Abstract
The period between 1918 and 1933 was a time of major social and linguistic changes and ruptures in the Republic of Weimar. Nevertheless, up to the last years political rhetoric was barely explored in linguistic terms. Before that research has mostly focused on national socialist language and on the language of national conservatives. More recently, several analyses describe not only the very complex topics discussed in this period but also the linguistic means used in these controversies. Therefore, it is now possible to provide qualitative evidence about how political rhetoric was used during that period and who made use of it. The results show that all the parties and groups participating in these public debates, in their struggle to gain interpretational sovereignty, used more or less the same rhetorical means. They also illustrate the modernity of the discussions conducted at that time which, with regard to content and linguistic means, affect political debates up to the present day.
