Dolchstoßlegende (Title Page of the „Süddeutsche Monatshefte“, April 1924)

After the unsuccessful spring offensives on the western front in 1918, if not before, the imminent defeat of the German Reich was inevitable. Instead of seeking the reasons for the defeat in the military superiority of the opposing warring parties, the Supreme Army Command together with right-wing parties saw the main cause on the "home front": Defeatism and, above all, the November Revolution had dealt the "undefeated" army a "stab in the back", forcing the German Reich to accept the Compiègne ceasefire on 11 November. The blame for the military defeat and for the consequences was thus blamed on the democratic state that emerged in 1918/19, in particular on social democracy, but also on "the" Jewry in general.

The legend of the stab-in-the-back was propagated in numerous relevant media, e.g. in the nationalistic Süddeutsche Monatshefte published by Nikolaus Cossmann (1869-1942) in Munich. Shortly before the Reichstag elections on 4 May 1924, two issues of the Monthly Bulletin focused on the German defeat and sought to prove the thesis of the "dagger stab". On the title page of the April issue one can see a German soldier equipped with a steel helmet, struck down by an oversized dagger.

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