13
RURAL PROTEST IN THE WEIMAR REPUBLIC

RURAL PROTEST IN THE WEIMAR REPUBLIC

  • Upload
    others

  • View
    5

  • Download
    0

Embed Size (px)

Citation preview

Page 1: RURAL PROTEST IN THE WEIMAR REPUBLIC

RURAL PROTEST IN THE WEIMAR REPUBLIC

Page 2: RURAL PROTEST IN THE WEIMAR REPUBLIC

Rural Protest in the Weimar Republic The Free Peasantry in the Rhineland and Bavaria

Jonathan Osmond Lecturer in History University of Leicester

M St. Martin's Press

Page 3: RURAL PROTEST IN THE WEIMAR REPUBLIC

© Jonathan Osmond 1993 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 1993 All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission.

No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, 90 Tottenham Court Road, London W1P 9HE.

Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.

Flrst published in Great Britain 1993 by THE MACMILLAN PRESS LTD Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 2XS and London Companies and representatives throughout the world

This book is published in the St Antony's! Macmillan Series General Editor: Rosemary Thorp

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

ISBN 978-0-333-52448-0 ISBN 978-1-349-11568-6 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-1-349-11568-6

Flrst published in the United States of America 1993 by Scholarly and Reference Division, ST. MARTIN'S PRESS, INC., 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010

ISBN 978-0-312-08623-7

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Osmond, Jonathan, 1953-Rural protest in the Weimar Republic: the free peasantry in the Rhineland and Bavaria I Jonathan Osmond. p. em. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-312-08623-7 1. Rhineland (German}-History. 2. Bavaria (Germany}-History. 3. Peasantry-Germany-Rhineland-History-20th century. 4. Peasantry-Germany-Bavaria-History-20th century. 5. Rhineland (Germany}-Rural conditions. 6. Bavaria (Germany}-Rural conditions. 7. Germany-History-1918-1933. I. Title. DD801.R682086 1993 943'.3085'08624-dc20 92-25187

CIP

Page 4: RURAL PROTEST IN THE WEIMAR REPUBLIC

For my parents, Eric and Mary Osmond

Page 5: RURAL PROTEST IN THE WEIMAR REPUBLIC

The peasant's concern is with his field He looks after his cattle, pays taxes Produces children, to save on labourers, and Depends on the price of milk. The townspeople speak of love for the soil Of healthy peasant stock and Call peasants the backbone of the nation.

The townspeople speak of love for the soil Of healthy peasant stock And call peasants the backbone of the nation. The peasant's concern is with his field He looks after his cattle, pays taxes Produces children, to save on labourers, and Depends on the price of milk.

Bertolt Brecht (1933f

• 'The Peasant's Concern is with his Field', in Bertolt Brecht Poems (London: Eyre Methuen Ltd; and New York: Routledge, Chapman & Hall, 1981), ed. John Willett and Ralph Manheim, with the co-operation of Erich Fried, pp. 212-13; translation of poems by Michael Hamburger published in 'Tales from the Calendar' by Berto1t Brecht, copyright © 1961 by Methuen & Co. Ltd.

Page 6: RURAL PROTEST IN THE WEIMAR REPUBLIC

Contents

List of Maps ix

Preface X

Glossary xiii

Introduction

1 The Peasants of the South and West 5 Bavarian and Rhenish farms 5 The agrarian interest before 1914 8 Farmers in the First World War 10

2 The Bavarian Palatinate 13 A mixed economy 13 Agrarian organisation before 1914 17 The Agrarian League and the National Liberals 20 The war economy 22 Revolution and occupation 27

3 The Birth of the Free Peasantry 30 Post-war peasant activism 31 The ideology of the Free Peasantry 41 The Free Peasantry in the Saar and the Palatinate 48

4 The Free Peasantry and the Controlled Economy 57 Agricultural controls in the Palatinate 57 The Palatine peasant campaign 61 Free Peasant agitation in Bavaria 81 Agriculture and the inflation 90

5 The Free Peasantry and Separatism 94 The origins of Palatine separatism 95 The Autonomous Republic 102 The assassination of the president 108 British intervention 113 The political legacy 115

vii

Page 7: RURAL PROTEST IN THE WEIMAR REPUBLIC

viii Contents

6 The End of the Free Peasantry 120 From the stabilisation to the slump 120 Peasant leaders and politics in the Palatinate 126 Rural protest in the later 1920s 132 The Free Peasantry in the Rhineland and Bavaria 138 Union in the Palatine Peasantry 140 The National Socialists and Palatine agriculture 142

Conclusion 153

Appendices 157 1. Reich Ministers of Food and Agriculture 157 2. Bavarian Ministers of Agriculture 158 3. Governors of the Palatinate 159 4. National Assembly and Reichstag elections in the

Palatinate 160 5. Chairmen of agrarian associations in the Palatinate 161 6. Chairmen of the Reich Association of Free

Peasantries 162 7. Membership of agrarian associations in the

Rhineland and Bavaria 163 8. Use of farm-land in the Palatinate 164 9. Harvests and yields in the Palatinate 165

10. Retail prices in the inflation 166 11. Rye prices in the inflation 167 12. Agricultural prices in the depression 168 13. Wine production in the Palatinate 169 14. Credit and emergency aid to Palatine agriculture 170

Notes and References 171

Sources 201

Index 215

Page 8: RURAL PROTEST IN THE WEIMAR REPUBLIC

List of Maps

1 South and West Germany in the Weimar Republic 2 The Bavarian Palatinate in the Weimar Republic

ix

6 14

Page 9: RURAL PROTEST IN THE WEIMAR REPUBLIC

Preface

It might be helpful to relate how this book came about in order to explain the form it now takes. When I first arrived as a research student in Munich my aim was to investigate the role in the Bavarian revolution of 1918-19 of the Bavarian Peasants' League. Within the first week of my work in the state archives I ordered a file entitled 'Organisation of the Free Peasantry in Bavaria east of the Rhine, 1922-6'. It contained police reports of farmers' meetings with almost verbatim accounts of the speeches and heckling. I got to know such characters as Rudolf Hamm, Johann Annetzberger and a man called Wiggers who appeared with four different forenames. Another player was a demagogic figure called Franz Josef Heinz. With a friend and colleague of mine, Ted Harrison, I mused about what had happened to these peasant orators. He pointed out that Heinz at least had met a sticky end: shot dead in Speyer on the Rhine in January 1924.

He was familiar with the episode because he was working on the Bavarian Palatinate, a region administered by Munich but at the time in question under French occupation. After a few false starts I too directed my attention to that area, where the Free Peasantry held sway and from which it had made its Bavarian excursion. I uncovered a radical, campaigning peasant organisation which certainly matched the Bavarian Peasants' League in interest and which had as much if not more political impact. This was primarily in the Palatinate in I 923-4 when Heinz appointed himself president of a breakaway republic, but I gradually learned of a wider presence of the Free Peasantry in the Rhineland. My researches also showed me that the sparse references to the Free Peasantry in the secondary literature were almost entirely erroneous.

On the perhaps tenuous premise that rural families stay put more than urban ones, I consulted the telephone directory. Most of the names from the Weimar Republic proved elusive, but in the Zweibriicken volume I found that of Rudolf Hamm at the Deileisterhof. At the most hoping that this was the son of the I 920s' agitator, I was thrilled to discover that it was the man himself, now in his eighties. When he kindly agreed to talk to me, I learned even more about the organisation of which he had been the Palatine and for a short while the Reich chairman.

X

Page 10: RURAL PROTEST IN THE WEIMAR REPUBLIC

Preface xi

From these beginnings came what is in one respect a local political study of a farmers' union. The main action takes place in the Palatinate -at the junction of Bavaria and the Rhineland- with necessary outings to the north and east. But the book is meant to do more. It is about processes of mobilisation, democratisation and political desperation, set against the day-to-day worries of working farmers in economically troubled times. I found, at the same time as Edgar Reitz was planning his magnificent Heimat, that rural western Germany could say a great deal about the path which Germany took in the twentieth century.

It is a pleasure to be able to acknowledge here long-standing debts of gratitude. This book would not have come about without generous support from the Social Science Research Council, the German Academic Exchange Service, the Alexander von Humboldt Founda­tion, the Volkswagenwerk Foundation, the British Council, St Anto­ny's College, Oxford and the Research Board of the University of Leicester. I also thank all the archivists and librarians in Germany and the United Kingdom who coped so helpfully with my enquiries. Two eye-witnesses of the events I describe deserve special mention. To the family of the late Rudolf Hamm I extend heartfelt if belated thanks for their help and hospitality. Walter Dandliker was encouraging and informative in his correspondence with me and I am very grateful to him. My doctoral supervisor, Tony Nicholls, gave me patient encouragement which I much appreciated. To my parents and to my wife, Magda Sztajerwald, I owe more than I can say.

Some of the work on this book has appeared in earlier article form in three collections: 'Peasant Farming in South and West Germany during War and Inflation 1914 to 1924: Stability or Stagnation?', in G. Feldman, C.-L. Holtfrerich, G. Ritter and P.-C. Witt (eds), Die deutsche Inflation: eine Zwischenbilanz (Berlin, New York: Walter de Gruyter, 1982), pp. 289-307; 'A Second Agrarian Mobilization? Peasant Associations in South and West Germany, 1918-24', in R. Moeller (ed.), Peasants and Lords in Modern Germany: Recent Studies in Agricultural History (Boston, London, Sydney: Allen & Unwin, 1986), pp. 168-97; and 'Peasants and Rural Notables in the Bavarian Palatinate, 1816-1933', in R. Gibson and M. Blinkhorn (eds), Landownership and Power in Modern Europe (London, New York: Harper Collins, 1991), pp. 131-44. I am very grateful to the editors and publishers of these books for the opportunity they gave me to develop my understanding of the subject.

Numerous friends and colleagues have provided practical help, stimulating discussion and conviviality. My listing of them does scant

Page 11: RURAL PROTEST IN THE WEIMAR REPUBLIC

xii Preface

justice to their contribution and in no way implicates them in the book's imperfections: Judy Batt, David Blackbourn, Martin Cherry, Geoff Eley, Richard Evans, Ian Farr, Gerald Feldman, Dick Geary, John Haldon, Hartmut Harnisch, George Harrison, Ted Harrison, Larry Jones, Ian Kershaw, Ursel Koch, Ruth and Jack Maitland­Edwards, Jackie Minor, Bob Moeller, Charles Phythian-Adams, Annette Rossie, Eckart Sackmann, Alois Schatzl, Susan Semmens, Philip Tomlinson, Mick Traynor, Gerhard and Susanne Waldherr, Geoffrey Warner and Frank Wistuba. The late and sadly missed Tim Mason not only first inspired me to study German history, but brought his typical enthusiasm and rigour to bear on early drafts of this book.

Finally, I owe so much interest and enjoyment to the landscape and to the people of Bavaria and the Rhineland. While not uncritical of their past, I hope I have done them no injustice. I thank them for their hospitality, for their beer and for their wine.

Leicester JONATHAN OSMOND

Page 12: RURAL PROTEST IN THE WEIMAR REPUBLIC

Glossary

I have translated all quotations and the names of most associations, political parties and offices. However, abbreviations are of the German. Most institutions appear in an English version but I have retained 'Reich', 'Reichstag' and some others. 'Peasant' and 'farmer' are used interchangeably, as for the most part were 'Bauer' and 'Landwirt' in the contemporary material.

The terms ton, hundredweight and pound are metric: 1000 kilograms, 50 kilograms and 500 grams respectively. A Morgen was usually about one-quarter and a Tagwerk about one-third of a hectare (2.47 acres). The currency is the mark throughout.

It is common practice in the rural Palatinate to refer to people by a hyphenated surname and place of origin or abode: for example, Heinz­Orbis and Schmitz-Eppers. Another mode in the Rhineland and in Bavaria is to use the surname followed by the first name: for example, Gandorfer Karl. These practices have not been adopted, but where appropriate the place of origin is given in parentheses. Similarly, in order to locate villages, the name of the district follows: for example, Orbis (Kirchheimbolanden).

Abbreviations

(For archival abbreviations see Sources on pp. 201-2) BA BBB BBMB

BSA BSZ BVP CEH CNBLP

CNVP

DBFP DBP

Bezirksamt (district office) Bayerischer Bauernbund (Bavarian Peasants' League) Bayerischer Bauern- und Mittelstandsbund (Bavarian Peasants' and Middle-Class League) Bayerischer Staatsanzeiger Bayerische Staatszeitung Bayerische Volkspartei (Bavarian People's Party) Central European History Christlich-Nationale Bauern- und Landvolkpartei (Christian National Peasants' and Rural People's Party) Christlich-Nationale Volkspartei (Christian National People's Party) Documents on British Foreign Policy Deutsche Bauernpartei (German Peasants' Party)

xiii

Page 13: RURAL PROTEST IN THE WEIMAR REPUBLIC

xiv

DDP

DGPS

DNVP

DVP

EHQ ESR FB FB FPB HMB IRHC JCH JGKM

JKBKP JMH KPD

MNN NSDAP

PFB SBBL SPD

StJDR StJFB StJKB SWBZ USPD

VjZ ZAA

Glossary

Deutsche Demokratische Partei (German Democratic Party) Dokumentensammlung zur Geschichte des pfiilzischen Separatismus Deutschnationale Volkspartei (German National People's Party) Deutsche Volkspartei der Pfalz (German People's Party of the Palatinate) European History Quarterly European Studies Review Freie Bauernschaft (Free Peasantry) Freier Bauer Freier Pfalz Bauer Halbmonatsbericht (fortnightly report) Inter-Allied Rhineland High Commission Journal of Contemporary History Jahrbuch fur Geschichte und Kunst des Mittelrheins und seiner Nachbargebiete Jahresbericht der Kreisbauernkammer Pfalz Journal of Modern History Kommunistische Partei Deutschlands (Communist Party of Germany) Munchner Neueste Nachrichten Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei (National Socialist German Workers' Party) Die Pfalz unter franzosischer Besatzung Stenographischer Bericht des Bayerischen Landtags Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands (Social Democratic Party of Germany) Statistisches Jahrbuch fur das Deutsche Reich Statistisches Jahrbuch fiir den Freistaat Bayern Statistisches Jahrbuch fiir das Konigreich Bayern Sudwestdeutsche Bauernzeitung Unabhiingige Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands {Independent Social Democratic Party of Germany) Vierteljahreshefte fur Zeitgeschichte Zeitschrift fiir Agrargeschichte und Agrarsozio/ogie