht* (‘‘folkish justice''). Among suchgroups as the notorious Organisation Consul* (OC), murder was deemed ameans for destabilizing the Republic; indeed, it increasingly became its ownraison d'eˆtre. On 9 June 1921 members of OC killed the USPD leader KarlGareis in Munich. On 26 August 1921 they murdered Matthias Erzberger,*chairman of Germany's Armistice* delegation. They attempted to blind PhilippScheidemann,* the Republic's first Chancellor, by spraying his face on 4 June1922 with prussic acid. One month later they brutally assaulted MaximilianHarden,* editor of Die Zukunft. But their most celebrated victim was ForeignMinister Walther Rathenau,* assassinated in Berlin on 24 June 1922. This actforced the Reichstag* to pass its Law for the Protection of the Republic.* Providinga prohibition against extremist groups and stiff penalties for conspiracyto murder, the law was opposed by the DNVP, the BVP (Bavaria refused torecognize the law), and the KPD. Its impotence ultimately resulted from a judiciaryenamored of the Right.According to research completed in 1922 by Emil Gumbel,* 354 people hadbeen assassinated since 1919. Significantly, in the 22 cases attributed to the Left,17 people were punished; only 27 right-wing assassins were punished for theremaining 332 murders. According to Gustav Radbruch,* justice* was ‘‘blindin the right eye.'' When Gerhard Rossbach,* another Freikorps leader, was triedin Stettin's 1928 Fememord Prozess, it was disclosed that 200 political murdershad been carried out in Upper Silesia* alone. In the unstable atmosphere of thedepression,* this culture of violence only intensified. Richard Bessel noted thatby ‘‘the time the Weimar system crumbled, there was hardly a city or town inGermany which had been spared political violence.'' In the seven weeks precedingthe 31 July 1932 Reichstag elections, Prussia experienced 461 politicalriots that resulted in 82 deaths and approximately 400 serious injuries. Duringearly August a city councilor from Ko¨nigsberg was murdered, the mayor ofNorgau was shot to death, two police officers were killed in Gleiwitz, a Naziwas killed in Kreuzburg, two Communists and two Social Democrats were seriouslywounded in Ko¨nigsberg, the leader of Lo¨tzen's Reichsbanner* was shotto death, a Nazi accidently blew himself up in Silesia, and a Communist waskilled by Nazis in Potempa.* Ultimately, the NSDAP, creating disorder whilepromising order, was the beneficiary of this gruesome orgy.