Arnold Brecht on the Versailles Treaty (Retrospective Account, 1966)
On June 16, 1919, the Entente powers presented Germany with an ultimatum: the government was to accept the Versailles Treaty or run the risk of invasion. The members of the German National Assembly realized that they were in a tight spot, but the majority still rejected two of the treaty’s articles, Article 227 (stipulating the extradition of the Kaiser and the establishment of an international court to prosecute German war crimes) and Article 231 (the so-called War Guilt Clause). On June 22, an overwhelming majority voted in favor of accepting the treaty, provided that these two articles were excluded. On June 23, in the face of a new ultimatum by the Entente, some parliamentarians engaged in a bit of procedural maneuvering whereby the version of the treaty approved the day before was accepted, with the two excluded articles, but without being put to another vote. A majority in favor of acceptance was thereby achieved.
In factual terms, the punitive measures outlined in the Versailles Treaty (Art. 227-230) were not especially harshly enforced. The “War Guilt Clause,” however, offered anti-democratic/nationalist forces in Germany ample opportunity for pro-German, war innocence propaganda and related agitation; it also contributed to the ongoing sense of alienation many Germans felt toward the Weimar Republic.
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Sources: The Weimar Republic 1918–29 – Sources: Hitler’s rise to power, 1919–33 – Sources: Nazi control and dictatorship, 1933–39 – Sources: Life in Nazi Germany, 1933–39
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Weimar and Nazi Germany – Rise of the Nazi Party – Appeasement: Source Material – Source Analysis Lesson: Nazi Methods of Control – Revision Guide, Weimar and Nazi Germany