Kurt Eisner
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Kurt Eisner | |
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| In office 1918 – 1919 |
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| Preceded by | Otto Ritter von Dandl |
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| Succeeded by | Johannes Hoffmann |
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| Born | May 14, 1867 Berlin, Germany |
| Died | February 21, 1919 München |
| Nationality | German |
| Political party | Independent Social Democratic Party of Germany |
Kurt Eisner (May 14, 1867 in Berlin – February 21, 1919 in München)[1] was a German and Bavarian politician and journalist. As a German socialist journalist and statesman, he organized the Socialist Revolution that achieved the overthrow of the monarchy in Bavaria in 1918.[1] He is used as an example of charismatic authority by Max Weber.
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[edit] Biography
Kurt Eisner was born in Berlin at 10:15 p.m. on May 14, 1867 to Emanuel Eisner and Hedwig Levenstein. He was married to painter Elisabeth Hendrich from 1892, who he had five children with, but the two divorced in 1917 and Eisner then married Elise Belli, an editor. With her, he had two daugthers.
Eisner studied philosophy but then became a journalist in Marburg. Kurt Eisner was always an open Republican as well as a Social-Democrat, joining the SPD in 1898, whereas for tactical reasons German Social-Democracy, particularly in its later stages, rather cold-shouldered anything in the shape of Republican propaganda as being unnecessary and included in general Social-Democratic aims. Consequently he fought actively for political democracy as well as Social-Democracy. He became editor of Vorwärts after the death of Wilhelm Liebknecht in 1900, but was subsequently called upon to resign from that position. After his withdrawal from Vorwärts, his activities were confined in the main to Bavaria, though he toured other parts of Germany. He was chief editor for the Fränkische Tagespost in Nueremberg from 1907 to 1910 and afterwards became a free lance journalist in Munich.
He joined the Independent Social Democratic Party of Germany in 1917, at the height of World War I, and was convicted of treason in 1918 for his role in inciting a strike of munitions workers.
After his release from prison, he organized the revolution that overthrew the monarchy in Bavaria (see German Revolution). He declared Bavaria to be a free state and republic on November 8, 1918, becoming the first republican premier of Bavaria.
He was defeated in the February 1919 election, and was assassinated in Munich when Anton Graf von Arco auf Valley shot at him on his way to present his resignation to the Bavarian parliament.
His assassination resulted in the establishment of the Bavarian Soviet Republic and parliament and government fleeing Munich.
[edit] External links
- Picture of Kurt Eisner, taken in early 1918 Historisches Lexikon Bayerns
[edit] Sources
- Universitätsbibliothek Regensburg - Bosls bayrische Biographie - Kurt Eisner (in German), author: Karl Bosl, publisher: Pustet, page 172
- Biography Kurt Eisner (in German)
[edit] References
- ^ a b "Kurt Eisner - Encyclopaedia Britannica" (biography), Encyclopædia Britannica, 2006, Britannica.com webpage: Britannica-KurtEisner.
| Preceded by Otto Ritter von Dandl |
Prime Minister of Bavaria 1918 – 1919 |
Succeeded by Johannes Hoffmann |
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