Discussion with Dr. Olaf Kistenmacher on the 1923 Scheunenviertel Pogrom from the perspective of the Communist Party

This massive outbreak of violence, which took place ten years before the National Socialists came to power, has all but

. Moreover, there are hardly any historical traces of the Scheunenviertel left; only a few Stolpersteine bear witness to its former Eastern European Jewish population.

The Communist Party of Germany (KPD) combated the anti-Semitism of right-wing and far-right parties. The KPD blamed the pogrom in the Scheunenviertel in early November 1923 on ‘German nationalist agitators’ who had incited the unemployed. The party was in agreement with the Social Democrats on this interpretation. In early 1924, the KPD once again examined the causes of anti-Semitic violence in detail. On the one hand, it clearly condemned anti-Semitism. On the other hand, it warned that its members must not become ‘protectors of Jewish capitalism’.

The lecture will shed light on the background to this interpretation and place the KPD’s dual strategy within a broader historical context.

Dr Olaf Kistenmacher wrote his doctoral thesis on anti-Semitic statements in the KPD’s daily newspaper, *Die Rote Fahne*. He works as a journalist and has been active in political education against anti-Semitism for over 20 years.

IN GERMAN