Brutus whey bucket

Hugo Brutus Hermann Molkenbuhr (born March 10, 1881 in Ottensen , † September 11, 1959 in Berlin ) played an important role as a soldier's council in the run-up to and during the November Revolution as an advocate of a soviet republic . At times he was the second chairman of the Executive Council of the Workers 'and Soldiers' Councils in Greater Berlin .

Life

Emil Barth's Executive Board ID No. 1 , signed by Richard Müller and Brutus Molkenbuhr as chairmen of the Berlin Executive Board

The typesetter Brutus Molkenbuhr was the third son of Friederike Köster and Hermann Molkenbuhr , an SPD politician, member of the Reichstag and a formative figure in the history of the German labor movement . Brutus Molkenbuhr also joined the SPD in 1899. From 1914 he served in the First World War , in 1916 he became a sergeant.

In 1918 he became a soldier's council at the military hospital in Berlin-Friedrichshain . At the meeting in the Cirkus Busch on November 10, 1918, he was elected as a soldiers' council in the executive council of the workers' and soldiers' councils in Greater Berlin . After the departure of Hans-Georg von Beerfeldes, he rose two days later, alongside Richard Müller, to become the second chairman of the executive board. On January 8, 1919 Molkenbuhr gave up the chairmanship and was then active in the military committee of the Executive Council.

Work in the Military Committee of the Executive Council

On January 15, 1919, at a plenary meeting of the Greater Berlin Soldiers' Council, Molkenbuhr spoke out sharply against the Spartakists who had caused the acts of violence last week. There are forces at work that are calling into question the achievements of the revolution. The criminals of the white guard must be disarmed. However, one could not fight the communists and Spartacists with machine guns, but only with intellectual weapons.

In April 1919, Molkenbuhr advocated in the Military Committee that militarism in particular had to be eliminated by converting the army into a people's armed forces . Since professional competence is also necessary in the new army, all officers should not be dismissed without exception. Military educational institutions, which, however, should not become drill institutions, are still necessary. Politics should also be kept away from the new army. If an army was set up according to its principles, the soldiers' councils could be dispensed with. The proposals met with considerable opposition in the committee. Molkenbuhr was also accused of having vouched for that a 16,000-strong Republican army would be sufficient to ensure security. It was Molkenbuhr's fault that the Berlin troops were not used to suppress the unrest.

On March 5, 1919, at a meeting of the Executive Council, which had been expanded to lead the strike, he had spoken out in favor of equal representation on the military committee. On the question of whether the Bund Deutscher Bodenreformer should be allowed on Siemens' electoral list , Molkenbuhr turned against Paul Lange and others at a meeting on May 14, 1919 : “The Bund Deutscher Bodenreformer is a political party that we have to allow. We have to see whether this company can be brought into any connection with the company. ”On April 16, 1919, he closed the fruitless meeting of the Executive Council with the strike leadership of the employees of the metal industry and representatives of the employers (including Ernst von Borsig ) with the Words: "I would like to state that we have nothing against it if the government tries to get these disputes out of the way by means of emergency ordinance."

Next life

In the Weimar Republic, Molkenbuhr was still active in trade union work and the SPD and was therefore persecuted during the National Socialist era . After the Second World War he was chairman of the working group for political refugees in the Schöneberg district . He worked at the Bank für Wirtschaft und Arbeit and was also an employee representative on the supervisory board. Since 1954 he was a district councilor of the SPD in the Schöneberg district . He died in Berlin in 1959.

Molkenbuhr in the Tucholsky poem

Under his pseudonym Theobald Tiger , Kurt Tucholsky immortalized Brutus Molkenbuhr in his poem Bruch in December 1918 , in which he addressed the future of the Siegesallee proposed for demolition by the soldiers' council Hans Paasche :

Siegesallee , painting by Lesser Ury , 1920

But what will happen to Siegsallee now?
Will you go to the New Lake because it is too royalist,
too autocratic and too monarchist
?

Do you leave the stature of every monument?
and just put new heads on their necks?
Well, let's say that of Lüders Else
and Brutus Molkenbuhr?

Do you wake up the beautiful, white marble?
Years ago, back then,
when I was taking my exams, I knew how everyone came in sequence ...
Should that have been in vain?

And she is beautiful! - Let's go by
and smile - because we know all about it.
I think we'll let the dolls stand still
as documents of a great time.

literature

• Gerhard Engel , Gaby Huch, Ingo Materna (eds.): Greater Berlin workers and soldiers councils in the revolution 1918/19. From the general strike resolution on March 3, 1919 to the split of the council organs in July 1919. Akademie Verlag, Berlin 2002, ISBN 3-05-003665-6 .

Web links

• Brutus Molkenbuhr Archontology (English, short biography)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Daniel Wosnitzka: Hermann Molkenbuhr (father → 1881) . Tabular curriculum vitae in the LeMO ( DHM and HdG )
2. ^ Gerhard Engel, Gaby Huch, Ingo Materna (eds.): Greater Berlin workers and soldiers councils in the revolution 1918/19. .... P. 28, note 41
3. ↑ Gerhard Engel u. a. (Ed.): Great Berlin workers and soldiers councils in the revolution 1918/19. From the 1st Congress of the Reichsräte to the resolution of the general strike on March 3, 1919. Akademie Verlag, Berlin 1997, ISBN 978-3-05-003061-6 , p. 270.
4. ^ Gerhard Engel, Gaby Huch, Ingo Materna (eds.): Greater Berlin workers and soldiers councils in the revolution 1918/19. .... P. 395.
5. ^ Gerhard Engel, Gaby Huch, Ingo Materna (eds.): Greater Berlin workers and soldiers councils in the revolution 1918/19. .... P. 51.
6. ^ Gerhard Engel, Gaby Huch, Ingo Materna (eds.): Greater Berlin workers and soldiers councils in the revolution 1918/19. .... P. 665.
7. ^ Gerhard Engel, Gaby Huch, Ingo Materna (eds.): Greater Berlin workers and soldiers councils in the revolution 1918/19. .... P. 519.
8. ^ Yearbook of the Social Democratic Party of Germany 1958/59. 1959.
9. ^ Theobald Tiger (= Kurt Tucholsky ): Bruch (poem). In: Ulk . No. 50, December 13, 1918 Ulk , No. 50, 1918 ( Memento of the original from July 29, 2012 in the web archive archive.today ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Heidelberg University Library digital. 
10. ↑ Uta Lehnert: The Kaiser and the Siegesallee. Réclame Royale. Dietrich Reimer Verlag, Berlin 1998, ISBN 3-496-01189-0 , p. 319.