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Eugen Levine was born in St Petersberg, Russia, in 1883. He was educated at a boarding school in Germany but returned to Russia to take part in the 1905 Revolution. He was arrested, imprisoned and exiled to Siberia where he worked in a lead mine.
After escaping from Siberia he left Russia and studied at Heidelberg University. In 1915 Levine married Rose Levine-Meyer. During the First World War Levine served for a short-period in the German Army.
After the war Levine joined the German Communist Party (KPD) and took part in the setting up of the Bavarian Socialist Republic. Levine took over the leadership of the rebellion after Kurt Eisner, was assassinated on 21st February.
Fearing a counter-revolution, supporters of Levine established Soldiers' and Workers' Councils and took over the government from the National Assembly.
Inspired by the events of the October Revolution, Levine ordered the expropriated of luxury flats and gave them to the homeless. Factories were to be run by joint councils of workers and owners and workers' control of industry and plans were made to abolish paper money. Levine, like the Bolsheviks had done in Russia, established Red Guard units to defend the revolution.
With Freikorps units massing on Bavaria's northern borders, the Red Guards began arresting people they considered to be hostile to the new regime. On 29th April, 1919, eight men were executed after being found guilty of being right-wing spies.
Friedrich Ebert, the Chancellor of Germany, now ordered the German Army and the Freikorps into Bavaria. They quickly gained control and over the next few weeks an estimate 700 men and women were captured and executed. Eugen Levine was arrested and after being found guilty of being involved in the execution of the eight spies, was shot by a firing squad.
Second World War Discussions
Second World War: Questions for Historians
Nazism and Communism
Churchill and Hitler
Hitler and the Roman Catholic Church
Who won the Second World War?
(1) Eugenio Pacelli, later Pope Pius XII, letter to Cardinal Gasparri (April 1919)
An army of employees were dashing to and fro, giving out orders, waving bits of paper, and in the midst of all this, a gang of young women, of dubious appearance, Jews like the rest of them, this Levine is a young man, of about 30 or 35, also Russian and a Jew. Pale, dirty, with drugged eyes, hoarse voice, vulgar, repulsive, with a face that is both intelligent and sly.
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