Antisemitism in the Reichstag
Anti-Jewish language in Weimar Republic politics and society

In this dissertation, antisemitic statements in Reichstag debates during the Weimar Republic will be explored for the first time.

In quantitative terms, antisemitism increased together with the number of extreme right-wing members of the Reichstag in the second legislative period in 1924, and again starting in October 1930. Conversely, during the second half of the 1920s it was ever more rarely proscribed by parliamentary forces.

The study develops the categories of a “language of hostility towards Jews” from a semantic analysis supported by the context of the players’ dealings in language: from the open radically anti-Semitic propaganda of the German Völkisch Freedom and National Socialist Parties (DvFP/NSDAP) to forms encoded to varying degrees to culturally inscribed figures of speech of which the speakers were not aware. Such latently antisemitic forms of expression occurred in the centre and left-wing parties as well.

The monograph also highlights the previously neglected role of the German National People’s Party (DNVP) with regard to making anti-Jewish attitudes acceptable in polite society.

Starting from a perspective critical of ideology, the research combines approaches from historical research on anti-Semitism and political cultural studies to approach the tacit certainties of Weimar society. By using this method it is possible to substantiate antisemitism as a relevant pattern in the interpretative culture of politics in the Weimar Republic. The anti-Jewish interpretations occurring in waves that can be recognized in the Reichstag and beyond also suggest that antisemitism had already become part of the German socio-culture of politics in the Weimar period.

Contact

susanne.wein1[at]fu-berlin.de