SALON LUITPOLD | Kurt Eisner: Friedensbringer oder Revolutionär? | Mit Katharina Weigand, Jörg Zedler & Christian Gohlke

In the organizer's words:

An evening on Bavarian history, with Katharina Weigand and Jörg Zedler. Moderator: Christian Gohlke

"Kurt Eisner's public perception is usually limited to the last months of his life and his successful revolution in Bavaria in 1918. But it took a long time for the trained philosopher and then journalist to become a revolutionary. For a long time, he was convinced that it was his task above all to promote the education of the working class so that they could assume their political responsibility. It was only the war and the unwillingness and inability of German politicians to end this war without victory that led to a radicalization of Eisner's political goals. In this context, it is particularly important to discuss what Eisner's ultimate goal was: to end the First World War or to fundamentally change the political situation, i.e. to overthrow the monarchy and install a republic in its place, whereby it is also necessary to ask what type of republic Eisner was striving for."

The historian Dr. Katharina Weigand worked as a senior academic advisor at LMU Munich, specializing in Bavarian history and the didactics of history, most recently at the university archive. She is now involved as a lecturer in the LMU's senior studies program.

The historian Prof. Dr. Jörg Zedler received his doctorate with a biography of the last Bavarian diplomat at the Holy See, Otto von Ritter, and habilitated with a thesis entitled "Nützliche Leichen. Monarch burials in Bavaria and Belgium (1825-1935). After filling in as Professor of Modern and Contemporary History at LMU Munich (2023-2025), he is currently at the Chair of Bavarian Regional History at the University of Regensburg.

Dr. Christian Gohlke is jointly responsible for the artistic design of the Salon. He teaches at Munich University of Applied Sciences and writes regularly for the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.