Walther Rathenau

Walther Rathenau (September 29, 1867–June 24, 1922) was a German industrialist and politician who served as Foreign Minister of Germany.

Assassination

On June 24, 1922 Rathenau was assassinated by two right-wing army officers. When one morning he was driving from his house to the Wilhelmstraße, as he daily used to do, his car was passed by another in which three armed young men sat. They simultaneously shot at the minister with revolvers and then quickly drove away. A memorial stone in the Königsallee in Berlin-Grunewald commemorates the crime. One of the assassins was the future writer Ernst von Salomon.

Related Topics:
June 24 - 1922 - Ernst von Salomon

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Rathenau's assassination may have significantly influenced the long-term political and economic development of Europe. It was certainly an early sign of the instability and violence which were eventually to destroy the Weimar Republic. The British writer Morgan Philips Price wrote:

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

: "In June 1922 Walter Rathenau, a big Jewish industrialist and progressive economist, was assassinated by gangsters of the extreme Right who were the heart and soul of the Freikorps. I was present at the memorial service in the Reichstag and noted an extraordinary outburst of enthusiasm among the workers of Berlin, as expressed in their trade union leaders and socialist parties, for the Republic and for President Ebert. The rank and file of the Majority Social Democrats were now thoroughly aroused... First Communists, then Socialists, and now a big industrialist were murdered for having Liberal views and, in the last case, for being a Jew. The situation in Germany was becoming more and more sinister."

Related Topics:
1922 - Freikorps - Reichstag - Ebert

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~