Revolutionaries, councilors, reactionaries
| Television broadcast | |
|---|---|
| Original title | Revolutionaries, councilors, reactionaries |
| Country of production | Germany |
| original language | German |
| year | 1969 |
| length | 93 min minutes |
| genre | Feature (form of representation) |
| Theme music | The revolutionary |
| Director | Wolfgang Kahle |
| script | Wolfgang Kahle and spokesman Georg Walschus |
| camera | Manfred Feichtner, Dieter L'Arronge |
| First broadcast | April 24, 1969, 8 p.m. - 10.45 p.m., May 2, 1969, 8:15 p.m. - May 21 |
| occupation | |
| |
Revolutionaries, councilors, reactionaries is a documentary feature by Wolfgang Kahle (manuscript and direction). The two parts: Kurt Eisner's Nonviolent Revolution and The Councils Take Power were broadcast on April 24, 1969, 8:00 pm – 10: 45 pm and on May 2, 1969, 8:15 pm–21: 05, respectively, on Bavarian television .
content
- Documentation by Bavarian television on the development of the Bavarian Free State from the beginning of the revolutionary demonstrations on November 7th, 1918 on the Theresienwiese to the conquest of Munich by Freikorps troops.
- There is little film material of the events in the reporting period 1918/19. The feature uses film recordings made later from eyewitness reports and illustrates them with photos.
- Contemporaries who were there describe how everything began and ended: the march of revolutionary workers and soldiers under the leadership of the literary and independent social democrat Kurt Eisner on the barracks on Munich's Türkenstrasse on November 7, 1918.
- The fall of Bavaria's King Ludwig III.
- The assassination of Eisner, who did not know how to complete the revolution that had begun.
The second part describes the proclamation of the Soviet republic based on the Russian model and finally the punitive expedition under the supreme command of the Social Democratic Reichswehr Minister Noske .
- To be shown:
- The writer Friedrich Burschell , who had moved to the soldiers with Eisner (photo).
- The then student and today's US press photographer Joseph Breitenbach , who applauded when the bearded Eisner made himself the new Prime Minister.
- Princess Maria del Pilar , great niece of the last King of Bavaria, who became restless when she saw that her mother went to bed with her hair coiffed.
- The Heidelberg historian Helmut Neubauer with the assessment: "It was the most consistent attempt at a revolution in Germany."
intention
" Wolfgang Kahle and Georg Walschu: We want to help ensure that German citizens no longer get goose bumps down their spines when they hear the name Eisner."
criticism
- According to the opinion of the Spiegel , a clear didactic piece succeeded, roughly rasterized, but still suitable for clearing up popular misunderstandings.
Quotes
The feature lets prominent contemporary witnesses have their say and was used as a source by historian Bernhard Grau in his biography of Kurt Eisner.
Kurt Eisner nonviolent coup
“After the speeches had been held, a large group of Social Democrats formed, we then moved from Theresienwiese to the Friedensengel , where the MP Schmitt Franz , a Lower Franconian with a beautiful long beard, held a speech and we dispersed, we went home. The next morning, when I went to the office, I saw notices that Baiern had suddenly become a republic. "
"In the afternoon of November 7th or in the evening, did you not have the feeling that something revolutionary was in the air?"
"I actually didn't have that."
"So you could sleep well in Munich during the revolution"
"Yes, of course. I believe that most of Munich's citizens spent that night very peacefully and calmly and were just as surprised by the events the next morning as I was."
"The people around Eisner that at the Bavaria at a certain point, something had zusammengeschaart right of the Bavaria at Bavaria, would obviously not a manifestation of the walking gait, but from the place where they stood, there was a soldier in uniform, even though the soldiers were forbidden to participate, and he unfurled a red flag and they left after he had said that we have talked enough now for all of the years nothing but talk, let's do something! "
“It was night, of course, it was maybe ten o'clock, it was dark, so someone rang the bell, we waited on the sidewalk outside , and the porter came with a lantern in his hand, his knees shaking a little, and we left In the big conference room, we sat down and in the benches of the MPs, Eisner on the podium, and immediately, a few minutes after we were all established, he got up and said tonight we have seen how history is made, Bavaria is a people's state , the Wittelsbach dynasty has been deposed and with your consent I will take over the office of provisional Prime Minister "
“Our concept of revolution was of course different from what it really was with us, we heard about the French revolution, God knows what kind of revolutions where people are beheaded like that, right? But then there were calls, calls from various friends of ours, it would be a revolution, it would be dangerous, so we should go, why should we go? My father says he doesn't even think about leaving, my mother just like that. So we stayed there, and then in the evening I lived then, slept in my parents' room because I was sick and they wanted someone to look after me, I was still there, then I noticed that my mother went to bed still in her hair and then I told her you weren't out of your hair yet. To which my mother said no, you know, don't think they'll kill us. But if, then, it's the same for you. You're young, but when such an old woman has no hair, it makes you feel very bad, and it's better to go to bed with your hair on, just in case. Now we found out afterwards that the king's entourage told him he had to go, otherwise he would have to abdicate, they would force him to abdicate, and he said under no circumstances did he want to abdicate, because he owed his people that he, if he was already king, so he was sticking with them, they said he had to, otherwise it would go wrong, he went away and went to Wildenwart . "
“The returning troops were warmly welcomed by the population. They posed problems for the city, because Munich attracted many soldiers and officers who didn't know where to go or didn't want to go home at all. They stayed in the cash registers and contributed to the spread of political uncertainty with the increasing economic difficulties. "
“There were tens of thousands of soldiers and young officers who had not yet been demobilized in the city. They lived in the barracks, the officers got their wages, the soldiers their wages, that was a certain unemployment benefit, and the barracks, for example, the Turkish barracks, then also served the high officers billeted and paid there at the expense of the Iron State for conspiracy, for conspiracy against the Eisner Republic. "
“Eisner's apartment was not far from us, from Kreuzhof. At that time, a representative came from Eisner, I don't know in what capacity, and conveyed the wish, initially as a wish, later as a somewhat hardened wish that the battalion should take over the protection of Eisner's apartment. My people refused, and so did I. "
"With what reason?"
"Quite simple: they didn't want to, they didn't want to know anything about Eisner, Eisner wasn't suitable for them, also about ... I would like to say ... in the whole habit ... he seemed strange to them."
"And you were self-sufficient enough to be able to reject something like that?"
“God, who was trying to force us? Because nobody would have dared to force us, because we still had a couple of medium-sized mine throwers, so they are 1 quintals heavy .. a hundredweight heavy mines .. to shoot, and light mortars. And if there had been violence there, my people would still be such that if I had given the order that there would be shooting, there would have been shooting. It was astonishing that Eisner, this typical intellectual, was so absolutely un-Bavarian, he didn't drink beer, he drank chocolate and ate chocolate cake ... that he was so popular ... at least in Munich and with large parts of the Bavarian peasantry . "
The councils seize power
"Mr. Dr. Müller, you were then commissioned to set up Freikorps in Bamberg? "
“I wouldn't formulate it like that. Prime Minister Hoffmann asked me to keep the people I had gathered at his disposal for the time being. On the second or third day I would like to meet Colonel Panzer, who would then talk to me about whether my people could possibly be used as the basis for a Bamberg Freikorps. Various people came from above, from the north, and the most surprising thing for me was the visit of the future Admiral Canaris. "
"How was the mood in the Freikorps?"
“On the whole, it was positive about state authority, the republican state authority of the time. There were some who might have preferred to see the return to the monarchy, but they weren't very strong within this area of the Freikorps. "
"And supporters of radical nationalism?"
"There weren't many there."
"What kind of spirit prevailed in the Freikorps?"
“On the whole, I believe, a spirit of conservative nationalism, which was also quite upset by the news that came from Munich to Bamberg, to Nuremberg and so on, especially to Franconia. In general, people believed that they were doing a good national job if they signed up for the Freikorps and put an end to the spooks of council rule in Munich. "
"Can you say that Munich was under red terror at this time?"
“Yes, that is generally not correct. Of course there was at times terror inasmuch as, say, looting took place over and over again. Even then a revolutionary tribunal was set up. There were arrests, later hostage arrests as well. "
“When I came to Dachau with Toller , the conference of commanders and soldiers' councils about 100 took place here in the large hall of the district court. Klingelhöfer , Toller's deputy, gave a speech, a political speech, which turned against Max Levien and Leviné , that is, against the Communist Council Government. Toller himself had taken up quarters here in the district judge's apartment, and no Red Army officer, not even a member of the staff, was allowed to enter his apartment at the request of the district judge - because of the dirty feet. Basically there was no military plan. Five battalions, a total of about 2000 men, with some special troops, were housed in the town of Dachau, mostly in barns. At the exit roads there were guards who had the order to shoot if the enemy attacks, the church bells should ring, and then concentrically, these five battalions should then throw themselves against the enemy. "
Individual evidence
- ↑ Mark William Jones (Irish historian) , In the Beginning Was Violence: The German Revolution 1918/19 and the Beginning of the Weimar Republic, University College Cambridge [1]
- ↑ Munich City Museum , [2]
- ↑ Der Spiegel , April 21, 1969, TELEVISION THIS WEEK [3]
- ^ Bernhard Grau, Kurt Eisner: 1867–1919, p. 573
- ↑ BR television , still picture portrait Wilhelm Hoegner describes the procession from Theresienwiese to the Friedensengel - and Munich's people were surprised by the silent revolution. (1:09 min), [4]
- ↑ BR television , still portrait of Joseph Breitenbach describes the mood among the soldiers on the way from Theresienwiese to the Maximilian barracks in Oberwiesenfeld. (0:40 min) [5]
- ^ BR television , still portrait of Joseph Breitenbach tells of the proclamation of the Republic of Bavaria by Kurt Eisner in the state parliament. (1:05 min) [6]
- ^ BR television , film Maria del Pilar of Bavaria Princess Pilar of Bavaria reports on the mood in the Wittelsbach royal family on the day of the revolution. (1:26 min) [7]
- ^ Institute for Contemporary History Manuscript MS 200/55, p. 12
- ^ Institute for Contemporary History Manuscript MS 200/55, p. 13