Editing Weimar Republic (section)

==== War guilt ====
{{further|War guilt question}}

Article 231 of the Versailles Treaty was widely perceived not only as a legal legitimization of reparations but also as a moral condemnation of Germany, and it triggered a storm of indignation among the German public.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Krüger |first=Peter |title=Die Außenpolitik der Republik von Weimar |publisher=WBG Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft |year=1993 |isbn=3-534-07250-2 |location=Darmstadt |pages=63 |language=de |trans-title=Foreign Policy of the Weimar Republic}}</ref> The hostility towards it came from across the political spectrum, from the far right to the moderate governing parties to the KPD.

After the treaty came into force, the Foreign Office continued the state's control of the debate over war guilt. The War Guilt Department financed and directed the [[Centre for the Study of the Causes of the War]], which was to provide "scientific" support for the "campaign of innocence" abroad. For war-innocence propaganda at home, a "[[Working Committee of German Associations]]" was founded with representatives of many groups considered "fit for good society".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Geiss |first=Imanuel |title=Der lange Weg in die Katastrophe. Die Vorgeschichte des Ersten Weltkrieges 1815–1914 |publisher=Piper |year=1990 |isbn=3-492-10943-8 |location=Munich |pages=102 f |language=de |trans-title=The Long Road to Catastrophe. The background of the First World War 1815–1914}}</ref> In 1919, the Weimar National Assembly established a [[Reichstag inquiry into guilt for World War I|parliamentary committee]] to inquire into the events that had led to the "outbreak, prolongation and loss of the First World War". Its results were of questionable value due to a lack of cooperation from the civil service and military and to increasing interference from the government, which wanted to prevent a German admission of guilt before the world public.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Parlamentarischer Untersuchungsausschuss für die Schuldfragen des Ersten Weltkriegs |trans-title=Parliamentary Committee of Inquiry into the Question of Guilt for the First World War |url=https://www.pacelli-edition.de/schlagwort-pdf.html?idno=3032 |access-date=20 May 2023 |website=Kritische Online-Edition der Nuntiaturberichte Eugenio Pacellis (1917–1929) |language=de}}</ref> The committee met until 1932.

During the course of World War I, war reporting was the responsibility of the [[German General Staff]] and after 1918, of the [[War guilt question#Potsdam Reichsarchiv|Potsdam Reich Archives]] founded by General [[Hans von Seeckt]],<ref>{{Cite web |title=Gründung des Reichsarchivs 1919 |trans-title=Founding of the Reich Archive 1919 |url=https://www.bundesarchiv.de/DE/Content/Virtuelle-Ausstellungen/reichsarchiv.html |access-date=20 May 2023 |website=Bundesarchiv |language=de}}</ref> which dedicated itself to the task of "disproving" German war guilt and war crimes. As a result, it was the leadership of the Reichswehr with its largely anti-democratic civil service personnel that, along with the Foreign Office, determined the portrayal of the war in the Weimar Republic.

All in all, there was little objective and critical questioning of the causes of the war or of Germany's responsibility for it in academia, politics or the media during the Weimar period. The official view of history continued to follow the argument issued by the OHL in 1914 that Germany had been threatened by invasion and encirclement. Revising the conditions of the Versailles Treaty became the main goal of German foreign policy.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Scriba |first=Arnulf |date=2 September 2014 |title=Weimarer Republik: Außenpolitik |trans-title=Weimar Republic: Foreign Policy |url=https://www.dhm.de/lemo/kapitel/weimarer-republik/aussenpolitik.html |access-date=19 May 2023 |website=Deutsches Historisches Museum |language=de}}</ref>

The consensus opposing the "war guilt clause" did much to promote agitation against foreign countries and the Weimar Constitution. Both the DNVP and, in particular, the NSDAP questioned the entire post-war order and propagated a "war guilt lie". In line with national conservative and bourgeois right-wing parties, they accused the governing parties of having contributed to Germany's humiliation by signing the treaty and of denying it the right to self-determination.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Kimmel |first=Elke |date=12 January 2022 |title=Die "Kriegsschuldlüge" |trans-title=The 'War Guilt Lie' |url=https://www.deutschlandfunkkultur.de/100-jahre-politischer-mord-in-deutschland-die-kriegsschuldluege-100.html |access-date=19 May 2023 |website=Deutschlandfunk |language=de}}</ref>