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Описание: Unknown photographer. On the outskirts of Munich the Freikorps' armoured train fired off a few salvoes to emphasise their proximity and the destructive powers they had at their disposal. Meanwhile, their aircraft took to the sky to drop leaflets giving warnings to those who would resist. In the outskirts some streets were already in the hands of the Freikorps' forward units. It was at this point that Egelhofer lost his head. During the last remaining days of power, the communists had rounded up members of the bourgeois and those suspected of belonging to the Thule Society. These hostages were held in the Luitpold Gymnasium's school buildings. Egelhofer on the night of the 30th ordered the wardens to begin executing these prisoners. Taken away in pairs they were either shot or bludgeoned to death with rifle butts. To his credit, Toller raced to the scene as soon as he caught wind of Egelhofer's order, but by the time he had halted the massacre twenty prominent members of Munich society were dead - some were so badly mutilated that it was difficult to identify the bodies. News of the hostage murders - Geiselmord - quickly filtered back to the Freikorps. Jettisoning their plans for launching a strike on 2 May, it was decided to make an immediate attack on the morning of the 1st. In the meantime the Red Army was shrinking as desertion from the ranks became epidemic. As they had done in Berlin, the Freikorps ripped into the city. Opposition, when it was encountered, was swiftly crushed - altogether only 70 Freikorps men lost their lives as opposed to the diehard few hundred Red Army men. The last stand of Munich's Red Army was at the city's central railway station. Opposition here was destroyed on 2 May. Egelhofer was caught when his car was flagged down trying to leave the city. The man responsible for much of Munich's recent suffering was dragged out of the vehicle and shot. Landauer - the coffee house radical and the man who had delivered Eisner's funeral eulogy - was taken to Stadelheim Prison, where he was beaten to a pulp and eventually shot. His body was left to rot in the courtyard for two days before its removal. Many others suffered a similar fate - Levin'e was sentenced to face the firing squad. Just before he died, Levin'e shouted: "Long live the world revolution!" Toller was more fortunate: put on trial for his life, a number of prominent Munich citizens sent in testimonials in his defence. He was sentenced to five years with no parole. Axelrod was saved by claiming diplomatic status and by Lenin's insistence that if he were harmed then German diplomats in Russia would be shot out of revenge. The Freikorps were welcomed with praise and thanks when they arrived. By the time they left, even their supporters were glad to see the back of them. As early as 4 May it was clear as to the objective the Freikorps had in mind. In a 'pep' talk to his colleagues Major Schulz of the L"utzow corps announced: "Anyone who doesn't understand that there is a lot of hard work here, or whose conscience bothers him had better get out. It's better to kill a few innocent people than to let one guilty person escape." According to David Clay Large 142 POWs were shot and were quickly followed by 186 executed after "lightning-fast court-martial proceedings". On 5 May 12 workmen denounced by a priest were shot. On the next day, Catholic workers of a religious club met to discuss Education and the Theatre in a tavern on the Augustusstrasse. Bursting in on them, a patrol of Freikorps collared thirty men and then had twenty of them butchered for being 'Communist terrorists'. Over 1,000 people, it is estimated, lost their lives within the space of six days. On 7 May von Oven reported to Noske that the city was 'cleansed', and yet it was only on 13 May control was handed back to Hoffman. And with that a very uneasy peace returned to Munich, although the scars of conflict ran deep. Richard Watt in 'The Kings Depart' wrote: "It was inevitable that in the course of these successive regimes practically every Bavarian class and faction would be left with some grievous suffering to brood over - and to avenge." Meanwhile, Adolf Hitler, Iron Cross First Class, had been assigned as an Army political agent. Apart from giving his own fiery talks to the rank and file, Hitler's job was to keep his ear to the ground and report on the political currents in the city. In September his Commanding Officer gave him a new assignment. He was to investigate a tawdry group of right wingers who were called - preposterously for such a parochial clique - the German Workers' Party. Source: www.firstworldwar.com/features/munich_six.htm 20170420

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