Max Hoelz

Hoelz was born the son of a day labourerKuhn, G. (eds) All Power to the Councils! A Documentary History of the German Revolution of 1918-1919, Oakland: PM Press pg.279 and emigrated to Britain in 1905 to become a mechanic.Broue, P. (2006) The German Revolution 1917-1923, Chicago: Haymarket pg.970

Hoelz served in the German Army during the World War I but was wounded and worked on the railways. Towards the end of the war he was working in a reinforced concrete construction company near Mulhouse in Alsace where he received news that his wife in Vogtland was ill, leading him to travel back to Falkenstein with soldiers returning from the front, amongst whom he helped form the Falkenstein Workers' and Soldiers' Council on 9 November 1918.Hoelz pp. 280-1 However, he was shortly forced out of the council by his co-chair Sturl, a USPD member, but despite this he joined the USPD and got a job selling subscription to their new journal for the Vogtland, Vogtlandische Volkszeitung.Hoelz p. 281 Hoelz went on to found the local branch of the Communist Party of Germany (KPD) in Falkenstein in Spring 1919 and became a leader of the unemployed in the town.Hoelz p. 282

During the Kapp Putsch Hoelz helped form a Red Army in Vogtland.Hoelz pp. 285-6 However the activities of his mobile detachment consisting of sometimes as many as 200 armed men caused dismay to the KPD leaders, and soon Heinrich Brandler of the Chemnitz KPD ensure he was expelled from the party. As the Communist Workers' Party of Germany (KAPD) was at that time bringing together former KPD activists who were disillusioned with the moderate politics of the KPD leadership, he soon joined them, finding himself more at home amongst their ranks.{{cite web|last1=Heath|first1=Nick|title=Max Hoelz, The Red Robin Hood|url=https://libcom.org/history/articles/1889-1933-max-hoelz|website=Libcom.org|accessdate=1 February 2016}} In the aftermath of the crushing of the Ruhr Red Army, the Vogtland was surrounded by 50,000 government troops and Hoelz led his army to the border with Czechoslovakia where they were surrounded by the Reichswehr.Hoelz p. 291 The Red Army split up into detachments to avoid the Reichswehr and Hoelz was eventually arrested in Czechoslovakia and then deported to Austria.Hoelz p. 295

After returning to Vogtland in late 1920, Hoelz organised a band of around 50 men equipped with arms and bicycles to try and free those detained after the Kapp Putsch.Hoelz p. 296 The first bombing he organised was of the Falkenstein Rathaus on 6 March 1921 and others targeted courthouses throughout Germany.Hoelz pp. 296-7

Later in his 1929 autobiography From the White Cross to the Red Flag he regretted taking part in these attacks,

"It was a serious political error to approve, and sometimes even take part, in raids on bank buildings, post offices, etc. by expropriation squads. These funds flowed into the hands of the then leaders of the KAPD, thus fulfilling a political purpose by financing the printing of newspapers and leaflets. Only a small part was used over the years to help comrades who were living illegally in various parts of Germany. Unfortunately, the proletarian relief organization Rote Hilfe Deutschland (Red Aid Germany) did not exist at that time."Walker p. 118

Hoelz was one of the leaders of armed groups during the March Action in the Mansfelder district and ended up on trial in Berlin in May 1921 where he was sentenced to life imprisonment.Hoelz pp. 299-302

File:Bundesarchiv Bild 119-2303B, Märzkämpfe, Eisenbahnattentat.jpg|Wrecked train, Ammendorf, Central Germany

File:Nizhny Novgorod. Grave of Max Hoelz in Bugrovskoye Cemetery.jpg

He was released by an amnesty in 1928 and moved to the Soviet Union where he remained critical of Communist Parties of Germany and the Soviet Union as well as of the Comintern as a whole. His request to return to Germany was turned down.{{cite journal|title=Unser Wort On the Death of Max Hoelz|journal=The Militant|date=1933|volume=VI|issue=55|url=https://www.marxists.org/history/etol/newspape/themilitant/1933/v06n55/hoelz.htm|accessdate=1 February 2016}} He drowned in the Oka River near Nizhny Novgorod on 15 September, 1933.

• Hoelz M. From the "White Cross" to the Red Flag in Kuhn, G. (eds) "All Power to the Councils! A Documentary History of the German Revolution of 1918-1919", Oakland: PM Press
• Walker E. (ed) The German Robin Hood. Soldier, revolutionary and political prisoner: The extraordinary life of Max Hoelz 2019 {{ISBN|9781797714189}}

• [http://libcom.org/history/hoelz-max-1889-1933 Short biography on Libcom.org]
• {{PM20|FID=pe/007978}}

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Category:1889 births

Category:1933 deaths

Category:Accidental deaths in the Soviet Union

Category:Deaths by drowning in Russia

Category:Communist Party of Germany politicians

Category:Communist Workers' Party of Germany politicians

Category:German politicians convicted of crimes

Category:German prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment

Category:Prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment by Germany