Kurt Eisner
Kurt Eisner | |
---|---|
Johannes Hoffmann | |
Personal details | |
Born | Berlin, Brandenburg, Prussia | 14 May 1867
Died | 21 February 1919 Munich, Bavaria | (aged 51)
Nationality | German |
Political party | Independent Social Democratic Party of Germany (1917–1919) Social Democratic Party of Germany (1898–1917) |
Kurt Eisner (German pronunciation:
Life and career
Kurt Eisner was born in
From 1892 to 1917 he was married to painter Elisabeth Hendrich with whom he had five children. After they divorced Eisner married Elise Belli, an editor. With her, he had two daughters.Eisner studied
Eisner joined the Independent Social Democratic Party of Germany in 1917, at the height of World War I, and was convicted of treason in 1918 for his role in inciting a strike of munitions workers. He spent nine months in Cell 70 of Stadelheim Prison, but was released during the General Amnesty in October of that year.[9]
After his release from prison, Eisner organized the revolution that overthrew the
Death and legacy
Eisner was assassinated in Munich when German nationalist Anton Graf von Arco auf Valley shot him in the back on 21 February 1919. At the time, Eisner had been on his way to present his resignation to the Bavarian parliament.[11] His assassination resulted in the elected government of the People's State of Bavaria fleeing Munich and the establishment of the short-lived Bavarian Soviet Republic and parliament.[12]
Arco-Valley was tried for murder in January 1920. He was found guilty and sentenced to death, but his sentence was reduced to life imprisonment. The State Prosecutor said of him, "If the whole German youth were imbued with such a glowing enthusiasm we could face the future with confidence."[13] He served his sentence at Landsberg Prison in cell 70, and in 1924 he was evicted from his cell to make way for Adolf Hitler. He was released in 1925, and was on probation until 1927, when he was pardoned.[14] In June 1945, Arco-Valley was killed in a traffic accident in Salzburg, after the horse-drawn carriage which he was riding in collided with a U.S. Army vehicle.[15]
Eisner had a very large funeral with thousands of attendants coming to mourn his death.[16] One guest who was there was Adolf Hitler.[17][18] One thing of note is that in surviving footage of Eisner's funeral, Hitler can be seen wearing a black armband to symbolize the mourning of Eisner, as well as a red armband which represented support for the socialist revolution in Munich.[18]
When the Passau labor union tried to stage a play about Eisner at the bishopric theater in 1920, Reichswehr soldiers and high school students sabotaged it, using weapons from the military arsenal. Among other things, 11 machine guns were used. The incident, dubbed the Passau Theater Scandal, triggered media headlines and a variety of judicial procedures.[19]
Eisner was buried in the
In 1989, a monument was installed in the pavement at the site of Eisner's assassination. It reads, Kurt Eisner, der am 9. November 1918 die Bayerische Republik ausrief, nachmaliger Ministerpräsident des Volksstaates Bayern, wurde an dieser Stelle am 21. Februar 1919 ermordet ("Kurt Eisner, who proclaimed the Bavarian republic on 8 November 1918 – later Prime Minister of the Republic of Bavaria – was murdered here on 21 February 1919").[20]
Works
Eisner was the author of various books and pamphlets, including:[8]
- Psychopathia Spiritualis (1892, "Spiritual Psychopathy")
- Eine Junkerrevolte (1899, "A Junker revolt")
- Wilhelm Liebknecht (1900)
- Feste der Festlosen (1903, "Fortress of those without feasts")
- Die Neue Zeit (1919, "The New Age")
References
- ^ a b "Kurt Eisner – Encyclopædia Britannica" (biography), Encyclopædia Britannica, 2006, Britannica.com webpage: Britannica-KurtEisner Archived 4 November 2007 at the Wayback Machine.
- ^ "The German Revolution's Bloody End".
- ^ Max Weber, (London 1987) p. 634
- ^ Frederick Moore, "Eisner, A Great Loss", New York Tribune, 25 February 1919, p. 10, and others
- ^ a b Reynolds, Francis J., ed. (1921). Collier's New Encyclopedia. New York: P. F. Collier & Son Company. .
- ^ Bernhard Grau: Kurt Eisner: 1867–1919. Eine Biografie. Munich 2001, pp. 210–219.
- ^ Obituary, Unsigned, Justice, 27 February 1919, p. 6; transcribed by Ted Crawford. Please see: "Obituary for Kurt Eisner in Justice 1919". Archived from the original on 5 November 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2010.
- ^ a b Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1922). Encyclopædia Britannica (12th ed.). London & New York: The Encyclopædia Britannica Company. .
- ^ Richard J. Evans The Coming of the Third Reich, 2003.[ISBN missing][page needed]
- ^ Holgar, Herwig (1987) "Clio Deceived: Patriotic self-censorship in Germany after the Great War". International Security 12(2), 9. [1][permanent dead link]
- ISBN 9781610692861.
- ISBN 0-8090-9325-1
- ^ "propaganda: III Reich 3". Cultsock.ndirect.co.uk. Retrieved 12 August 2014.
- ISBN 9781610692861.
- ISBN 3-7466-8043-3
- ^ "Die Trauerfeierlichkeiten am 26. Februar 1919 für den verstorbenen Ministerpräsident Kurt Eisner (Teil 1) / Die Feierlichkeiten anläßlich des Begräbnisses von Kurt Eisner (Teil 2) | bavarikon". www.bavarikon.de. Retrieved 8 June 2023.
- ISBN 9783572013388.
- ^ a b Webber, Thomas (2010). Hitler's First War. Oxford University Press. p. 251.
- ^ Anna Rosmus Hitlers Nibelungen, Samples Grafenau 2015, pp. 27f
- ISBN 9783896759788.
Further reading
- Universitätsbibliothek Regensburg – Bosls bayrische Biographie – Kurt Eisner (in German), author: Karl Bosl, publisher: Pustet, page 172
- Biography Kurt Eisner (in German)
External links
- Obituary for Kurt Eisner, Justice, 27th February 1919.
- Picture of Kurt Eisner, taken in early 1918 Historisches Lexikon Bayerns
- Newspaper clippings about Kurt Eisner in the 20th Century Press Archives of the ZBW
- Works by Kurt Eisner at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)