Kapp-Putsch in Kiel - contemporary witnesses

Contemporary Witneses' reports on Kapp-Putsch in Kiel, März 1920 (German only)

Martha Riedl, interviews 1990 und 1991
	In 1918 a member of the worker's youth organisation. 1946 to 1948 member of the town council in Kiel for the SPD	riedl.pdf (190 kB)
Julius Bredenbeck, interviews 1983 und 1989
	In 1918 a member of the worker's youth organisation. Later well known unionist and Socialdemocrat, personal specialist for Lauritz Lauritzen (Federal minister)	bredenbeck.pdf (330 kB)
Theodor Pump, interview 1980
	Deutsch-national, fought in the Freikorps Schleswig-Holstein. Was 1920 a member of the time volunteer's regiment. Led a publishing house	theo_pump.pdf (350 kB)
Jonny Pump, interviews 1980 und 1987
	Deutsch-national, was sent as a recruit against the sailors' mutiny in Kiel. In 1920 a member of the time volunteer's regiment during the Kapp-Putsch Later owned a shop for electro articles	j_pump.pdf (680 kB)
Magdalene Hocke, interviews 1980
	Was not a member of any political party or union. Dress maker, sheet metal worker. Honorary work for the "Sozialwerk" of the German railway. Witnessed the advance of the free corps into town.	m_hocke.pdf (190 kB)
Joachim Rohde (Sen.), noted down 1970s by his son
	Rohde was Deckofficer during WWI. After the revolution he was relieved from service and got a piece of land on good terms in Klausdorf ("Neuland"), which was turned into small farms by ca. 50 former navy officers. To the putsch-organisators they had declared their readiness to move to the barracks on a prearranged signal in order to participate, Rohde died 1938. His son Joachim Rohde (Jun.) noted down his reports in the 1970s.	rohde.pdf (190 kB)
Letters to the SHVZ editor from Thoms and Mumm 1963
	Thoms and Mumm fought on the workers' side. Thoms belonged to the operating crew of a MG, which had to be withdrawn from Dreiecksplatz into Wilhelminenstraße. Mumm reports on how ammunition and weapons were distributed in the yard of the union building. A unit under Otto Eggerstedt and Böttcher from the metal union was sent out get to the Marineintendantur, if necessary by force, in order to negotiate with higher ranks the cessation of hostilities.	leserbriefe_shvz.pdf (100 kB)
Walter Hasenclever, diary 1920
	Hasenclever (1890-1940) was an expressionistic German writer, who also worked with great success in Hollywood. His writings were banned by the Nazis. He witnessed a squad of soldiers shooting at a group of unarmed civilians. He reported 30-40 gunshots and five dead and/or seriously injured.	hasenclever.pdf (100 kB)
Kemsies, Lieutenant of the security police (Sipo), 1920
	Lieutenant Kemsies was an independent formation leader and head of the intelligence department. He describes how the lower officials deposed the higher officials on duty and supported the workers' units in their fight against the Loewenfelder free corps who were advancing towards the union headquarters. "A part of the troops fighting against us defected to us, when they saw that they were not fighting against Bolsheviks as they were told by their leaders." This is supported among others by the fact that Ernst Oland from the Loewenfeld free corps was buried in the Revolutionary Memorial on the Eichof.	kemsies.pdf (100 kB)
Wilhelm Schweizer, USPD/SPD, letter to editor 1958
	Wilhelm Schweizer already played an important role during the sailors and workers uprising 1918. He was a member of the USPD and a by-appointee of the workers' council for the police. He then joined the SPD and was a city councilor in Kiel from 1919-1927. From 1930 he was chief of the Kiel municipal police. During the Kapp Putsch he played an important role during the clashes at the ship-engineering school and the old station.	schweizer.pdf (100 kB)
Paul Kässner, Chief Deckofficer (ret.), 1932
	K�ssner wrote the history of the deck officer movement in 1932. In it, he describes some aspects that have not been taken into account, or only to a limited extent, in historiography: Formation of confidence committees on board the ships, takeover of service by deck and people's officers, election of the people's officer v. Seydlitz as chief of the naval station in Kiel, escape of various ships from Kiel despite orders from the station to the contrary, reactionary campaign of the naval officers against the deck officers.	Analysis and edition of Kässner's book (German): kaessner.pdf (100 kB)