Würzburg Soviet Republic

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In April 1919, the Würzburg Council Republic was a three-day rule of Council Communism in Würzburg .

prehistory

On 3 November 1918 at the very beginning of the November Revolution , a native of Wurzburg called SPD -Landtagsabgeordnete and later Minister Fritz Endres introducing public of the Republic . This requirement was fulfilled - after the monarchy had been overthrown in Munich on the night of November 8th - for Würzburg on November 9th, 1918, when the annexation to the Social Republic of Bavaria was announced in front of thousands of people on Residenzplatz . A workers 'and soldiers' council was then formed in Hutten's garden, which was mainly supported by representatives of the SPD. Würzburg's magistrate and the government of Lower Franconia and Aschaffenburg bowed to the new conditions. When the economic situation in Würzburg deteriorated in early 1919, supporters of left-wing radicalism gained influence. The attempt by the Würzburg Soldiers' Council of the II Royal Bavarian Army Corps to proclaim the Soviet republic shortly after the murder of Kurt Eisner failed due to poor preparation and the lack of support from the rest of the garrison .

The Soviet Republic

In order to prepare the establishment of the Soviet Republic in accordance with the corresponding Munich efforts , members of the USPD and the KPD founded the twelve-member Revolutionary Action Committee (RAA) on March 26, 1919 . On the night of April 6th and 7th, the committee meeting in the residence decided to impose a state of siege, press censorship and a general strike . In the early morning of April 7, 1919, Anton Waibel (1889–1969) called for a strike . The Central Council of the Bavarian Republic had sent him from Munich to Würzburg for propaganda. All threads came together with him; nothing could have happened without his consent. At 4 p.m., the communist carpenter proclaimed the Soviet republic in front of the Neumünster Collegiate Monastery on the site of what would later be the Kilian House .

Resistance

The Soviet Republic found little support from the Würzburgers. Both the bourgeoisie and the majority Social Democrats and the soldiers' councils as well as the administration rejected it. The Würzburg SPD decided on the evening of April 7th:

“Today's general assembly of the Social Democratic Association declares itself against the Soviet Republic in the People's State of Bavaria for political and economic reasons. The assembly demands from all members of the Social Democratic Association that they refuse any takeover of government and administrative positions and thus leave full responsibility to those who made it impossible for the previous government to continue its business in an orderly manner. "

- Social Democratic Association in Würzburg

Nevertheless the revolutionaries tried to keep the Soviet republic. They occupied strategically important buildings and took 16 hostages on the night of April 8th to 9th , who they held captive in the Würzburg residence but treated them well. They included Felix Freudenberger , the second mayor Bernhard Brand and the three corps students Hans Löffler , Christian Meisner and Julius Binder . The “counterrevolution”, for its part, had taken control of two members of the Revolutionary Action Committee. On April 9, a "united front" made up of the SPD, the Bavarian People's Party , monarchists and the municipal administration called for a "citizens' strike". Würzburg residents of all walks of life stopped working in protest. The 2nd artillery regiment used force against the Soviet supporters. After a two-hour battle for the residence and the main train station , in which two dozen people were killed, the Würzburg Soviet Republic was history. The Marienberg Fortress also fell into the hands of the opponents of the Council. The main reason for their quick and acclaimed victory was probably the complete confusion in the residence.

Subsequent action was taken against other places in Lower Franconia that had terminated the allegiance of Prime Minister Johannes Hoffmann . Under pressure from a contingent of volunteers from Würzburg, the supporters of the Soviet Republic in Aschaffenburg , Schweinfurt and Lohr am Main surrendered within 12 hours.

meaning

Würzburg's Lord Mayor Andreas Grieser , who had already denied legitimacy to the Soviet Republic on April 8, said on April 11:

“Since Wednesday afternoon, Würzburg has been a free city again. Before that we were under a reign of violence and terror for several days. The revolutionary action committee in the residence united in itself a true selection of fanatical communists, deluded enthusiasts and incompetent gossipers. Its pillars were the hand grenades and machine guns in the hands of seduced, hounded or bribed soldiers. The invisible goal of the tyranny was the annihilation of the new form of government, the smashing of the national economy and the overthrow of the entire structure. Würzburg has liberated itself, Würzburg will liberate Franconia, Franconia will liberate Bavaria. The April 9 company was a unanimous commitment to pure democracy. "

- Andreas Grieser

The Würzburg People's Court sentenced the leaders to long term imprisonment in June 1919. Anton Waibel - described by his opponents as a "naughty, presumptuous, hateful, sadistic screamer" - was sentenced to 15 years. After a year and a half, he managed to escape. From 1939 to 1945 he was a prisoner in Buchenwald concentration camp . Liberated by the Americans, he died in 1969 at the age of 79.

literature

  • Bettina Köttnitz-Porsch: November Revolution and Council rule 1918/19 in Würzburg . Friends of Mainfränkischer Art and History, Würzburg 1985. GoogleBooks
  • Matthias Lermann: The Mayor of Würzburg Dr. Hans Loeffler. Civic ethics and liberalism; Ed .: Society for Franconian History. WiKomm Verlag, Stegaurach 2015, ISBN 978-3-86652-052-3 .
  • Matthias Stickler : New beginning and continuity - Würzburg in the Weimar Republic , in: Ulrich Wagner (ed.): History of the city of Würzburg: From the transition to Bavaria to the 21st century , Vol. III / 1. Konrad Theiss Verlag, Stuttgart 2007, p. 181 f.
  • Ulrich Weber : Würzburg from the November overthrow to the soviet republic . Mainfränkisches Jahrbuch, Vol. 25 (1973).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Klaus Schäfer: The organization of the Würzburg workers in the First World War 1914 to 1918 . In: Hans Werner Loew, Klaus Schönhoven (ed.): Würzburgs social democrats. From the workers' association to the Social Democratic People's Party . Würzburg 1978, pp. 41-57, here: pp. 56f
  2. ↑ Jochen Kletzin: The Würzburg Social Democracy in the Weimar Republic . In: Loew, Schönhoven (ed.): Würzburgs Sozialdemokrats , pp. 59–86, here: pp. 60–64
  3. ↑ Wolfgang Jung: In 1919 the Revolutionary Action Committee rules . In: Main-Post , April 7, 2009
  4. ↑ a b c d Carl Johanny: Corps students as hostages of the Würzburg Soviet Republic . Einst und Jetzt , Vol. 38 (1993), pp. 151-154.
  5. ^ Matthias Stickler: New Beginning and Continuity: Würzburg in the Weimar Republic. In: Ulrich Wagner (Hrsg.): History of the city of Würzburg. 4 volumes, Volume I-III / 2, Theiss, Stuttgart 2001-2007; III / 1–2: From the transition to Bavaria to the 21st century. Volume 2, 2007, ISBN 978-3-8062-1478-9 , p. 1269, note 18.
  6. ^ Matthias Stickler: New Beginning and Continuity: Würzburg in the Weimar Republic. In: Ulrich Wagner (Hrsg.): History of the city of Würzburg. 4 volumes, Volume I-III / 2, Theiss, Stuttgart 2001-2007; III / 1–2: From the transition to Bavaria to the 21st century. Volume 2, 2007, ISBN 978-3-8062-1478-9 , p. 182 and p. 1269, note 21.
  7. ^ Matthias Stickler (2007), p. 182.
  8. ^ Matthias Stickler (2007), p. 193.