Kurt Eisner

Eisner was assassinated in Munich when German nationalist Anton Graf von Arco auf Valley shot him in the back on 21 February 1919. At the time, Eisner had been on his way to present his resignation to the Bavarian parliament. His assassination resulted in the elected government of the People's State of Bavaria fleeing Munich and the establishment of the short-lived Bavarian Soviet Republic and parliament. Arco-Valley was tried for murder in January 1920. He was found guilty and sentenced to death, but his sentence was reduced to life imprisonment. The State Prosecutor said of him, "If the whole German youth were imbued with such a glowing enthusiasm we could face the future with confidence." He served his sentence of fortress confinement at Landsberg Prison in cell 70, and in 1924 he was evicted from his cell to make way for Adolf Hitler. He was released in 1925, and was on probation until 1927, when he was pardoned. In June 1945, Arco-Valley was killed in a traffic accident in Salzburg, after the horse-drawn carriage which he was riding in collided with a U.S. Army vehicle. Eisner had a very large funeral with thousands of attendants coming to mourn his death. Certain authors have argued that Adolf Hitler was in attendance. A separate photo and video have been used as evidence that he was: in a photograph a man purported to be Hitler (based on physical appearance) is observing a memorial procession from the side (not participating) while Russian prisoners of war carry a portrait of Eisner. In the footage of Eisner's funeral, another man (actually participating) claimed to be Hitler can be seen wearing a black armband to symbolize the mourning of Eisner, as well as a red armband which represented support for the socialist revolution in Munich. Historians debate about the authenticity of the claim, especially with regard to the grainy footage, and Thomas Weber concluded that it was impossible to know for sure, while other historians outright dismiss it. Representatives of Hitler's unit (List Regiment) were ordered to encourage soldiers to attend a memorial procession of Eisner, but this was in April 1919 and separate from the earlier funeral in February. Author Peter den Hartog has concluded Hitler's attendance can safely be considered a "myth". As of May 1919 Hitler was an informant for the Reichswehr. The idea that Hitler attended Eisner's funeral and supported the Soviet Bavarian Republic originate with German journalist and documentarian Guido Knopp. In 2004, a group of international historians warned that documentaries like the ones produced by Knopp could reduce important historic facts to mere infotainment. When the Passau labor union tried to stage a play about Eisner at the bishopric theater in 1920, Reichswehr soldiers and high school students sabotaged it, using weapons from the military arsenal. Among other things, 11 machine guns were used. The incident, dubbed the Passau Theater Scandal, triggered media headlines and a variety of judicial procedures. Eisner was buried in the Munich Ostfriedhof. On 1 May 1922 the Free Trades Unions of Munich (Münchner Freien Gewerkschaften) commissioned a monument dedicated to "the Dead of the Revolution". The urn containing Eisner's ashes was walled into its pedestal. Shortly after the National Socialists took power the Monument to the Revolution was destroyed: it was demolished on 22 June 1933, and the urn with Eisner's ashes was moved to the New Jewish Cemetery, where it is still buried. The monument in the Ostfriedhof was re-created after World War II by the artist Konstantin Frick as a faithful copy of the original. In 1989, a monument was installed in the pavement at the site of Eisner's assassination. It reads, Kurt Eisner, der am 8. November 1918 die Bayerische Republik ausrief, nachmaliger Ministerpräsident des Volksstaates Bayern, wurde an dieser Stelle am 21. Februar 1919 ermordet ("Kurt Eisner, who proclaimed the Bavarian republic on 8 November 1918 – later Prime Minister of the Republic of Bavaria – was murdered here on 21 February 1919").