Hans Georg von Beerfelde

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Hans-Georg von Beerfelde (born August 12, 1877 , † September 25, 1960 in West Berlin ) was a German captain, during the November Revolution he was second chairman of the executive council of the workers and soldiers council of Greater Berlin and a pacifist publicist.

Life

He came from the noble von Beerfelde family and was educated in the Prussian cadet institute . In 1897 he became a lieutenant in the Emperor Alexander Guard Grenadier Regiment No. 11. In the spring of 1914 he took his leave and probed Johannes Müller into full-time work in Mainberg and later in Elmau . He was one of his most ardent admirers in Berlin and took part in the organization of his lectures. When the war began, he volunteered. He was company commander until August 1916, then battalion commander on the Western Front. From 1917 he served with the rank of captain in the Central Department of the General Staff of the Field Army in Berlin and as Corps Adjutant on the Eastern Front, and finally from July 1917 in the political department of the Great General Staff in Berlin.

In the course of the war he became more and more pacifist. During this time he tried to prove the German war guilt and sought to punish the guilty. He became a member of the New Fatherland Federation and came into contact with the USPD . He published the Lichnowski memorandum (named after Karl Max von Lichnowsky ), but was arrested but acquitted in a court martial. He supported the January strikes of 1918. Because of his political activities he was arrested again and convicted of treason. He was set free when the November Revolution broke out.

1922 comes to a break with Johannes Mueller, who let him know that a visit to Elmau is inconceivable because the guests of the castle no one can be expected that as the Evangelist Germany's guilt occurs and with all the strength that lies basics of Justice crime of Versailles to attach search.

As a soldiers' council, he was briefly co-chair of the executive council, but had to give up the post because of conflicts with the majority Social Democrats (MSPD). Later he was active in the League for Human Rights , was a lecturer, publicist and participated in clarifying the causes of the war. After he was arrested several times in 1933, he emigrated.

Private

The godfather of his first child Siegfried was Johannes Müller in 1915.

literature

  • Greater Berlin workers 'and soldiers' councils in the 1918/19 revolution. Documents of the plenary meetings and the executive council. From the outbreak of the revolution to the 1st Reich Councilor Congress. Berlin, 1993 p. 241.
  • Lothar Wieland: Hans-Georg von Beerfelde and the "Revolution of Truth" . In: Zeitschrift für Geschichtswwissenschaft, vol. 66, 2018, pp. 897–916.
  • Lothar Wieland: Persecuted in three German states. Hans Georg von Beerfelde (1877–1960) and the Revolution of Truth , Bremen: Donat 2019 (series history & peace; 44), ISBN 978-3-943425-83-3 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Harald Haury: From Riesa to Schloss Elmau. ISBN 3-579-02612-7 , pp. 199 f.
  2. ↑ Harald Haury: From Riesa to Schloss Elmau. ISBN 3-579-02612-7 , p. 201.
personal data
SURNAME Beerfelde, Hans Georg von
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Beerfelde, Hans-Georg von
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German officer, revolutionary and pacifist
DATE OF BIRTH August 12, 1877
DATE OF DEATH September 25, 1960
Place of death West Berlin