קורט איזנר

Kurt Eisner (1867–1919), revolutionary socialist leader and journalist who organized the short-lived Socialist Revolution which overthrew the Wittelsbach monarchy in Bavaria, Germany, in November 1918, born in Berlin, Germany. Eisner studied philosophy and became a journalist: from 1890 to 1895 he was editor of the "Frankfurter Zeitung". In that capacity he wrote an article which attacked Kaiser Wilhelm II. For that he was arrested and sentenced to 9 months imprisonment. In 1898 he joined the Social Democratic party and was an active fighter for political democracy as well as social-democracy.

In 1900 he was appointed political editor of "Vorwärts". Between 1907 and 1910 he was editor of Nuremberg based "Fränkische Tagespost" newspaper. In 1917 he joined the Independent Social Democratic Party and was convicted of treason in 1918 for having incited a strike of metal workers. After nine months he was released and proceeded to help organize the revolution that overthrew the monarchy in Bavaria. He declared Bavaria to be a free republic in November 1918, and he was named the first republican prime minister of the state. Shortly thereafter he leaked documents which seemed to indicate that World War I was provoked by a group of “mad Prussian military” men and capitalists. He attacked moderate socialists who refused to accept Germany's responsibility for the outbreak of the war; in return his enemies accused him of having taken bribes from the Allies to start the revolution in Bavaria. The result was that he was hated by large sections of the German people. He was assassinated in Munich by a half-Jewish nationalist.