Reichshammerbund (Reich Hammer League) was a German

anti-Semitic Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism. Antis ...

movement founded in 1912 by Theodor Fritsch. Based on ''The Hammer'', a journal founded by Fritsch in 1902, the Bund argued that

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

influences had contaminated Germany and attempted to argue that their

racism Racism is the belief that groups of humans possess different behavioral traits corresponding to inherited attributes and can be divided based on the superiority of one race over another. It may also mean prejudice, discrimination, or antagoni ...

had a basis in

biology Biology is the scientific study of life. It is a natural science with a broad scope but has several unifying themes that tie it together as a single, coherent field. For instance, all organisms are made up of cells that process hereditary ...

. The aim of the group was to co-ordinate the activities of the many small anti-Semitic organisations active at the time and to bring as many of these as possible under its banner. A movement rather than a political party, it sought to be above party politics and to instead encourage a renewal of the German way of life from an anti-

capitalist Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their operation for profit. Central characteristics of capitalism include capital accumulation, competitive markets, price system, private ...

perspective. The battle sign of the group was the

swastika The swastika (卐 or 卍) is an ancient religious and cultural symbol, predominantly in various Eurasian, as well as some African and American cultures, now also widely recognized for its appropriation by the Nazi Party and by neo-Nazis. I ...

, making the Bund one of the first

Völkisch movement The ''Völkisch'' movement (german: Völkische Bewegung; alternative en, Folkist Movement) was a German ethno-nationalist movement active from the late 19th century through to the Nazi era, with remnants in the Federal Republic of Germany a ...

s to use the symbol. The founding document for ''The Hammer'' had been

Willibald Hentschel Willibald Hentschel (7 November 1858 in Łódź – 2 February 1947 in Berg, Upper Bavaria) was a German agrarian and volkisch writer and political activist. He sought to renew the Aryan race through a variety of schemes, including selective breed ...

's 1901 book ''Varuna'', which preached racial purity and antisemitism. A sister organisation, the '' Germanenorden'', also appeared in 1912 under Fritsch, although it was a clandestine group for leading members of society who wished to work in secret rather than the Bund which was open. The Bund itself was close to the

occultism The occult, in the broadest sense, is a category of esoteric supernatural beliefs and practices which generally fall outside the scope of religion and science, encompassing phenomena involving otherworldly agency, such as magic and mysticism a ...

of the

Guido von List Society Guido Karl Anton List, better known as Guido von List (5 October 1848 – 17 May 1919), was an Austrian occultist, journalist, playwright, and novelist. He expounded a modern Pagan new religious movement known as Wotanism, which he claimed was ...

as amongst its founder members were List Society activists Philipp Stauff, Eberhard von Brockhusen and Karl August Hellwig. It was Hellwig who drafted the group's constitution and who exercised effective control in the early days of the Bund. They welcomed the outbreak of the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

as an opportunity to banish softness from Germany and return the country to its harsh, militaristic roots. From 1914 the group took a leading role in gathering

anecdotal evidence Anecdotal evidence is evidence based only on personal observation, collected in a casual or non-systematic manner. The term is sometimes used in a legal context to describe certain kinds of testimony which are uncorroborated by objective, indepen ...

relating to the involvement of the

Jew Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""T ...

s in the German war effort, much of which later formed the basis of the stab-in-the-back legend. In 1919 the group, at the instigation of Fritsch's friend Alfred Roth, merged into the Deutschvölkischer Schutz und Trutzbund as part of its continuing policy of forming an umbrella anti-Semitic movement.Levy, ''Antisemitism'', p. 266

References

{{Authority control Antisemitism in Germany Political organisations based in Germany Germanic mysticism Organizations established in 1912 1912 establishments in Germany