Why weren’t those involved in the Beer Hall Putsch in the 1920’s executed for treason?
The Weimar Republic was often lenient when it came to fascist parties such as the Nazis. “Why” is a big question.
Not so much the Weimar Republic, but the Bavarian authorities by whom Hitler and the conspirators were tried. Many of them were sympathetic to right-wing causes and loathed Berlin and the national government almost as much as the Nazis did.
The courts were overwhelmingly ‘blind in the right eye’ (the common German expression).
A statistic from 1918-1923 (Emil Julius Gumbel: Vier Jahre politischer Mord)
Political murders committed by left-wingers: 22
Left-wingers convicted for these murders: 38
Left-wingers executed for these murders: 10
Political murders committed by right-wingers: 354
Right-wingers convicted for these murders: 24
Right-wingers executed for these murders: 0
The court where Hitler and accomplices were tried for high treason was not only lenient with regard to the length of the sentences; it also spared the social reputations of the convicted by convicting them to Festungshaft (imprisonment in a fortress) as opposed to a normal prison term. Festungshaft was not considered dishonorable, prison was (and if Hitler had had to serve a prison term the odium of an ex-con would have prevented a lot of people from making common cause with him.)
Now that I have dug out the book I can give a proper cite; it turns out I mistook the year of publication:
Emil Julius Gumbel: Vier Jahre politischer Mord, Verlag der Neuen Gesellschaft, Berlin-Fichtenau 1922, p. 81 (cited after reissue in: Emil Julius Gumbel: Vier Jahre politischer Mord und Denkschrift des Reichsjustizministeriums zu “Vier Jahre Poitischer Mord”, Verlag Das Wunderhorn, Heidelberg 1980). My translation.
(note there is a list of all murders tabulated, covering a period from 11 Jan 1919 to 24 Jun 1922). The four years of the title refer to a larger picture of political violence which began in 1918. The last two of the rightist murders tabulated were one former and one present cabinet ministers.
Murders by leftists by rightists
total, of which 22 354
... unpunished 4 326
... punished (some perps) 1 27
... punished (all perps) 17 1
Persons convicted 38 24
Perpretators confessed,
but were acquitted - 23
Perpetrators confessed,
but promoted - 3
(in their posts)
Prison sentences, total 248 yr 9 mo 90 yr 2 mo
Average prison sentence
per murder 15 years 4 months
Persons executed 10 -
Average fine per murder - 2 marks
Ah, cool. Thanks!
IIRC, at Hitler’s trial, the head of the Prussian Police force was on the stand. He was a right winger, and he was asked if there were political murders being perpetrated in his district. His reply was: “Yes, but not enough of them.”
Right. Sometimes we forget just how much sympathy there was for fascism and kindred ideologies at the time – or we want to forget, and pretend it was just a freak occurrence.
Well, “why” isn’t that much of a question. It’s because the judiciary tended to be right wing and sympathetic to the right wing, and therefore more prone to excuse right wing violence.
It’s amazing how many people try to pass off Weimar Germany as a functioning democracy the equivalent to modern America or Britian. Hitler didn’t come to power because an otherwise peaceful and prosperous country decided the brown shirts looked snappy. He came to power in a brutal process where he outright murdered his rivals and used a massive amount of pre-existing corruption to lever himself into high office.