Eugen Leviné (10.5.1883 St. Petersburg – 5.6.1919 Munich)

Leviné was born into a Jewish merchant family in Russia but grew up in Germany after the early death of his father. While studying law in Heidelberg and Berlin (he received his doctorate in 1909), he came into contact with Russian émigrés and returned to Russia in 1905 to participate in the First Russian Revolution. After a long prison sentence and severe mistreatment, he returned to Germany in 1909, became a German citizen, and joined the Social Democratic Party. During the war, he became a member of the Independent Social Democratic Party (USPD) and was a co-founder of the Spartacus League and KPD in Berlin.

In January 1919, the Central Committee of the KPD sent him to the Rhenish-Westphalian industrial area to stir up agitation, and in March 1919 to Munich to support the establishment of the KPD there. Leviné initially rejected the proclamation of the Soviet Republic, because he considered it premature. Named Chairman of the second Soviet Republic’s executive council (until he stepped down on April 27, 1919), he, together with Max Levien, was considered the intellectual and political head of the Soviet Republic. After the suppression of the Soviet Republic, he went into hiding but was arrested and sentenced to death by summary courts. Despite numerous protests by the KPD, USPD, and even the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD), Leviné was executed at Stadelheim Prison on June 5, 1919.