Good Friday coup
The Good Friday coup was an attempt by communist forces on Good Friday, April 18, 1919, to overthrow the provisional local government (Volksrat) of Offenbach am Main . He claimed 17 dead and 26 wounded, without the ringleaders being able to achieve their goal.
prehistory
After the end of the First World War , a workers 'and soldiers' council was founded in the city of Offenbach on November 9, 1918 , to which the city administration was subordinate. In the same month the MP Carl Ulrich formed a provisional government in Hesse . Offenbach's Mayor Andreas Dullo immediately declared himself ready to work according to the guidelines of the new government. The French occupation immediately banned workers 'and soldiers' councils in the neutral and demilitarized zone to which Offenbach am Main also belonged. After non-compliance was punished with severe penalties, the workers and soldiers' council renamed itself to the People's Council and submitted to the Darmstadt People's Council. This shifted the power structure in Offenbach in favor of the civil administration (city council). However, the People's Council remained part of the local government.
coup attempt
Communist sympathizers tried in Offenbach, as in other large cities in Germany, to shape the seizure of power based on the Soviet model. The locksmith Wilhelm Eisenreich and like-minded people planned to overthrow the city council and take over the weapons stored in the barracks on Bieberer Strasse. The plans became known and members of the Hessian government, the city administration, the people's council and the police initiated countermeasures. The barracks were protected against possible attacks by the military, the national armed forces and the police.
On Good Friday 1919, communist organizations held a rally in Offenbach city center on Wilhelmsplatz with around 2,000 participants. After the KPD member Eisenreich and other speakers had stirred up the crowd, around 1,000 participants moved to Bieberer Strasse and tried to storm the barracks of the 5th Grand Ducal Hessian Infantry Regiment No. 168 . The gates remained locked and the order was issued to the demonstrators from inside the barracks to stay away from the barracks area. The situation escalated when a protester and a police officer were shot dead. The exact circumstances of the escalation are unclear. The military then shot machine guns into the crowd. The balance of the day was 17 dead and 26 wounded, including many seriously injured.
consequences
After more military from Frankfurt am Main arrived in Offenbach and a ban on going out was imposed on the city, the situation calmed down after a few days. Eisenreich was expelled from the KPD, arrested along with other ringleaders and sentenced to eight years in prison in Darmstadt.
literature
- Alfred Kurt: City and district of Offenbach in history. On the Main, in Rodgau and in the Dreieich . Bintz-Verlag, Offenbach 1998, ISBN 3-87079-009-1 .