Haila from Westarp

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Haila , called Hella Countess von Westarp (born January 11, 1886 in Partenkirchen , † April 30, 1919 in Munich ), was a German noblewoman who belonged to the right-wing extremist scene in Munich in 1918/19 and was shot as a hostage.

Haila's father, Viktor Amadeus Adolf Ludwig Graf von Westarp (1851–1915), was a Prussian chamberlain and writer. Her mother was Godela geb. von Oven (1863–1949), who bore seven children to her husband; her uncle, Lieutenant General Ernst von Oven , was in command of the troops that were led against the Munich uprising in 1919. The single young woman working in March 1919 as a secretary in the office of the nationalistic and anti-Semitic oriented Thule Society in Munich, was also a member and anti-Semitic. After she was abducted on April 26th from her apartment in Nymphenburger Str. 187 and held hostage for several days, she was held hostage on the afternoon of April 30th, 1919 (other reports: shortly after midnight) in the garden of the former Luitpoldgymnasium as a hostage of the Red Guards of the “Workers, Farmers” - and soldiers' council ”of the Munich Soviet Republic shot together with seven other people (“ Munich hostage murders ”). The reason was unchecked rumors about the shooting of hostages by Red Guards, the responsibility lay with the Munich city commander of the rebels, the sailor Rudolf Egelhofer , or with the barracks commander Fritz Seidel. Two arrested soldiers were shot earlier.

Hella von Westarp is buried in Munich's Westfriedhof. A street in Munich is named after her to this day, which is controversial because of her right-wing extremist background.

The victims were: Prof. Ernst Berger (painter) , Anton Thumblang (1870–1919, railway secretary), Walter Deike (1894–1919, decorative artist), Walther Hindorf (soldier), Fritz Linnenbrügger (soldier), Walter Neuhaus (sculptor), Friedrich von Seydlitz (1891–1919, painter), Franz von Teuchert (1900–1919, volunteer), Gustav von Thurn and Taxis and, as the only woman, Hella von Westarp. In the Nazi movement, they were considered the "first martyrs", by no means just helpless victims. This is why Hella von Westarp also received a street name in Munich in 1936.

literature

  • Mark Jones: In the beginning there was violence. The German Revolution 1918/19 and the beginning of the Weimar Republic , Berlin 2017 ISBN 978-3-7425-0133-2 (pp. 294f., 305f.)

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Westarp, Haila from
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Westarp, Hella Countess of
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German secretary of the far-right Thule Society
DATE OF BIRTH January 11, 1886
PLACE OF BIRTH Partenkirchen
DATE OF DEATH April 30, 1919
Place of death Munich