2012 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

An empirical study on development of the street fights in Berlin during the Weimar Republic

Research Project

Project/Area Number	22720284
Research Category	Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
Allocation Type	Single-year Grants
Research Field	History of Europe and America
Research Institution	Naruto University of Education
Principal Investigator	HARADA Masahiro 鳴門教育大学, 大学院・学校教育研究科, 准教授 (60320032)
Project Period (FY)	2010 – 2012
Keywords	ワイマル共和国 / 街頭闘争 / ベルリン / ナチズム
Research Abstract	The purpose of this study is to focus on the violent street fights in Berlin during the Weimar Republic that the various paramilitary and political forces (the Stormtroopers of the NSDAP [SA], the Stahlhelm, the communist Red Front Fighter’s League [RFB], the Reichsbanner, etc.) caused repeatedly. Further, the goal is to analyse the development of this political violence and the relationships between the paramilitary and political forces empirically on the basis of primary sources that are kept in the archives in Germany. In this study I clarify the situations of the street fights in Berlin and Prussia quantitatively and concretely, and then give consideration to their causes and meanings. I conclude the following: these fights were not a mere “gang war” between the militant groups, but a phenomenon that was backed by a “normalization of violence” in the German society of the Weimar Republic. Additionally the switchover from the Weimar system to the Nazi-Regime should be interpreted from the viewpoint of “continuity” at this point.