Blutmai

Blutmai
Part of political violence in Germany
Berlin Police dismantle a barricade erected by communists
Date1–3 May 1929
Location
MethodsPolice brutality and political violence
Parties
Lead figures
Casualties and losses
Deaths: 33 unaffiliated civilians killed
Injuries: ~200
Arrests: 1,200+
Injuries: 47

Blutmai (English: Bloody May, lit.'Blood May') was an outbreak of political violence that occurred in Berlin from 1 to 3 May 1929.

It occurred when the Communist Party of Germany (KPD) held May Day marches in defiance of a ban on public gatherings in Berlin ordered by the city's police chief Karl Zörgiebel of the Social Democratic Party (SPD). The Berlin Police responded with an immediate and harsh crackdown. Often without regard to whether the persons involved were demonstrators or bystanders, they forcibly and sometimes violently dispersed the crowds that formed. As the day progressed, street battles developed between the protestors and the police, who used firearms and armoured cars. The violence lasted until the afternoon of 3 May, mostly in the working-class neighbourhoods of Wedding and Neukölln.

An estimated 33 civilians, none of whom were involved with the KPD, were killed, 200 injured, and over a thousand people taken into police custody, many of whom were also not involved in the initial KPD rallies.[1] Only 66 of those arrested were charged and 44 convicted. Ten policemen were hurt badly enough to be hospitalized, although none of them suffered from a gunshot wound. In spite of a considerable outcry in the left and liberal press, and angry scenes in the Reichstag, no action was taken against the Berlin Police.

The events of Blutmai deepened the split between the SPD and KPD, the two major left-wing parties of the Weimar Republic, making a united stand against the growing strength of far-right parties more difficult.

  1. ^ Bowlby 1986, pp. 149–150.