The first comprehensive biography in English of the leader of the
Bavarian Revolution and Republic of 1918/19, the first Jewish head of a
European state and a man who embraced and embodied modernity.
At the end of the First World War, German Jewish journalist, theater
critic, and political activist Kurt Eisner (1867-1919), just released
from prison, led a nonviolent revolution in Munich that deposed the
monarchy and established the Bavarian Republic. Local head of the
Independent Socialists, Eisner had been jailed for treason after
organizing a munitions workers' strike to force an armistice. For a
hundred days, as Germany spiraled into civil war, Eisner fought as head
of state to preserve calm while implementing a peaceful transition to
democracy and reforging international relations. He rejected another
central German government dominated by Prussia in favor of a
confederation of autonomous equals, a "United States of Germany." A
Francophile, he sought ties with Paris in hope of containing Prussia. In
February 1919, on the way to submit his government's resignation to the
newly elected constitutionalassembly, Eisner was shot by a protofascist
aristocrat, plunging Bavaria into political chaos from which Adolf
Hitler would emerge. At the centenary of the Bavarian Revolution and
Republic of 1918/19, this is the first comprehensive biography of Eisner
written for an English-language audience.
Albert Earle Gurganus is Professor Emeritus of Modern Languages at The
Citadel. He is the author of The Art of Revolution: Kurt Eisner's
Agitprop (Camden House, 1986).
