Reichshammerbund
The Reichshammerbund was a national association that was founded in Leipzig in 1912 by the publisher and author Theodor Fritsch . Fritsch was editor of the anti-Semitic magazine Der Hammer , which was read by followers in regional reading circles . This following was also known as the hammer movement . With the Reichshammerbund, Fritsch wanted to unite the various German ethnic-anti-Semitic groups of political anti-Semitism of the imperial era into one association. It was supposed to be a public anti-Semitic collective movement open to all social classes and parties, but the association was not very attractive and with almost 3,000 (in 1919) members remained a smaller association organized in around 20 local groups.
The executive was formed by the "Bundeswart" Karl August Hellwig, the "Ehrenbundeswart" Fritsch and a twelve-member "Armanenrat". This name refers to the state of the Armanen , Germanic Wotan priests and kings in the political mythology of Guido von List . His ariosophical ideas were brought into the Reichshammerbund by Hellwig, among others, which had been a member of the List Society since 1908 .
Since 1918, under the leadership of the anti-Semite Alfred Roth , the Hammerbund has devoted itself primarily to racist propaganda and called for the strengthening of “German nationality”. The First World War was described as a "racial test" for Jewish soldiers. After the war ended, the federal government distributed anti-Semitic and anti-social democratic leaflets .
Parallel to the Reichshammerbund, the secret association of the Teutonic Order was founded, which also spread ethnic and anti-Semitic ideas. The Reichshammerbund gradually dissolved after 1919 ; Leading members later formed the core of the Deutschvölkischer Schutz- und Trutzbund . A “ hammer publishing house ” in Leipzig remained in existence , which continued to produce anti-Semitic publications, e. B. 1924 the writing The Protocols of the Elders of Zion with foreword and afterword by Fritsch.
literature
Uwe Lohalm: Reichshammerbund, in: Handbuch des Antisemitismus . Edited by Wolfgang Benz, Volume 5 Organizations, Institutions, Movements, De Gruyter Saur, Berlin / Boston 2012, pp. 517-520, ISBN 978-3-598-24078-2 .
Web links
- Johannes Leicht: The Reichshammerbund on LeMO
Individual evidence
- ^ Uwe Puschner: The völkisch movement in the Wilhelmine Empire. Language - Race - Religion , Darmstadt 2001, p. 386.
- ↑ Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke : The Occult Roots of National Socialism ; Marix Verlag, Wiesbaden 2004, p. 55.
- ↑ Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke: The Occult Roots of National Socialism ; Marix Verlag, Wiesbaden 2004, p. 114.