Who was Friedrich Ebert?
Friedrich Ebert was a tailor's son from Heidelberg who learned the saddler's trade. He joined the Social Democratic Party in 1889 and rose through the trade unions and the party machine. In 1913 he became co-chairman of the SPD. As the Kaiser fell on 9 November 1918, the last imperial chancellor handed the government to him. He then chaired the revolutionary council that ran the country for a few months. In February 1919 the National Assembly chose him as Reich President, and he held the post until he died in 1925 of an appendix illness that was treated too late.
Political views
- In 1914 he voted to fund the war, though Hugo Haase, his fellow party chairman, voted no.Source: dhm.de
- In October 1918, after Germany became a parliamentary system, he still wanted the monarchy to stay.Source: dhm.de
- He pushed for quick elections to a National Assembly, and turned down the idea of a council republic.Source: dhm.de
- He struck a deal with General Wilhelm Groener of the army high command to hold back the revolution.Source: dhm.de
- He supported Gustav Noske when Noske used troops against striking and rebelling workers in 1919.Source: dhm.de
- He used his Article 48 emergency powers to meet two coup attempts, the Kapp Putsch from the right and the Beer Hall Putsch in Munich.Source: en.wikipedia.org
Legacy
Admirers credit Ebert with founding German democracy. He steered the nation out of the empire, made sure an assembly was elected and kept Weimar alive through civil strife, inflation and coup attempts. Critics on the left say he sided with the old officers and the Freikorps against other socialists. About 170 people died in January 1919 when his government crushed the Spartacist uprising. Freikorps officers murdered Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht. His government also sent troops against the 1920 Ruhr rising. The nationalist right called him a traitor, and a court in 1924 found that his part in the January 1918 strike was treason in a legal sense.
In their own words
“If the Emperor does not abdicate, the social revolution is inevitable. But I do not want it, I even hate it like sin.”