Bernhard Fulda
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- May 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780199547784
- eISBN:
- 9780191720079
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199547784.003.0004
- Subject:
- History, European Modern History
Did the press have any direct impact on the way politics was conducted? This chapter demonstrates the crucial role of small partisan broadsheets in the political process. Their influence on setting ...
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Did the press have any direct impact on the way politics was conducted? This chapter demonstrates the crucial role of small partisan broadsheets in the political process. Their influence on setting the political agenda, and the partisan information which they provided to grateful politicians is analysed for two case studies; the defamation trial of Reich president Ebert in December 1924; and the Barmat scandal of spring 1925. The Ebert trial enabled nationalist journalists to portray the Reich president as a traitor who carried responsibility for the stab in the back in 1918. The scandal‐mongering against Jewish businessmen, the Barmat brothers, resulted in the collapse of their consortium, the arrest and death of a Reich minister, and a widespread perception of endemic corruption in the new democratic system. The focus of this chapter is on the interdependence of media, judiciary, and legislature.Less
Did the press have any direct impact on the way politics was conducted? This chapter demonstrates the crucial role of small partisan broadsheets in the political process. Their influence on setting the political agenda, and the partisan information which they provided to grateful politicians is analysed for two case studies; the defamation trial of Reich president Ebert in December 1924; and the Barmat scandal of spring 1925. The Ebert trial enabled nationalist journalists to portray the Reich president as a traitor who carried responsibility for the stab in the back in 1918. The scandal‐mongering against Jewish businessmen, the Barmat brothers, resulted in the collapse of their consortium, the arrest and death of a Reich minister, and a widespread perception of endemic corruption in the new democratic system. The focus of this chapter is on the interdependence of media, judiciary, and legislature.
Anna von der Goltz
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- February 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199570324
- eISBN:
- 9780191722240
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199570324.003.0005
- Subject:
- History, European Modern History
This chapter discusses the first presidential elections of the Weimar Republic, which saw Hindenburg beat his opponent Wilhelm Marx to succeed Friedrich Ebert as Germany's Reich President. It is ...
More
This chapter discusses the first presidential elections of the Weimar Republic, which saw Hindenburg beat his opponent Wilhelm Marx to succeed Friedrich Ebert as Germany's Reich President. It is argued that the Hindenburg myth played a crucial role in this fiercely modern and personalized election campaign. Nominated in the decisive second round of voting because his mythical reputation was considered an electoral asset, Hindenburg's campaign propaganda relied heavily on his image as a political ‘saviour’. The author maintains that the pro-republican parties failed to respond forcefully to being challenged openly by this national icon. It is argued that their own subscription to layers of the Hindenburg myth complicated their campaign efforts considerably. The author contends that Hindenburg owed his victory of April 1925 first and foremost to his mythical standing, which swayed right-wing Germans, but also held considerable allure amongst other groups, especially previous non-voters and Catholic Germans.Less
This chapter discusses the first presidential elections of the Weimar Republic, which saw Hindenburg beat his opponent Wilhelm Marx to succeed Friedrich Ebert as Germany's Reich President. It is argued that the Hindenburg myth played a crucial role in this fiercely modern and personalized election campaign. Nominated in the decisive second round of voting because his mythical reputation was considered an electoral asset, Hindenburg's campaign propaganda relied heavily on his image as a political ‘saviour’. The author maintains that the pro-republican parties failed to respond forcefully to being challenged openly by this national icon. It is argued that their own subscription to layers of the Hindenburg myth complicated their campaign efforts considerably. The author contends that Hindenburg owed his victory of April 1925 first and foremost to his mythical standing, which swayed right-wing Germans, but also held considerable allure amongst other groups, especially previous non-voters and Catholic Germans.
