Dolchstoßlegende

See also: Stab in the back

The Dolchstoßlegende (in French “legend of the stab in the back”) is a legend spread during the Weimar Republic by the propaganda of the nationalist mediums and extreme line German (Nazisme), and intended to make believe that the German army lost the First World War only because Germany would have been betrayed by the mediums of left. Thus, the German army would be regarded as " remained unconquered on the fields of bataille" First World War, and would have been cut down only by one “stab in the back” struck by the civil capacity resulting from the revolution of November 1918.

The revolutionists, who by their treason would have thus prevented the victory, are called the criminal November. All the politicians of SPD are designated thus and other democratic parties which would have initiated the revolution of November. Even politicians as Friedrich Ebert who had however done all that was in their capacity to slow down the revolution had to be defended against the charges of treason.

However completely contradicted by the facts, this legend, morally comfortable for the German preserving mediums, was regarded as reality during most of between two wars. Adolf Hitler was not besides the last to use it, in particular to gain the electoral campaign of 1933 .

Origin

The term Dolchstoßlegende is used for the first time the December 17th 1918 by the daily newspaper Suisse Neue Zürcher Zeitung , which allots this quotation to the British general Maurice: “With regard to the German army, to express a common point of view, she was stabbed in the back by the civil population. ”

The Maurice general will dispute the paternity of this quotation.

Recovery by the supreme Command of the army

The myth of the stab in the back is taken again by the military dignitaries of the Reich like Erich Ludendorff and Paul von Hindenburg before the board of inquiry of the National Assembly of the Reich. Hindenburg thus declares before the committee the November 18th 1919: “An English general said to me with reason: the German army received a stab in the back. It is clear which with the load of the fault. ” None of the two men will evoke that themselves in catastrophe had required the cease-fire, the September 19th 1918 after the failure of the offensive of summer.

Arguments in favor of the thesis

This legend was poked by the fact that the German troops were withdrawn in a voluntary way and ordinate. That gave the impression which the soldiers not did not return to the house under the constraint, but following a political decision. It thus did not appear that this decision of withdrawal did nothing but learn the lesson from a despaired military situation and without any prospect. Indeed the internal situation of Germany was not bearable any more: the country, encircled could not count on the imports of food products and raw materials per sea route.

The population thus had the impression which the military situation was not so bad, and did not include/understand why the soldiers returned. Moreover, the German government itself presented this rendering like a political decision, because to overpower the generals and to protest the reality of the defeat would have made rock the power struggle even more in its discredit during the negotiations.

Exploitation against the Weimar Republic

The German nationalists, and in particular NSDAP, seize jointly the legend at ends of propaganda, which will be systematically used, with the rhetoric of the “criminals of November” against the young person Weimar Republic, contributing to its disintegration.

This legend can be compared with what occurred to France, during the Régime of Vichy and the national Révolution during the occupation of the country by the forces Nazis. Preserving mediums, and in particular the petainist S, explaining that France had been able to lose the war only because of the “traitors” (left, the government Blum, Jews, freemasons, etc) mediums which consequently became the enemies of the new mode.

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