Ernst Pöhner
Encyclopedia
Ernst Pöhner was Munich
's Chief of Police ('Green' Police President) from 1919 to 1922. A vigorous, right radical and anti-semite (he attempted, for example, to have Eastern Jews expelled from Bavaria in 1919), he was instrumental in mounting the White terror and in supporting the Organisation Consul
death squads. Confronted with the charge that entire groups of right-wing political assassins were at large and working in and around Munich, he is reported to have said: "Yes ... but too few of them."
He was closely linked to Gustav von Kahr, who had staged his own putsch in 1920 but who opposed the 1923 Hitler putsch
. Pöhner was a central figure in the Hitler putsch being named as Bavaria's prime minister on the night. He was subsequently convicted with Hitler in 1924 for five years, but released three months later dying in a mysterious car accident in 1925. He is mentioned in Mein Kampf
.
Munich
Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...
's Chief of Police ('Green' Police President) from 1919 to 1922. A vigorous, right radical and anti-semite (he attempted, for example, to have Eastern Jews expelled from Bavaria in 1919), he was instrumental in mounting the White terror and in supporting the Organisation Consul
Organisation Consul
Organisation Consul was an ultra-nationalist force operating in Germany in 1921 and 1922. It was formed by members of the Marinebrigade Ehrhardt, a Freikorps unit which disbanded after the Kapp Putsch failed to overthrow the German Weimar Republic...
death squads. Confronted with the charge that entire groups of right-wing political assassins were at large and working in and around Munich, he is reported to have said: "Yes ... but too few of them."
He was closely linked to Gustav von Kahr, who had staged his own putsch in 1920 but who opposed the 1923 Hitler putsch
Beer Hall Putsch
The Beer Hall Putsch was a failed attempt at revolution that occurred between the evening of 8 November and the early afternoon of 9 November 1923, when Nazi Party leader Adolf Hitler, Generalquartiermeister Erich Ludendorff, and other heads of the Kampfbund unsuccessfully tried to seize power...
. Pöhner was a central figure in the Hitler putsch being named as Bavaria's prime minister on the night. He was subsequently convicted with Hitler in 1924 for five years, but released three months later dying in a mysterious car accident in 1925. He is mentioned in Mein Kampf
Mein Kampf
Mein Kampf is a book written by Nazi leader Adolf Hitler. It combines elements of autobiography with an exposition of Hitler's political ideology. Volume 1 of Mein Kampf was published in 1925 and Volume 2 in 1926...
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Further reading
- John Dornberg, The Putsch That Failed, Hitler's Rehearsal for Power, Weidenfeld & Nicholson, 1982.
- Harold J Gordon Jr, Hitler and the Beer Hall Putsch, Princeton University Press, 1972.
- Die Chronik der Stadt Hof, Band VIII, Ausgabe 1936. (German)