Noir setting - Weimar Republic Berlin - Alt History

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Lundgren

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Okay, boring title for the thread, but it's descriptive.

I watched the first two seasons of Babylon Berlin around New Year, which takes place in Berlin in the late 20's. A recent discussion elsewhere about the TV-series, and after reading the Chaosium's Berlin - The Wicked City I got really inspired to have it as a potential setting to RP in. It is a "dynamic" city rife with vice, crime, and political violence. Located in central Europe, it isn't far for a change of pace either.

However, as the different eras of Germany is so distinct, I don't want the feeling of just playing the prelude to Nazi Germany. I'm also not much for meta plot when I game. So I'm thinking about going with an Alt-History. The Wall Street crash won't happen on October 24th 1929 (but that isn't saying it won't happen at some other point), and having Hitler die during the Beer Hall Putsch in November 9th 1923 (in real history, it was the man next to Hitler that got shot).

In history, the aftermath of the Putsch was quite a transformative period of the Nazi party. Hitler's speeches during the trial got them followers outside of Bavaria (they were apparently pretty much unknown in the rest of Germany) and the writing of Mein Kampf. Now, the book itself might not have been that influential, but the structuring and sorting of ideas definitely was. Both the shift from a "take power through a coup" to "work within the system to take power" and the focus on Lebensraum apparently came from there. Hitler also stepped down (well, officially) as party leader, and as I understand it he spent quite a bit of 1926 to put the party back together as it was splintering in all kind of directions.

With Hitler dead, the unifying force would be gone and it opens up the setting to a lot of different potential futures. The Nazis wouldn't be gone, but they would most likely just be one extremist group among all the others. Maybe a new "strong man party" would rise up to take power. Maybe the none would, and the stock market crash would just through the country back to the hyper inflation days, cementing the Weimar era well into the 40's or 50's. Maybe it leads up to Stalin is done with his internal restructuring, and now looks outward. Maybe the recent buddy buddy between the British and the French empires breaks down, as they don't have a common enemy in Germany anymore. Or maybe it won't break down, as they have one in the Soviet Union. Etc and so on.

Personally, I love having all those "maybes". I want to place the potential butterflies of the alt-history setting to potentially lead to a lot of different outcomes, regardless of if I pick one or if I want to let it play out during gaming. However, I also prefer it when they are plausible. Those where an historian would nod and think "that could have happened."

My first headache when it comes to this alt-history would be what would happen at the trial. Without Hitler's speeches, I believe both Röhm (15 months, changed to probation) and Ludendorff (acquitted) sentences would not be the same as what they did end up with. Considering Röhm built up quite a formidable force by creating the Frontbann -- as an alternative to the now (temporary) outlawed SA -- during 1924-1925, the potential outcomes of that trial are important.

However, this thread is about Noir-ish roleplaying in the Weimar republic's Berlin. So anything related to that is on-topic in my opinion. :smile: So for those that don't care about talking about the Nazis, but want to chime in on other stuff related to the era, feel free to join in.
 
Which I did, together with two books on Europe in general in the between the wars era. I need a larger apartment...
 
As one of your possibilities, I'd look at what would happen if the Strassers had taken control of the NSDAP, probably in coalition with Goebbels. They're the most likely candidates for me. And it would have likely led to the fascists staying fragmented, particularly as the conservative wing of the NSDAP would probably have left and joined other parties. And the more left wing economic policy of Strasserism would have had no chance of coming to the accomodation with Hindenburg you saw with Hitler, making a coup impossible.
 
On the trial, I'm not sure the result would have been that different; the lenient sentences there were less about Hitler's speeches and more about the pro Nazi bias of the lay judges. What would have changed is that it wouldn't have been used as a propaganda platform in the same way, keeping the NSDAP from the growth that provided.
 
This is obivious recfomendation, but in case it is not known to some, this is essiential viewing for setting flavour in regards to the Weimar Performing Arts Culture background:



A great movie based on the great Christopher Isherwood stories Goodbye to Berlin that are also worth seeking out!
 
As one of your possibilities, I'd look at what would happen if the Strassers had taken control of the NSDAP, probably in coalition with Goebbels. They're the most likely candidates for me. And it would have likely led to the fascists staying fragmented, particularly as the conservative wing of the NSDAP would probably have left and joined other parties. And the more left wing economic policy of Strasserism would have had no chance of coming to the accomodation with Hindenburg you saw with Hitler, making a coup impossible.
To my knowledge, Goebbels got attracted to the party by reading the trial transcripts. So while he still could have found his way to them, and becoming a strong propagandist, that most likely wouldn't be as straight forward as in real history.

I would say it also quite a lot depends on if the different groups of the party would go their different ways, or if it would be a more violent power struggle.

On the trial, I'm not sure the result would have been that different; the lenient sentences there were less about Hitler's speeches and more about the pro Nazi bias of the lay judges. What would have changed is that it wouldn't have been used as a propaganda platform in the same way, keeping the NSDAP from the growth that provided.
Well, it is quite possible the lay judges only had a far-right wing or nationalistic bias and not necessarily pro-nazi bias at the start of the trial. It is also a question how far they would dare go if there hadn't been a "strong public support," which was whipped up by those speeches. While I don't think they ever risked the harsher potential sentences due to those biases, I personally don't think it would had ended up that lenient without those speeches.

In the trial, Hitler took "full responsibility" which made it easy to shift blame away from Röhm and Ludendorff. With Hitler dead, that might not have been as easy.

As I understand it, one of the reason Hitler got the sentence he did was because it was the shortest sentence possible, and had he been a German citizen (which both Röhm and Ludendorff were) it had been a lot more severe.

I also don't think they could have gotten away with not putting at least one leader in Prison.

Now, both Röhm and Ludendorff (and Göring, but he managed to get away) were considered heroes from the war. While Hitler had an Iron Cross, he wasn't seen in the same way. So that "pro-nazi bias" might actually had been them being sympathetic to Röhm and Ludendorff, and trying to get them as lenient sentences as possible. I however still don't think they would have got away as lenient as they did. However, might have ended up with Röhm getting the five years instead of Hitler, and Ludendorff on probation instead of Röhm.
 
Good little bit on the Weimar Republic seedy decadence for a backdrop:

 
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I seriously consider getting a nanny-filter and block myself from book stores... I just ordered yet another two books.

This time about Röhm, as I feel I need to understand him better.
Ernst Röhm by Elaenor Hancock, and The Memoirs of Ernst Rohm

My current impression of him is that he never had the aspiration to be the top dog, but a loyal second in command. He had also given up his career in the army for the party, and he might not had been able to get back in even if he wanted to. The only one within the party in 1924 I can see him follow if Hitler would be dead would be Ludendorff.

In a review of the memoir it is claimed Ludendorff was far more active in keeping the party alive after the Putsch than other sources mentions (considering the later split between Ludendorff and Hitler, that can be because the Nazis later wanted to downplay him), and it seems like Röhm was quite deferential to Ludendorff. So a Ludendorff-Röhm faction currently seems quite plausible to me, and while I don't think it would be a faction being able to turn Germany into some kind of alternative third reich, it definitely would be a dangerous one.

Without Hitler in the shadows, I also really can't see either of them working together with Strasser. I don't think either of them would see Strasser as a leader or equal. So the first split would most likely be between the more militant and conservative side and Strasser's more worker party focus. Then there is also the plausibility of Drexler (and I don't think either of them would work with him either) trying to do a comeback.

Considering Röhm trying out politics for a while after Hitler got him to accept the "win the votes first, then revolution", and later taking a job in Bolivia, similar paths would be possible in the alternative history as well. If having both Röhm and Göring out if the picture, then there probably wouldn't be much of an SA..

Well, I guess those two books will give some more insights of the plausible paths. Anyhow, a lot of work just to figure out how to write the third reich out of the setting...
 
I've got nine out of the ten books about the Weimar era I've ordered, and of course the one I'm still waiting for is Voluptuous Panic. I'm also still waiting on a book on Europe in general and a book about Eastern Central Europe for that era. :smile:
 
One of the books wasn't focused on Germany as I had thought from the comment about it, and instead only includes Germany. So that makes it eight out of nine. Still will be useful from a role-play perspective.

Hopefully, the Voluptuous Panic book will arrive tomorrow or early next week so I can start with the interesting part; sex, drugs, and jazz. :smile:
 
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