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Maly krtek: imported article about erich mühsam from wikipedia

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imported article about erich mühsam from wikipedia

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{{Infobox Person
| name = Erich MÃ¼hsam
| image = ErichMuehsamJugend.jpg
| image_size = 200px
| caption = Pictured as a young man, circa 1894
}}
'''Erich MÃ¼hsam''' (6 April 1878 â€“ 10 July 1934) was a German-Jewish [[anarchism|anarchist]] [[essay|essayist]], [[poet]] and [[playwright]]. He emerged at the end of [[World War I]] as one of the leading agitators for a [[Federalism|federated]] [[Bavarian Soviet Republic]].

Also a [[cabaret]] performer, he achieved international prominence during the years of the [[Weimar Republic]] for works which, before [[Adolf Hitler|Hitler]] came to power in 1933, condemned [[Nazism]] and [[Satire|satirized]] the future [[dictator]]. MÃ¼hsam died in the [[Oranienburg]] [[Nazi concentration camps|concentration camp]] in 1934.

==Biography==
===Early life: 1878-1900===
The third child born to Siegfried Seligmann MÃ¼hsam, a [[middle-class]] [[Jews|Jewish]] [[pharmacy|pharmacist]], Erich MÃ¼hsam was born in [[Berlin]] on [[6 April]] [[1878]]. Soon after, the family would move to the city of [[LÃ¼beck]].

MÃ¼hsam was educated at the [[Katharineum]]-[[Gymnasium (school)|Gymnasium]] in [[LÃ¼beck]], a school known for its [[authoritarianism|authoritarian]] discipline and [[corporal punishment]] which served as the model for several of the settings in [[Thomas Mann|Thomas Mann's]] novel ''[[Buddenbrooks]]'' (1901). The young student Erich, who was by his nature rebellious and resisted the school's regimented programme, was often physically punished. It was in the spirit of this resistance that in January 1896, MÃ¼hsam authored an anonymous submission to the ''LÃ¼becker Volksboten'' denouncing one of the school's more unpleasant teachers, causing a scandal. When his identity became known, MÃ¼hsam was expelled from the Katharineum-Gymnasium for sympathizing and participating in [[Socialism|socialist]] activities. He would later complete his education in [[Parchim]].

From an early age, Erich MÃ¼hsam displayed a talent for writing, and desired to become a poetâ€”a career aspiration his father sought to beat out of him. His juvenilia consisted of animal fables, and he was first published at the age of 16, earning small amounts of money for satirical poems based on local news and political happenings. However, at the insistence of his father, young Erich sought out to study [[pharmacy]], a profession which he quickly abandoned to return to his poetic and literary ambitions. MÃ¼hsam would leave LÃ¼beck for [[Berlin]] to pursue a literary career, later writing of his youth that "''<nowiki>My</nowiki> hatred grows when I look back on it and visualise the unspeakable flailings which were supposed to beat out of me all my innate feelings.''"<ref name="diaries">Erich MÃ¼hsam, ''TagebÃ¼cher: 1910-1924'' (trans. ''Diaries'') (Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag, 1994) ISBN 3423190302</ref>

===Poet, writer, anarchist: 1900-1918===
MÃ¼hsam moved to Berlin in 1900, where he soon became involved in a group called ''[[Neue Gemeinschaft]]'' (New Society) under the direction of [[Julius Hart|Julius]] and [[Heinrich Hart]] which combined socialist philosophy with theology and communal living in the hopes of becoming "a forerunner of a socially united great working commune of humanity." Within this group, MÃ¼hsam became acquainted with [[Gustav Landauer]] who encouraged his artistic growth and compelled the young MÃ¼hsam to develop his own activism based on a combination of [[Communism|communist]] and [[Anarchism|anarchist]] political philosophy that Landauer introduced to him. Desiring more political involvement, in 1904, MÃ¼hsam withdrew from ''Neue Gemeinschaft'' and relocated temporarily to an artists commune in [[Ascona]], [[Switzerland]] where [[vegetarianism]] was mixed with [[communism]] and [[socialism]]. It was here that he began writing plays, the first ''Die Hochstapler'' (''The Con Men''), juxtaposing new [[modernism|modern]] political theory within traditional dramatic forms, which became a typical trademark of his dramatic work. During these years, MÃ¼hsam began contributing to and editing several anarchist journals. These writings made MÃ¼hsam the target of constant police surveillance and arrests as he was considered among the most dangerous anarchist agitators in Germany. The press seized the opportunity to portray him as a villain accused of anarchist conspiracies and petty crimes.

In 1908, MÃ¼hsam relocated to [[Munich]], where he became heavily involved in [[cabaret]]. While MÃ¼hsam did not particularly care for his work in writing cabaret songs, it would become among his most famous creations.

In 1911, MÃ¼hsam founded the newspaper, ''Kain'' (''Cain''), as a forum for communist-anarchist ideologies, stating that it would "be a personal organ for whatever the editor, as a poet, as a citizen of the world, and as a fellow man had on his mind." MÃ¼hsam used ''Kain'' to ridicule the German state and what he perceived as excesses and abuses of authority, standing out in favour of abolishing [[capital punishment]], and opposing the government's attempt at censoring theatre, and offering prophetic and perceptive analysis of international affairs. For the duration of [[World War I]], publication was suspended to avoid government-imposed censorship often enforced against private newspapers that disagreed with the imperial government and the war.

MÃ¼hsam married Kreszentia Elfinger (nickname Zenzl), the widowed daughter of a Bavarian farmer, in 1915.

[[World War I]] would see the international anarchist community starkly divided into pro-war and anti-war positions, some hypernationalistically supporting Germany, others desiring that Germany's enemies ([[United Kingdom]], [[France]], and later the [[United States of America]]) would be victorious. MÃ¼hsam became extremely nationalistic and militant in his support of Germany in the war, writing in his diaries: ''"And I the anarchist, the anti-militarist, the enemy of national slogans, the anti-patriot and implacable critic of the armament furies, I discovered myself somehow possessed by the common intoxication, fired by an irate passion."''<ref name="diaries" /> His public support of the war was seized upon by the state-controlled press for the purposes of propaganda, and by fellow anarchists who felt betrayed. However by the end of 1914, MÃ¼hsam, pressured by his anarchist acquaintances renounced his support of the war effort, stating that ''"I will probably have to bear the sin of betraying my ideals for the rest of my life"''<ref name="diaries" /> and appealing, ''"Those who comfortably acquiesce and say 'we cannot change things' shamefully desecrate human dignity and all the gifts of their own hearts and brain. For they renounce without a struggle every use of their ability to overthrow man-made institutions and governments and to replace them with new ones."''<ref name="diaries" /> For the rest of the war, MÃ¼hsam opposed the war through increased involvement in many direct action projects, including workers strikes, often collaborating with figures from other leftist political parties. As the strikes became increasingly successful and violent, the [[Bavaria]]n state government began mass arrests of anti-war agitators. MÃ¼hsam was among those arrested and incarcerated in April 1918. He would be detained until just before the war's end in November 1918.

===Weimar years: 1918-1933===
[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 146-1981-003-08, Erich MÃ¼hsam.jpg|thumb|right|Erich MÃ¼hsam, aged 50]]
When Erich MÃ¼hsam was released on [[3 November]] [[1918]], he returned to [[Munich]]. Within days, [[Wilhelm II of Germany|Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany]] abdicated as did [[Ludwig III of Bavaria|King Ludwig III]] who had semi-autonomous rule in [[Bavaria]], and Munich was in the throes of revolt. [[Kurt Eisner]] of the Independent Socialist Party declared Bavaria a socialist republic during the Red Bavaria Revolution. Eisner, in a gesture designed to bring the anarchists into the new government, offered a ministry position to MÃ¼hsam, who refused, preferring to fight along with [[Gustav Landauer]], [[Ernst Toller]], [[Ret Marut]] and other anarchists for the development of Worker's Councils ([[Soviets]]) and communes.

However, after Eisner's [[assassination]] in 1919, the [[Bavarian Soviet Republic|Bayerische RÃ¤terepublik]] (Bavarian Soviet Republic) was proclaimed, ruled by independent socialists [[Ernst Toller]] and [[Gustav Landauer]] and anarchist Erich MÃ¼hsam. This government was shortlived, lasting six days, being overthrown by communists led by [[Eugen Levine]]. However, during this time, the Bavarian Soviet Republic declared war on [[Switzerland]], resulting from the inexplicable machinations of a mentally-ill Foreign Affairs deputy who became irate at Switzerland's refusal to lend the new Republic's government 60 [[Locomotive|locomotive engines]]. When the [[Weimar Republic|Weimar Republic's]] [[Freikorps]], a right-wing army commanded by [[Gustav Noske]], crushed the rebellion and took possession of Munich, [[Gustav Landauer]] was killed and MÃ¼hsam arrested and sentenced to fifteen years in jail.

While in jail, MÃ¼hsam was very prolific with his writing, completing the play ''Judas'' (1920), and a large number of poems. In 1924, he was released from jail as the Weimar Republic granted a general amnesty for political prisoners. Also released in this amnesty was [[Adolf Hitler]], then a failed artist and minor political activist, who had served eight months of a five year sentence for leading the [[Beer Hall Putsch]] in 1923.

The Munich to which MÃ¼hsam returned was very different from the one he left after his arrest. The people were largely apathetic, in part because of the economic collapse of Germany under the pressure of reparations for World War I and [[hyperinflation]]. He had attempted to restart the journal ''Kain'' which failed after a few issues. In 1926, MÃ¼hsam founded a new journal which he called ''Fanal'' (''The Torch''), in which he openly and precariously criticized the communists and the far [[Right-wing]] [[conservatism|conservative]] elements within the Weimar Republic. During these years, his writings and speeches took on a violent, revolutionary tone, and his active attempts to organize a united front to oppose the radical Right provoked intense hatred from conservatives and [[Nationalism|nationalists]] within the Republic.

MÃ¼hsam specifically targeted his writings to satirize the growing phenomenon of [[Nazism]], which later raised the ire of [[Adolf Hitler]] and [[Joseph Goebbels]]. ''Die Affenschande'' (1923), a short story, ridiculed the racial doctrines of the Nazi party, while the poem ''Republikanische Nationalhymne'' (1924) attacked the German judiciary for its disproportionate punishment of leftists while barely punishing the right wing participants in the Putsch.

In 1928, [[Erwin Piscator]] produced MÃ¼hsam's third play, ''StaatsrÃ¤son'' (''For reasons of State''), based upon the controversial conviction and [[execution (legal)|execution]] of [[Nicola Sacco]] and [[Bartolomeo Vanzetti]] in the [[United States]].

In 1930, MÃ¼hsam completed his last play ''Alle Wetter'' (''All Hang''), which sought mass revolution as the only way to prevent a radical Right-wing seizure of power. This play, never performed in public, was directed exclusively at criticizing the Nazis who were on the rise politically in Germany.

===Arrest and death===

MÃ¼hsam was arrested on charges unknown in the early morning hours of [[28 February]] [[1933]], within a few hours after the [[Reichstag fire]] in Berlin. [[Joseph Goebbels]], the Nazi [[Propagandaministerium|propaganda minister]], labelled him as one of "those Jewish subversives." It is alleged that MÃ¼hsam was planning to flee to [[Switzerland]] within the next day. Over the next seventeen months, he would be imprisoned in the concentration camps at [[Sonnenburg]], [[Brandenburg]] and finally, [[Oranienburg]].

[[Marinus van der Lubbe]], an alleged Communist agitator, was arrested and falsly blamed for the fire, and his association with Communist organizations led [[Adolf Hitler]] to declare a state of emergency, encouraging aging president [[Paul von Hindenburg]] to sign the [[Reichstag Fire Decree]], abolishing most of the [[human rights]] provisions of the [[Weimar Republic|Weimar Republic's]] [[constitution]] (1919). [[Hitler]] used the state of emergency to justify the arrests of large numbers of German intellectuals labelled as [[Communism|communists]], [[Socialism|socialists]], and [[Anarchism|anarchists]] in both retaliation for the attack and to silence opposition for his increasing suppression of civil liberties.

Communist, Socialist, and Anarchist publications decried the arrests of these intellectuals, several of which led an international effort demanding the release of MÃ¼hsam, conveying reports of his treatment and enumerating the various barbarous acts of torture and repeated beatings at the hands of prison guards and officers. Several accounts compared his sufferings to that of [[Jesus|Jesus Christ]], and the anarchist journal ''MAN!'' described his ordeal as "the most terrible ''Via Crucis''."

: "''After breaking his teeth with musket blows; stamping a swastika on his scalp with a red-hot brand; subjecting him to tortures which caused him to be taken into a hospital, even now the fascist hyenas of the Sonnenburg concentration camp continue their beastly attacks upon this defenseless man. The last news are really atrocious: the Nazi forced our comrade to dig his own grave and then with a simulated execution made him go through the agony of a doomed man. Although his body has been reduced to a mass of bleeding and tumefied flesh, his spirit is still very high: when his traducers tried to force him to sing the Horst-Wessel-Lied (the Nazi's anthem) he defied their anger by singing the Internationale.''" <ref>"The Nazi Regime at Work: Erich MÃ¼hsam" in MAN! A Journal of the Anarchist Ideal and Movement. Vol. 2, No. 3 (March 1934).</ref>

It was even alleged that the camp's guards had even ripped out pieces of MÃ¼hsam's beard in order to make him look more like the caricatures of [[Orthodox Judaism|orthodox Jews]] seen in [[Antisemitism|anti-semitic]] newspapers and tracts.

On [[2 February]] [[1934]], MÃ¼hsam was transferred to the [[Nazi concentration camps|concentration camp]] at [[Oranienburg concentration camp|Oranienburg]]. The beatings and torture continued, until finally on the night of [[9 July]] [[1934]], MÃ¼hsam was tortured and murdered by the guards, his battered corpse found hanging in a latrine the next morning.

[[Image:Erich und Zenzl MÃ¼hsam - Mutter Erde fec.jpg|thumb|right|250px|MÃ¼hsam's gravestone in Berlin, [[Waldfriedhof Dahlem]]. In memoriam his wife [[:commons:Category:Zenzl MÃ¼hsam|Zenzl MÃ¼hsam]]]]

An official Nazi report dated [[11 July]] stated that Erich MÃ¼hsam committed suicide, hanging himself while in "protective custody" at Oranienburg. However, a report from [[Prague]] on [[20 July]] [[1934]] in the ''[[New York Times]]'' stated otherwise
:"''His widow declared this evening that, when she was first allowed to visit her husband after his arrest, his face was so swollen by beating that she could not recognise him. He was assigned to the task of cleaning toilets and staircases and Storm Troopers amused themselves by spitting in his face, she added. On July 8th, last, she saw him for the last time alive. Despite the tortures he had undergone for fifteen months, she declared, he was cheerful, and she knew at once when his "suicide" was reported to her three days later that it was untrue. When she told the police that they had "murdered" him, she asserted they shrugged their shoulders and laughed. A post mortem examination was refused, according to Frau MÃ¼hsam, but Storm Troopers, incensed with their new commanders, showed her the body which bore unmistakable signs of strangulation, with the back of the skull shattered as if Herr MÃ¼hsam had been dragged across the parade ground.''" <ref>The New York Times, 20 July 1934, quoted in "Erich MÃ¼hsam (1868-1934)" in MAN! A Journal of the Anarchist Ideal and Movement. Vol. 2, No. 8 (August 1934).</ref>

After the death, publications would accuse [[Theodor Eicke]], the former commander of the [[Dachau concentration camp|concentration camp at Dachau]], as the murderer, aided by two Sturmabteilung (Storm Troopers) officers identified as Ehrath and Konstantin Werner. It was alleged that he was tortured and beaten until he lost consciousness, followed by an injection that killed him, and that MÃ¼hsam's body was taken to a latrine in the rear of the building and hung on a rafter so as to create the impression that MÃ¼hsam had committed suicide.<ref>"The Nazi Beasts" in MAN! A Journal of the Anarchist Ideal and Movement. Vol. 3, No. 1 (January 1935).</ref>

==Bibliography==
===Books===
* ''Die Eigenen'' (1903)
* ''RÃ¤terepublik'' (1929)
* ''Die Befeiung der Gesellschaft vom Staat'' (1932)
* ''Unpolitische Erinnerungen'' (trans. ''Unpolitical Remembrances'') (1931) â€“ an autobiography

===Plays===
* ''Die Hochstapler'' (''The Con Men'') (1904)
* ''Die FreivermÃ¤hlten'' (1914)
* ''Judas'' (1920)
* ''StaatsrÃ¤son'' (''Reasons of State''<ref>[http://saccoandvanzetti.org/sn_display1.php?row_ID=27 Sacco and Vanzetti] at saccoandvanzetti.org</ref>) (1928)
* ''Alle Wetter'' (''All Hang'') (1930)

===Poetry===
* ''Der wahre Jacob'' (1901)
* ''Die WÃ¼ste'' (1904)
* ''Der Revoluzzer'' (1908)
* ''Der Krater'' (1909)
* ''WÃ¼ste-Krater-Wolken'' (1914)
* ''Brennende Erde'' (1920)
* ''Republikanische Nationalhymne'' (1924)
* ''Revolution. Kampf-, Marsch- und Spottlieder'' (1925)

===Journals and periodicals===
* ''Kain: Zeitschrift fÃ¼r Menschlichkeit'' (''Cain: Magazine for Humanity'') 1911-1914, 1918-1919, 1924 (brief)
* ''Fanal'' (''The Torch'') 1926-1933
* Contributed to anarchist journals ''Der Freie Arbeiter'' (''The Free Worker''), ''Der Weckruf'' (''The Alarm Call''), ''Der Anarchist'' (''The Anarchist''), ''Neue Gemeinschaft'' (''New Community'') and ''Kampf'' (''Struggle'') and edited ''Der Arme Tufel'' (''The Poor Devil'') under the pseudonym "Nolo."

==See also==
* [[Erich MÃ¼hsam: Every evening I throw|Every evening I throw]]
* [[Erich MÃ¼hsam: Melody of the young anarchists|Melody of the young anarchists]]
* [[Erich MÃ¼hsam: The prisoner|The prisoner]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

===Background information===
* Lawrence Baron, ''The eclectic anarchism of Erich Muhsam''. (New York: Revisionist Press, 1976). (Part of the series: ''Men and Movements in the History and Philosophy of Anarchism'') ISBN 0877002282
* David Shepard, ''From Bohemia to the Barricades: Erich Muhsam and the Development of Revolutionary Drama''. (New York: P. Lang, 1993). ISBN 0820421227
* Diana KÃ¶hnen, ''Das literarische Werk Erich MÃ¼hsams: Kritik und utopische [[Antizipation]]'' (trans. ''The Literary Works of Erich MÃ¼hsam: Critique and Utopian Anticipation'') (Berlin: KÃ¶nigshausen & Neumann, 1988) ISBN 3884794140
* Rolf Kauffeldt, ''Erich MÃ¼hsam: Literatur und Anarchie'' (trans. ''Erich MÃ¼hsam: Literature and Anarchy'') (Munich: W. Fink, 1983) ISBN 3770521390

==Related links==
* [http://www.mela.de/Mela/muehsam.shtml Die Erich MÃ¼hsam Seite] (trans. The Erich MÃ¼hsam Site) â€” a selection of poems by MÃ¼hsam
* [http://recollectionbooks.com/bleed/Encyclopedia/MuhsamErich.htm Erich MÃ¼hsam Page] at Daily Bleed's Anarchist Encyclopedia
* [http://www.zeno.org/Literatur/M/M%C3%BChsam,+Erich Complete German texts of selected works by MÃ¼hsam]
* [http://nemesis.marxists.org/muehsam-judas1.htm Erich MÃ¼hsam - Judas (complete German text)]
* [http://erichinenglish.org/ Erich in English] â€” select works in English translation

{{wikipedia|Erich MÃ¼hsam}}

[[Category:German anarchists]]
[[Category:Jewish anarchists]]
[[Category:People who died in Nazi concentration camps]]
[[Category:Murdered anarchists]]

[[de:Erich MÃ¼hsam]]
[[fr:Erich MÃ¼hsam]]
[[it:Erich MÃ¼hsam]]

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Erich Muhsam - Revision history

Freejohngotti: Category:Non-Conformists

Maly krtek: changed catogories

Maly krtek: imported article about erich mühsam from wikipedia