Eugen Leviné
Eugen Leviné
Communist who led the Bavarian Soviet Republic in 1919 and was shot after its fall
On 13 April 1919, Leviné became chair of Munich’s Executive Board, calling for a Red Army and the overcoming of capitalism. After the Soviet Republic was suppressed, he was executed in June.
Born to a Jewish merchant family in St Petersburg, he moved to Germany with his mother after his father’s death and studied at Heidelberg. He returned to Russia to take part in the revolution of 1905 and was imprisoned. In Germany he worked in the USPD and the Spartacus League, and in 1919 the KPD sent him to Munich. When the KPD replaced Toller’s council government on 13 April he became its leader, raising a Red Army and putting factories under workers’ control. Captured after Munich fell in May, he was sentenced to death by a court martial and shot in Stadelheim prison on 5 June.
Career timeline
- 1905Returned to Russia to take part in the revolution and was exiled to Siberia.
- 1918–1919Helped found the Spartacus League in Berlin and worked in the Communist Party of Germany (KPD).
- 1919Sent by the KPD to Munich to organize its local branch and help establish the council republic, he became chair of its Executive Board on 13 April and led the republic.
- 1919Captured after the republic’s suppression, he was sentenced to death and shot at Stadelheim Prison on 5 June.