The Beer Hall Putsch

What’s a beer hall ?

In the early 20th century : places where people were able to gather during the evenings and drink beer. Also a place where political rallies could be held.

Background :

On 26 September 1923, following a period of turmoil and political violence, Bava-rian Prime Minister Eugen von Knilling declared a state of emergency and appoin-ted Gustav van Kahr Staatskomissar (state commissioner) with dictatorial gover-ning powers.

One of van Kahr’s first decisions : to ban meetings of Adolf Hitler, the leader of the Nazi Party. Indeed, van Kahr had his own plan to install a nationalist dictatorship without Hitler.

In the evening of November, 9th 1923 : about 600 SA (paramilitary wing of the Nazi Party -> Sturmabteilung : Abteilung : department; stürmen : to assault, to make a run on) surrounded the «Bürgerbräukeller» -> beer hall where van Kahr was ma-king a speach in front of 3000 people. Machine gun set up in the auditorium.

Hitler fired a shot in the ceiling and yelled that the Bavarian governement was de-posed and declared the formation of an new government. Hitler asked van Kahr to support the putsch but he denied.

The night was marked by confusion and, in the morning, Hitler realised the putsch was going nowhere. He was injured by a shot.

Two days later, Hitler was arrested and charged with high treason in a special Peo-ple’s Court. The Nazi party headquarters were raided and its newspaper was ban-ned.

At this point of the story, you can think Nazis lost and this is the end. But it’s just the beginning of the way to the horror of WW II.

Hitler used his trial to spread his ideas and the judges were impressed. He was sentenced to 5 years in prison with the possibility to be released after 6 months.

In fact, Hitler served only 8 months and used this time to write his book «Mein Kampf».

The putsch made Hitler change his strategy : he then decided to act legally to ob-tain the power, with the consequences that we all know.

The rise of fascism in Italy

What is fascism ?

Form of radical authoritarian nationalism.

Many defintions of fascism.

Stanley George Payne, historian at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, describes fascism with its goals :

-> «Creation of a new nationalist authoritarian state not based on traditionnal prin-ciples or models»

-> «Positive evaluation and use of (or willingness to use) violence and war»

-> «The goal of empire, expansion, or a radical change in the nation’s relationship with other powers»

Fascism is a mix of Antiliberalism, Anticommunism and Anticonversatism

At the end of the 1910’s, fascists in Italy began a campaign to accomodate conser-vatives. They accepted alterations in their political agenda (ex: Though their initial anticlericalism and republicanism, they accepted the Roman Catholic Church and the monarchy as institutions in Italy). This campaign was very successful. Indeed, before this movement, the fascist party was a small organisation with only thousand members. In 1921, after the accomodation, there were about 250 000 members.

On October, 24th 1922 -> annual congress of the fascist party. Mussolini, leader of the party, ordered the black shirts (paramilitary wing) to take control of public buil-dings and roads around Rome. This event is called «March on Rome». King Victor Emmanuel III was worried and decided to appoint Mussolini as Prime Minister of Italy.

Mussolini had first to form a coalition government. But the Italian Parliament pas-sed the Acerbo Law, which purpose was to give the fascist party a majority of depu-ties.

Through intimidation and this law, the fascists won the 1924 election. On January, 3rd 1925, Mussolini proclaimed himself dictator of Italy and announced the dismis-sal of parliament.

From 1925 to 1929 : fascists secured their power ( ex : censorship).

Music

I want to introduce you a music style which was very popular and successful during the 20ies.

Operetta :

Operetta is a music style mixing comedy, singing and dance.

Very popular during the second half of the XIXth century but almost disppears with the begin of the XXth and with WW I.

Reborn of this style after the Armistice with the componist Henri Christiné. Christiné was conductor at the «Concert européen», a music hall located Place Clichy in Pa-ris.

Its operetta Phi-Phi (created in 1918), about the love stories of sculptor Phidias, was very sucessful, running for three years without interruption at the Bouffes-Pari-siens. There were a lot of imitators such as Le petit Phi-Phi (march 1922) or Les amants de Phi-Phi (march 1923). Phi-Phi was the first piece to use the latest rythms of jazz (one-step, fox trot). It was translated into English and the english ver-sion had also a great success.

An other operetta of Christiné, Dédé, followed Phi-Phi in 1921 at the Bouffes-Pari-siens. However, it didn’t manage to have the same success as its forerunner.

An other componist, Maurice Yvain couldn’t stay away of this new phenomene. Its operetta Là Haut followed Dédé at the Bouffes-Parisiens. It’s an operetta with a fun-ny text and american influences. «Là Haut» refers to the paradise. In this short ex-tract, the main character is asking St Peter if the life conditions in the paradise are similar to those in the «real» life.

These new operettas are played by less than ten people and a handful of musicians (sometimes just a piano). For this reason, they could be played in small theatres.