Bernhard Weiss (30 July 1880 – 29 July 1951) was a German lawyer and Vice President of the

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

police during the

Weimar Republic The Weimar Republic, officially known as the German Reich, was the German Reich, German state from 1918 to 1933, during which it was a constitutional republic for the first time in history; hence it is also referred to, and unofficially proclai ...

. A member of the liberal Deutsche Demokratische Partei, Weiss was known as a key player in the political tensions during the Weimar Republic and a staunch defender of

parliamentary democracy A parliamentary system, or parliamentary democracy, is a form of government where the head of government (chief executive) derives their democratic legitimacy from their ability to command the support ("confidence") of a majority of the legisl ...

against extremists on the left and right.

Early life

Born in

German Empire The German Empire (),; ; World Book, Inc. ''The World Book dictionary, Volume 1''. World Book, Inc., 2003. p. 572. States that Deutsches Reich translates as "German Realm" and was a former official name of Germany. also referred to as Imperia ...

into a prominent, liberal

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

family, Bernhard Weiss earned a doctorate of law after studying law at the

University of Berlin The Humboldt University of Berlin (, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin, Germany. The university was established by Frederick William III on the initiative of Wilhelm von Humbol ...

, the

University of Munich The Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (simply University of Munich, LMU or LMU Munich; ) is a public university, public research university in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. Originally established as the University of Ingolstadt in 1472 by Duke ...

, the

University of Freiburg The University of Freiburg (colloquially ), officially the Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg (), is a public university, public research university located in Freiburg im Breisgau, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. The university was founded in 1 ...

im Breisgau and the

University of Würzburg The Julius Maximilian University of Würzburg (also referred to as the University of Würzburg, in German ''Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg'') is a public research university in Würzburg, Germany. Founded in 1402, it is one of the ol ...

. In 1904 Bernhard Weiss volunteered to undergo military training and was commissioned as a reserve officer in the Royal Bavarian Army, since as a Jew he was not accepted in the Prussian army. During the First World War he was promoted to the rank of captain (Rittmeister). Weiss was the officer in charge of a medical company and was awarded the

Iron Cross The Iron Cross (, , abbreviated EK) was a military decoration in the Kingdom of Prussia, the German Empire (1871–1918), and Nazi Germany (1933–1945). The design, a black cross pattée with a white or silver outline, was derived from the in ...

First Class for his services. His three brothers and a cousin also fought in the war. One was killed and another seriously injured. Active in the Jewish community of Berlin, Weiss was a board member of the (reform) rabbinical seminary and a member of the Centralverein deutscher Staatsbürger jüdischen Glaubens (Central Union of German Citizens of Jewish Belief), the organization dedicated to protecting the civil and social rights of Jews in Germany while at the same time cultivating their German identity. Weiss made a name for himself as an exceptionally efficient lawyer and judge before being the first Jew to enter the civil service of pre-Weimar Germany.

Deputy Chief of the Berlin Criminal Police

In 1918 Weiss was appointed Deputy Chief of the Berlin Criminal Police, the Kripo, and became its head in 1925. In 1920 he was made head of the Political Police and was appointed Vice President of the entire Berlin police force in 1927. Weiss was a member of the liberal Deutsche Demokratische Partei (German Democratic Party). He played a central role during the political tension in the Weimar Republic, and was a fierce defender of the democratic republic against right-wing and left-wing extremists. The constitutional

was for Germany a radical change from the previous authoritarian regime. From the outset the Weimar republic was attacked from both extremes of the political spectrum. Weiss devoted himself to making the Kripo an institution which would defend parliamentary democracy. He was responsible for producing evidence of the subversive activities of the Russian trade delegation in Berlin.

Walther Rathenau Walther Rathenau (; 29 September 1867 – 24 June 1922) was a German industrialist, writer and politician who served as foreign minister of Germany from February 1922 until his assassination in June 1922. Rathenau was one of Germany's leading ...

, the Jewish industrialist and politician who served Weimar governments in several capacities including that of Foreign Minister was assassinated in 1922, two months after the signing of the Treaty of Rapallo. Weiss was closely involved in the successful hunt for Rathenau's murderers. He was always concerned with the struggles against both the communists and the brownshirts and ordered the confiscation of weapons found at their meetings. In 1927 Weiss ordered the shutting down of the Berlin branch of the

Nazi party The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party ( or NSDAP), was a far-right politics, far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that created and supported the ideology of Nazism. Its precursor ...

and in the same year had 500 of their members arrested for belonging to an illegal organization when they returned from a rally in

Nuremberg Nuremberg (, ; ; in the local East Franconian dialect: ''Nämberch'' ) is the Franconia#Towns and cities, largest city in Franconia, the List of cities in Bavaria by population, second-largest city in the States of Germany, German state of Bav ...

. On 12 May 1932, he led a group of police to restore order in the

Reichstag building The Reichstag (; ) is a historic legislative government building on Platz der Republik in Berlin that is the seat of the German Bundestag. It is also the meeting place of the Federal Convention, which elects the President of Germany. The Ne ...

on the request of its president, Paul Löbe, after Nazi deputies assaulted journalist there during the

Röhm scandal The Röhm scandal resulted from the outing, public disclosure of Nazi politician Ernst Röhm's homosexuality by anti-Nazis in 1931 and 1932. As a result of the scandal, Röhm became the first known gay politician. Röhm was an early member of ...

. Nazi deputies shouted antisemitic slurs at Weiss.

Confrontations with Joseph Goebbels

While in office, Weiss was the target of a constant campaign of vilification organized by

Joseph Goebbels Paul Joseph Goebbels (; 29 October 1897 – 1 May 1945) was a German Nazism, Nazi politician and philologist who was the ''Gauleiter'' (district leader) of Berlin, chief Propaganda in Nazi Germany, propagandist for the Nazi Party, and ...

, then a prominent

Nazi Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

activist, later the Reich Minister of Propaganda. Goebbels nicknamed Weiss "Isidore" and the

as "The Jew's Republic". Weiss sued Goebbels for libel and won his case. Goebbels did not refrain and Weiss was not intimidated, which led to Weiss suing Goebbels as many as 40-60 times, he won over two dozen libel suits against him and his newspaper

Der Angriff ''Der Angriff'' (in English "The Attack") was the official newspaper of the Berlin ''Gau'' of the Nazi Party. Founded in 1927, the last edition of the newspaper was published on 24 April 1945. History The newspaper was set up by Joseph Goebb ...

. On several occasions Weiss also prevented Goebbels from speaking at Nazi meetings. Dr. Wilhelm Arnold Drews, former Prussian Minister of the Interior who appointed Weiss, said in 1932, towards the end of Weiss' career: "when we decided to appoint for the Home Service a Jew who was not baptized, we knew that the first had to be the best. It was you I chose and I am glad to say that you lived up to our expectations."

Franz von Papen Franz Joseph Hermann Michael Maria von Papen, (; 29 October 18792 May 1969) was a German politician, diplomat, Prussian nobleman and army officer. A national conservative, he served as Chancellor of Germany in 1932, and then as Vice-Chancell ...

Chancellor Chancellor () is a title of various official positions in the governments of many countries. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the (lattice work screens) of a basilica (court hall), which separa ...

of Germany in 1932 and Vice-Chancellor when

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...

came to power, had both Weiss and his superior arrested, albeit for one day only.

Weiss's escape to the United Kingdom

Weiss finally decided to flee Germany just a few days before

was made Chancellor. Weiss's police force was ordered to arrest their former Deputy Chief and

Hermann Göring Hermann Wilhelm Göring (or Goering; ; 12 January 1893 – 15 October 1946) was a German Nazism, Nazi politician, aviator, military leader, and convicted war criminal. He was one of the most powerful figures in the Nazi Party, which gov ...

offered to pay a reward for anyone who assisted in his capture. The police came looking for Weiss while he and his daughter Hilda were at his siblings' home. They had to bury Weiss in the basement under the coal stack to prevent them from discovering him. They attempted to take Hilda, but her aunt and uncle claimed she was their daughter and the police left. A friend came to Weiss's assistance and drove him out of the country to Czechoslovakia. Weiss then went to the United Kingdom where he opened a printing and stationery business and lived out the remainder of his life. After his escape, Weiss was subsequently deprived of his German citizenship. In 1951, shortly before becoming a German citizen again, he died of cancer in London. Weiss's widow, Lotte Weiss (née Buss), returned to live in Berlin immediately after her husband's death. She died in Berlin in 1952.

Legacy

"He was a man of extremes, a Jew imbibing Prussian values, small in stature, large in responsible behaviour and a staunch democrat," wrote Uwe Dannenbaum in an article in the German newspaper ''

Die Welt (, ) is a German national daily newspaper, published as a broadsheet by Axel Springer SE. is the flagship newspaper of the Axel Springer publishing group and it is considered a newspaper of record in Germany. Its leading competitors are the ...

'' to mark the naming of the forecourt of the Friedrichstrasse railway station in Berlin in honour of the former police chief. The film "The Man who chased Goebbels" (2005) by Reiner Mathias Brueckner portrays Weiss as a resolute defender of the republican order.Ouri Wesoly,
'Bernhard Weiss, l’homme qui traqua Goebbels'The man who stalked Goebbels,'
Centre communautaire laïc juif 7 August 2013. In 2007, the German Federation of Jewish soldiers established an award in his honour, the Bernhard Weiss Medal, to be awarded to fellow Germans who work for understanding and tolerance. The forecourt at the Friedrichstrasse station in Berlin and the

Alexanderplatz (, ''Alexander Square'') is a large public square and transport hub in the central Mitte district of Berlin. The square is named after the Russian Tsar Alexander I, which also denotes the larger neighbourhood stretching from in the north-ea ...

strasse in central Berlin were named after Bernhard Weiss. A plaque has been erected outside the Berlin house at Steinplatz 310623 Berlin where he lived. Weiss is Bernie Gunther's boss in many of the detective stories written by

Philip Kerr Philip Ballantyne Kerr (22 February 1956 – 23 March 2018) was a British author, best known for his Bernie Gunther series of historical detective thrillers. Early life Kerr was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, where his father was an enginee ...

, and particularly in his posthumous novel, ''Metropolis'' (2019). In his ''A Quiet Flame'' (2008) Kerr has Weiss taking refuge in the Chinese embassy at the time of the

Reichstag fire The Reichstag fire (, ) was an arson attack on the Reichstag building, home of the German parliament in Berlin, on Monday, 27 February 1933, precisely four weeks after Adolf Hitler was sworn in as Chancellor of Germany. Marinus van der Lubbe, ...

, and then removed by Gunther to the sanctuary of the Hotel Adlon.

, ''A Quiet Flame,'' Quercus pp.250-253. Weiss appears in the Gereon Rath series of detective novels set in Berlin by Volker Kutscher.

References

Literature

* Michael Berger: ''Bernhard Weiß, preußischer Jude und Offizier''. In: ''Eisernes Kreuz und Davidstern. Die Geschichte Jüdischer Soldaten in Deutschen Armeen''. trafo verlag, Berlin 2006, , p. 203–207. * Michael Berger: ''Dr. Bernhard Weiß. Sein Kampf für Demokratie und Rechtsstaat in der Weimarer Republik''. In: ''Eisernes Kreuz – Doppeladler – Davidstern. Juden in deutschen und österreichisch-ungarischen Armeen. Der Militärdienst jüdischer Soldaten durch zwei Jahrhunderte''. trafo verlag, Berlin 2010, , p. 146–150. * Dietz Bering: ''Kampf um Namen. Bernhard Weiß gegen Joseph Goebbels''. Klett-Cotta, Stuttgart 1991. * Joachim Rott: ''Bernhard Weiß (1880–1951)''. Hentrich & Hentrich, Berlin 2008, . * Bjoern Weigel: ''Bernhard Weiß''. In:

Wolfgang Benz Wolfgang Benz (born 9 June 1941) is a German historian and Antisemitism, anti-semitism researcher from Ellwangen (Jagst), Ellwangen. He was the director of the Berlin Research Centre on Anti-Semitism, Center for Research on Antisemitism of the Te ...

(Hrsg.): '' Handbuch des Antisemitismus. Judenfeindschaft in Geschichte und Gegenwart''. Band 2: ''Personen''. de Gruyter/Saur, Berlin 2009, , p. 880–882. {{DEFAULTSORT:Weiss, Bernhard 1880 births 1951 deaths Jurists from Berlin German Democratic Party politicians German police officers German Army personnel of World War I Jewish emigrants from Nazi Germany to the United Kingdom Deaths from cancer in England