The Barmat scandal was a political scandal in 1924 and 1925 in the Weimar Republic which implicated the Social Democratic Party of Germany in corruption, war profiteering, fraud, bribery, and other financial misdeeds. The scandal provided right-wing political forces within Germany with a basis for attacking the Social Democrats and the republic itself. Antisemitism in connection with the scandal also featured prominently in Nazi propaganda, since the Barmat brothers were Jewish.[1]
The scandal was used by the German far-right to foment the belief that wealthy Jewish families in quasi-criminal operations found fertile ground in the Republic and easily exploited the Social Democrats to do their bidding.[2] The right-wing press was eager to use the scandal as a vehicle for antisemitism.[3]