Frontsozialismus der tat: War experience as the foundation of corporatism in the stahlhelm veterans’ league

The article focuses on the political development of the Stahlhelm - Bund der Frontsoldaten. Born as a self-defence league of conservative inspiration, the Stahlhelm developed into an important national ex-servicemen organization in Weimar Germany. Its ideological background was rooted in the concept of the Fronterlebnis, the experience of trench warfare. In its political development, the Stahlhelm tried to translate the brotherhood and the sense of discipline and hierarchy experieced by the soldiers in the trenches into civilian life. The result was the conceptualization of an organic state, based on nationalist principles and a corporative economy. By acquiring ideas from the German right-wing movements and Italian Fascism, the Stahlhelm became one of the most important political subjects of the Weimar Republic, always keeping the center of their activities in the ideological heritage of the war.