They hate the Weimar Republic and murder on the street:members of the right-wing extremist "Organization Consul" kill Walther Rathenau on June 24, 1922. A right-wing network in Mecklenburg plays an important role in this.
by Heiko Kreft
In its early years, the still young republic was shaken by a series of politically motivated attacks. In August 1921, right-wing extremists murdered the politician Matthias Erzberger. As a signatory to the armistice agreement that ended World War I and as a negotiator of the Versailles Treaty, Erzberger is a hate figure for the right. This also applies to the Social Democrat Philipp Scheidemann. Just three weeks before the Rathenau murder, he was attacked with hydrocyanic acid. Scheidemann's "crimes":He proclaimed the republic in November 1918. The "Organization Consul" is responsible for the attacks on Erzberger, Scheidemann and Rathenau.
20s:Longing for an authoritarian state
The secret society, led by former naval officer Hermann Ehrhardt, has set up secret cells everywhere. Erhardt has access to thousands of helpers. You are ready for anything. They are impatiently waiting for day X when the coup d'état is to take place. It is mostly young men, uprooted by war, who yearn for a monarchy and an authoritarian state. For her, the top liberal politician Walther Rathenau is "a man we wanted to fight and destroy. Because he was a representative of everything we hated, what we didn't want:it was democracy," Ernst von Salomon recalled in a 1962 statement WDR film. Salomon was involved in preparing the assassination attempt on Walther Rathenau.
Right fanatics want to trigger civil war in the Republic
Martin Sabrow is Professor Emeritus at Humboldt University in Berlin and author of a new book on the Rathenau murder.The assassination of the foreign minister is also a strategic tool for the "Organization Consul". "They wanted to provoke the left and the bourgeois republic to revolt. Drive them into civil war," reports historian Martin Sabrow. Provoking chaos and uproar in order to then appear as the "savior of the fatherland" - that is the perfidious plan. In his recently published book "The Rathenau Murder and the German Counter-Revolution," Sabrow also describes the assassin's connections to Mecklenburg. There are largely unknown details. What hardly anyone knows:the murder weapon came from Schwerin.
Assassins receive weapon for Rathenau murder in Schwerin
The Schwerin supporter of the Rathenau murderers, Erich Bade, published an inflammatory leaflet against Rathenau.The day before the attack, the later assassins Erwin Kern and Hermann Fischer drove to the state capital of Mecklenburg. At that time, the "Deutschvölkischer Schutz- und Trutzbund" operated in a house on the Pfaffenteich. There Kern and Fischer get the submachine gun with which they murder Rathenau less than 24 hours later. The Schutz- und Trutzbund is a radical right-wing, anti-Semitic association. Gauleiter for Mecklenburg is Erich Bade. He also belongs to the secret society "Organization Consul". Bade is known in Schwerin for his right-wing extremist actions. He published and distributed a leaflet in which he agitated against the "Jew Rathenau" and the Weimar Republic. He also regularly organizes target practice in a forest near Schwerin. The Schwerin daily newspaper "Das Freie Wort" revealed Bade's activities three weeks before the Rathenau murder. The SPD newspaper urgently warns against Bade, calls the Schutz- und Trutzbund a "school for political assassins" and quotes from one of his letters:"We are not taking half measures. We are facing the final battle."
State Criminal Police Office ignores evidence of an assassination
Despite the threats, nothing happens. The Schwerin police deliberately look the other way. That's up to Karl Wiggers, the head of the State Criminal Police Office. In contemporary sources he is described as a German National. He is friends with Bade. It is very likely that he will even see the assassins Kern and Fischer in Schwerin, because Wiggers and Bade were discussing the preparations for a German solstice celebration at the time. Due to the camaraderie between the police officer and the right-wing extremist, the handover of weapons went smoothly. The assassins Kern and Fischer drove to Berlin unmolested - in the same car from which they shot Rathenau a little later.
Millions demonstrate in Berlin for the Weimar Republic
The murder of the top democratic politician drives millions of people onto the streets throughout Germany in the early 1920s. They demonstrate for the Weimar Republic, for democracy. Hundreds of thousands stand guard as Rathenau is buried in Berlin. Kern and Fischer are still in town. They hope for riots on the sidelines of the funeral procession. "People believed that this would be the spark that would explode the powder keg of the Weimar Republic," says Sabrow. But that doesn't happen. There is no crisis situation in which the "Organization Consul" could pose as a hero. The planned coup fails. Kern and Fischer leave Berlin.
Escape plan for Rathenau killer hatched
On June 24, 1922, Erwin Kern and Herrmann Fischer murdered Foreign Minister Walther Rathenau in Berlin.Presumably, Kern and Fischer will first go to Schwerin again. They have deposited an escape case in the office of the "Deutschvölkischer Schutz- und Trutzbund". Then take the train to Rostock. Erwin Kern has been there many times. He has friends at the university, like Kurt Blome. He also belongs to the right-wing secret society. The Rostock "Organisaton Cosul" people meet the Rathenau murderers in the "Schröderhalle", a well-known right-wing bar. An escape plan is hatched. Kern and Fischer are to be channeled to Scandinavia. For one night they stay in the apartment of a Rostock student. At least Kern was accidentally seen there the next morning by an uninvolved person. The student Hans Langenscheidt becomes suspicious, goes to the police and reports him. "He makes very clear statements - but is not taken seriously," historian Sabrow knows from the investigation files.
LKA man covers secret society "Organization Consul" again
Responsible for disregarding the ad:LKA boss Karl Wiggers. Again, the official covers the secret society. Coincidence? The Rostock "Organization Consul" man Blome and Bade later claim that they had blackmailed Wiggers because of his homosexuality. Political friendship or vile blackmail. What was the reason for Wigger's strange behavior can no longer be said exactly today. For Sabrow, however, one thing is certain:"Wiggers conducted the interrogations. If he had conducted them more sharply, more precisely, if he had paid particular attention to the witness Hans Langenscheidt, the Rathenau murderers would probably have been caught in Rostock on June 29."
Kern and Fischer's escape across the Baltic Sea fails
After their identity became known, the assassins Kern and Fischer wanted to flee to Denmark.Because that doesn't happen, Kern and Fischer drive to Warnemünde unmolested. A secret society man is supposed to bring them to Denmark in a small sailing boat. But the weather is too bad - it's impossible to escape abroad. Now the assassins are in trouble for the first time. Five days after their bloody crime, the Berlin police now know their identity. The driver of the car with which they picked up the gun in Schwerin and committed the attack in Berlin-Grunewald has been caught and reveals their names. Wanted posters with photos of Kern and Fischer appear. Newspapers print descriptions of people. The Rostock secret society bring the murderers to a forest near Kuehlungsborn. Kern and Fischer hold out for two days. Then they lose patience.
Assassins narrowly escape their pursuers
On their own, they walk to Wismar. They hope for the local "Organization Consul" man Rudolf Otto. He also owns a sailing boat. Because a crossing to Denmark is still not possible due to persistently bad weather, Otto sends the two to Karl Baur in Neukloster:He is studying at the teacher's college there and is willing to help the Rathenau murderer. Baur gets bicycles and smuggles Kern and Fischer safely out of Neukloster. Off the beaten track, you cycle to Neu-Kaiß. In the village near Dömitz they look for another secret agent. He advises continuing to nearby Prussian Lenzen. Both are recognized there. They race to the Elbe ferry at high speed. A dramatic scene ensues, Sabrow knows:"The ferry had just departed. Kern pulls his pistol and yells at the ferryman:'If you don't turn around immediately, shoot yourself!' The ferryman turns around. Just as their pursuers are following them on motorbikes, the two murderers jump onto the ferry and disappear across the Elbe."
Book tip on the topic "Rathenau's murderers in Mecklenburg"
Martin Sabrow
"The Rathenau Murder and the German Counter-Revolution"
Secret Society?
334 pages
Released:April 2022
Wallstein-Verlag
Violent death of the Rathenau murderers at Saaleck Castle
Kern and Fischer escaped for another eight days. In the end they entrench themselves at Saaleck Castle near Naumburg. The owner is also part of the secret society "Organization Consul". He lets the assassins in and travels away. But Kern and Fischer are careless. They leave lights on at night. Local residents find this strange and call the police. They surrounded the castle the next morning. Kern is killed in a firefight. Fischer shoots himself.