Freikorps Experiences and Making of Antifascist Subjects in Interwar Germany

2023 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 18K12536
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Early-Career Scientists
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Review Section: Basic Section 03040:History of Europe and America-related
• Research Institution: Kyushu University
• Principal Investigator: Imai Hiromasa 九州大学, 人文科学研究院, 准教授 (00790669)
• Project Period (FY): 2018-04-01 – 2024-03-31
• Keywords: 義勇軍 / ナチズム / コミュニズム / 反ファシズム / ヴァイマル共和国 / 暴力 / 経験史 / 人民戦線

Outline of Final Research Achievements

The purpose of this research project is to examine how the experience of the Freikorps in early Weimar Germany and the “activism without violence” derived from it acted to shape the subject of anti-fascism in the interwar period. This work should prompt a reconsideration of recent studies of the “European history of violence” and, by extension, contribute to a reappraisal of the interwar period.
This project elucidates the activities of Bodo Uhse and Alexander Stenbock-Fermor in the Weimar Republic. They were both from the Freikorps and initially belonged to the Nazi or political right wing, but eventually became involved in the anti-Nazi resistance movement in Germany and in support of the Popular Front in France and Spain. The results of the research include four articles, two co-authored books, and one co-translated book.

Free Research Field

ドイツ現代史

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

本研究の最大の成果は、義勇軍出身の右翼作家、アレクサンダー・シュテンボック=フェルモアの著作活動と、そこにおけるコミュニストへの「転向」の契機を、彼の自伝的小説や社会ルポルタージュの分析を通じて明らかにした点にある。義勇軍とその経験が多様な政治的方向性は持つことは、すでに先行研究でも明らかにされてきたが、本研究は義勇軍⇒右翼⇒コミュニストという政治的道程を、シュテンボック自身の義勇軍経験と労働（者）経験の混交という視点から具体的に跡づけるとともに、そこに男性性や女性観といったジェンダー的視点からの分析を加えた点で、世界的に見ても新規性をもつといえる。