471:, blamed the escalation on the demonstrators and especially the organizers. According to this, around 4:00 p.m. demonstrators tried to enter the building, whereupon the Sipo on Königsplatz opened fire and threw hand grenades at the rally participants. Independent and communists, on the other hand, emphasized that the shooting had been done for no reason and without warning. It is unclear whether the warnings existed. Almost all the dead and injured were found south of the Reichstag, on the opposite sidewalk and in the adjacent zoo, according to reports from various sides. There, on Simsonstrasse, the crowd was at least four meters away from the police. So there were no violent attacks during the storming of the building. Most of the victims were hit here. After the shots broke out the crowd fled in panic, the Sipo fired several more minutes with their rifles and machine guns. Nowhere in the sources claims that demonstrators would have been shot back. The figures for the victims vary between 42 dead and 105 injured on the part of the demonstrators and around 20 dead, including one police officer, and around 100 injured, including 15 police officers. In any case, the casualties of this event were the largest for any demonstration in German history.
460:, opened at 3:19 p.m., demonstrators in several places had begun to taunt Sipo men, to push them away, this quickly escalated into groups of protestors disarming and abusing the Sipo guards. Conversely, the police fought back with the pistol blows of their carbines; but individual officers were reprimanded by their superiors for these actions. In the meantime, the USPD MPs in the plenary either asked for the Sipo to be withdrawn from the building or for the debate to be closed. As a result of a massive disturbance by the USPD faction, Fehrenbach had to interrupt the meeting at 3:48 p.m.
423:. Between September 1919 and January 1920, the Reich Government, which was led by the Social Democrats and in continued cooperation with the Army Command, was specially set up in Berlin to protect the existing order, because the existing Berlin police force during the November Revolution and during the uprising had failed. The Sipo consisted mainly of former
427:
members and was commanded by army officers. Numerous relatives and officers were clearly right-wing extremists. Neither the leadership nor the police on the ground had extensive training. Smaller
Sipoverbände with machine guns were stationed in the Reichstag building, bigger front of the entrance of
474:
When
Fehrenbach reopened the meeting at 4:13 p.m., the USPD requested that the meeting be adjourned immediately with the note "There are dead and seriously wounded people downstairs in the house". The President was not convinced of the reason but asked the plenary the question of supporters. Only a
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in front of the
Reichstag, but many only came to the adjacent side streets due to the crowds. Though numbers vary considerably, according to Weipert it was "at least 100,000, probably there were significantly more." Speakers from the USPD, the KPD and the works council center made speeches. There
463:
MPs who were now watching the tumult on the Königsplatz from the windows of the
Reichstag were threatened with revolvers by excited demonstrators. One person from the crowd fired shots at Portal II of the Reichstag building. At least one police officer was hit. Members of the metalworkers' union
486:
After the riot, a total exclusion zone for demonstrations was declared around the immediate vicinity of the
Reichstag (the Bannmeile Decree), which still remains in force. The workers' concerns were ignored and, on February 3, 1920, the Works' Councils Act
475:
tiny minority supported the request, but stormy protests by the USPD led to another interruption at 4:37 p.m. After the reopening at 5:09 p.m. Fehrenbach, who had now taken note of the fatalities, closed the trial at 5:11 p.m.
464:
immediately took the gun from the gunman – apparently captured by the Sipo – and beat him up. The majority of the demonstrators were calm anyway or even tried to prevent the police from being aggressive.
391:). The number of people killed and injured is controversial, but it is certainly the bloodiest demonstration in German history. The event was a historic event that was overshadowed two months later by the
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146:
478:
The works council law passed the
National Assembly at a subsequent meeting on January 18. With the announcement in the Reichsgesetzblatt, it came into force on February 4, 1920.
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The events that followed were highly controversial among contemporaries - and still are in research to this day. One version, represented among others by the then
Chancellor
411:(KPD) backed the workers who wanted unrestricted organizing powers. To push their point a protest was called for on January 13, 1920, in front of the Reichstag.
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456:(MPs) on their way to the session. After the last speech fell silent, the protesters did not leave the square. Before the President of the Reichstag,
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On
January 13, starting at around 12 noon, most of the large companies in Berlin stopped working; these include, for example,
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The government hoped to limit union activity by passing the Works
Council Act. The left-wing German political parties the
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8:
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The Great
Disorder: Politics, Economics, and Society in the German Inflation, 1914–1924
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39:
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At the gates of power. The demonstration on January 13, 1920 in front of the Reichstag
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687:"Vor den Toren der Macht. Die Demonstration am 13. Januar 1920 vor dem Reichstag"
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but remained in Berlin's labour movement and security forces' collective memory.
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1920 riots against passage of the Works Councils Act in Berlin, Germany
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The protection of the building lay with the militarily organized
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Battles of the Political violence in Germany (1918–1933)
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the building at King Square and along Samson Street.
22:
Massacre in front of the Reichstag on 13 January 1920
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373:) occurred on January 13, 1920, in front of the
664:The Berlin Police Force in the Weimar Republic
405:Independent Social Democratic Party of Germany
377:building in Berlin during negotiation by the
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447:. The workers moved to the inner city on
158:Political violence in Germany (1918–1933)
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661:
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293:Murder of Paul Anlauf and Franz Lenck
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181:Collapse of the Imperial German Army
749:Riots and civil disorder in Germany
744:20th-century mass murder in Germany
191:Greater Poland uprising (1918–1919)
82:Passage of the Works Councils Act (
13:
14:
815:
794:Massacres of protesters in Europe
328:Nazi boycott of Jewish businesses
799:1920 labor disputes and strikes
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779:Massacres committed by Germany
695:Arbeit - Bewegung - Geschichte
668:University of California Press
231:French occupation of Frankfurt
186:German Revolution of 1918–1919
1:
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211:1920 East Prussian plebiscite
176:German strike of January 1918
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318:1932 Berlin transport strike
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642:Stalin and German Communism
622:. Oxford University Press.
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196:Occupation of the Rhineland
10:
820:
769:Labour disputes in Germany
644:. Transaction Publishers.
409:Communist Party of Germany
90:) limiting workers' rights
452:were several assaults on
371:Blutbad vor dem Reichstag
303:1932 Prussian coup d'état
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34:
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662:Liang, Hsi-huey (1970).
379:Weimar National Assembly
764:Works council (Germany)
754:1920s murders in Berlin
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685:Weipert, Axel (2012).
512:Works Constitution Act
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421:security police (Sipo)
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308:Potempa murder of 1932
246:Occupation of the Ruhr
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640:Fisher, Ruth (1948).
458:Constantin Fehrenbach
454:Members of parliament
784:Massacres in Germany
635:– Total pages: 1040
298:Altona Bloody Sunday
774:January 1920 events
363:Reichstag Bloodbath
216:Reichstag Bloodbath
103:Deaths and injuries
63:52.5186°N 13.3763°E
59: /
657:– Total pages: 687
616:Feldman, Gerald D.
493:Betriebsrätegesetz
388:Betriebsrätegesetz
201:Silesian Uprisings
88:Betriebsrätegesetz
42:in Berlin, Germany
40:Reichstag building
789:Massacres in 1920
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98:Rioting, gunfire
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30:January 13, 1920
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723:. Retrieved
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313:Kwami Affair
251:Cuno strikes
236:March Action
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206:Feme murders
725:January 15,
588:Fisher 1948
449:Königsplatz
407:(USPD) and
393:Kapp Putsch
345:July Putsch
221:Kapp Putsch
66: /
759:1920 riots
738:Categories
609:References
552:Liang 1970
399:Background
340:Röhm purge
54:13°22′35″E
51:52°31′07″N
712:1610-093X
482:Aftermath
425:Freikorps
375:Reichstag
277:1929-1933
170:1918-1923
79:Caused by
720:49930935
618:(1997).
499:See also
116:Injuries
108:Death(s)
35:Location
702:].
441:Daimler
437:Siemens
381:on the
334:Related
283:Blutmai
95:Methods
718:
710:
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648:
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489:German
367:German
84:German
698:[
690:(PDF)
523:Notes
385:Act (
111:20–42
727:2020
716:OCLC
708:ISSN
672:ISBN
646:ISBN
624:ISBN
443:and
415:Riot
361:The
119:~105
27:Date
433:AEG
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542:^
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487:(
365:(
148:e
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Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Additional terms may apply.