Gustave Landauer Murdered (1919) On this day in 1919, anarchist pacifist Gustav Landauer was murdered in prison by counterrevolutionaries in Munich
## Gustave Landauer Murdered (1919)
### Fri May 02, 1919
Image: *Gustav Landauer's grave on the Neuer Israelitischer Friedhof in Munich. The grave is shared with Kurt Eisner.*
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On this day in 1919, anarchist pacifist Gustav Landauer was murdered in prison by counterrevolutionaries in Munich. He had been arrested as the right-wing Freikorps, on orders from the Social Democrat Party, crushed the Bavarian Soviet Republic.
Gustav Landauer (1870 - 1919) was a German anarchist and pacifist who played a major role in the creation of the Bavarian Soviet Republic during the German Revolution of 1918-1919. He briefly served as its commissioner for "Enlightenment and Public Instruction", but resigned after the German Communist Party (KPD) took power in the Republic.
According to anarchist author James Horrox, the German Social Democratic Party (SPD)'s Minister of Defence, Gustav Noske, ordered soldiers from the right-wing Freikorps militia into Munich to undermine the Republic.
Freikorps forces broke through Munich defenses on May 1st, 1919, and many left-wing revolutionaries were arrested, including Landauer, Eugene Leviné, and Ernst Toller.
The following day, Landauer was brought to Stadelheim Prison, where he was beaten by several soldiers and then brutally murdered as described by an eyewitness:
"An officer struck him in the face, the men shouted: 'Dirty Bolshie! Let’s finish him off!' and a rain of blows from rifle-butts drove him out into the yard. He said to the soldiers round him: 'I’ve not betrayed you. You don’t know yourselves how terribly you’ve been betrayed.'"
The eyewitness describes Landauer being shot repeatedly and trampled. His murderers then stripped the corpse and threw it into the washhouse.
In 1925, German anarcho-syndicalists built a memorial for Landauer at the Münchner Waldfriedhof, destroyed by Nazis only a few years later. A new one was constructed in 2017.
Landauer's grave can now be found on the Neuer Israelitischer Friedhof in Munich. It is shared with the social democrat Kurt Eisner, who had served as President of the People's State of Bavaria, a predecessor to the Bavarian Soviet Republic.
> *"Now is the time to bring forth a martyr of a different kind, not heroic, but a quiet, unpretentious martyr who will provide an example for the proper life."*
>
> `- Gustav Landauer`
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- Date: 1919-05-02
- Learn More: [theanarchistlibrary.org](https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/james-horrox-gustav-landauer-1870-1919), [en.wikipedia.org](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gustav_Landauer), [dwardmac.pitzer.edu](http://dwardmac.pitzer.edu/Anarchist_Archives/bright/landauer/landbio.html), [files.libcom.org](https://files.libcom.org/files/landauer-POC.pdf), [files.libcom.org](https://files.libcom.org/files/Landauer_Revolution_and_Other_Writings.pdf).
- Tags: [#Anarchism](/search?q=%23Anarchism&type=Posts&listingType=All&page=1&sort=New).
- Source: [www.apeoplescalendar.org](https://www.apeoplescalendar.org/calendar/events/gustave-landauer-murdered-1919)
### Fri May 02, 1919
Image: *Gustav Landauer's grave on the Neuer Israelitischer Friedhof in Munich. The grave is shared with Kurt Eisner.*
---
On this day in 1919, anarchist pacifist Gustav Landauer was murdered in prison by counterrevolutionaries in Munich. He had been arrested as the right-wing Freikorps, on orders from the Social Democrat Party, crushed the Bavarian Soviet Republic.
Gustav Landauer (1870 - 1919) was a German anarchist and pacifist who played a major role in the creation of the Bavarian Soviet Republic during the German Revolution of 1918-1919. He briefly served as its commissioner for "Enlightenment and Public Instruction", but resigned after the German Communist Party (KPD) took power in the Republic.
According to anarchist author James Horrox, the German Social Democratic Party (SPD)'s Minister of Defence, Gustav Noske, ordered soldiers from the right-wing Freikorps militia into Munich to undermine the Republic.
Freikorps forces broke through Munich defenses on May 1st, 1919, and many left-wing revolutionaries were arrested, including Landauer, Eugene Leviné, and Ernst Toller.
The following day, Landauer was brought to Stadelheim Prison, where he was beaten by several soldiers and then brutally murdered as described by an eyewitness:
"An officer struck him in the face, the men shouted: 'Dirty Bolshie! Let’s finish him off!' and a rain of blows from rifle-butts drove him out into the yard. He said to the soldiers round him: 'I’ve not betrayed you. You don’t know yourselves how terribly you’ve been betrayed.'"
The eyewitness describes Landauer being shot repeatedly and trampled. His murderers then stripped the corpse and threw it into the washhouse.
In 1925, German anarcho-syndicalists built a memorial for Landauer at the Münchner Waldfriedhof, destroyed by Nazis only a few years later. A new one was constructed in 2017.
Landauer's grave can now be found on the Neuer Israelitischer Friedhof in Munich. It is shared with the social democrat Kurt Eisner, who had served as President of the People's State of Bavaria, a predecessor to the Bavarian Soviet Republic.
> *"Now is the time to bring forth a martyr of a different kind, not heroic, but a quiet, unpretentious martyr who will provide an example for the proper life."*
>
> `- Gustav Landauer`
---
- Date: 1919-05-02
- Learn More: [theanarchistlibrary.org](https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/james-horrox-gustav-landauer-1870-1919), [en.wikipedia.org](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gustav_Landauer), [dwardmac.pitzer.edu](http://dwardmac.pitzer.edu/Anarchist_Archives/bright/landauer/landbio.html), [files.libcom.org](https://files.libcom.org/files/landauer-POC.pdf), [files.libcom.org](https://files.libcom.org/files/Landauer_Revolution_and_Other_Writings.pdf).
- Tags: [#Anarchism](/search?q=%23Anarchism&type=Posts&listingType=All&page=1&sort=New).
- Source: [www.apeoplescalendar.org](https://www.apeoplescalendar.org/calendar/events/gustave-landauer-murdered-1919)