Hotspot Bavaria. Hitler and the struggle for democracy

Economic crises and political violence threatened the Weimar Republic in the early 1920s. Bavaria became the focal point. Here, the National Socialists achieved their first successes, but failed in November 1923 with an attempted putsch. In the high treason trial, the Bavarian judiciary lets the ringleaders off lightly. The Bavaria exhibition shows the struggle for democracy in the early 1920s and how Adolf Hitler, who moved to Bavaria in 1913, pushed his way from spectator to supporting actor and finally to leading role.
Political stages of the 1920s
In the age of mass demonstrations, the protagonists fought for democracy with theatrical performances that were already perceived by their contemporaries as downright theatrical. Writers such as Lion Feuchtwanger and journalist Paula Schlier dealt with these events early on in their works and described the Bavarian political milieu as a breeding ground for National Socialism. That is why the approximately 500-square-meter exhibition summarizes the formative events in Bavaria in five stage sets and highlights the central protagonists: Who is endangering democracy? Who is defending it? Who is being pushed off the stage? Who is acting behind the scenes?
A look behind the scenes
A look behind the scenes reveals the radicalization of political conflicts after the 1918 revolution, reveals the inglorious role of Bavarian state representatives in the crisis year of 1923, opens the curtain on bourgeois salons, exposes the networks of right-wing extremists, and reveals why the suppression of Hitler's coup in 1923 was only a temporary victory for democracy.

Last edited on 03.07.2026