In the "In Focus" section, we present special highlights from archives that are represented in the Archivportal-D. These selected archival materials provide an insight into the holdings and offer research suggestions for a possible search in the Archivportal-D or in the online collection "Weimar Republic". The online colletion is still new, and so we are first presenting archival materials on the history of the Weimar Republic here. We are delighted about your interest and many new users in the Archivportal-D.
Under his leadership, a Workers', Peasants' and Soldiers' Council was formed in the Bavarian state parliament, as well as a provisional National Council, in which Eisner became minister-president and foreign minister. Among the successes of his term in office were the introduction of the eight-hour day, the initiation of women's suffrage and the abolition of clerical school supervision.
With the publication of the Bavarian legation reports at the end of November 1918 on the outbreak of the First World War, he wanted to prove the war guilt of the Deutsches Reich and in this context also warned at an international congress in 1919 against a hasty release of German prisoners of war. This brought right-wing conservative circles in particular against him, who threatened him and called him a traitor.
In the elections to the state parliament on January 12, 1919, the USPD lost most of its votes and Eisner was forced to resign with the provisional government. On his way to the constituent session of the newly elected Landtag on February 21, 1919, where Kurt Eisner was about to announce his resignation, he was shot by Reserve Lieutenant Anton Graf von Arco auf Valley (1897-1945). The political assassination provoked turmoil in the Bavarian parliament, in which two more people lost their lives.