Eugen Levine (10 May 1883-5 June 1919) was the leader of the Bavarian Soviet Republic from 12 April to 3 May 1919, succeeding Ernst Toller.
Biography[]
Eugen Levine was born in St. Petersburg, Russian Empire in 1883 to a Jewish family, and his widowed mother moved the family to Wiesbaden, Germany when Levine was three years old. Levine took part in the failed 1905 Revolution, and he returned to Germany, briefly serving in the Imperial German Army during World War I. After the war, Levine joined the Communist Party of Germany, and he helped to create a socialist republic in Bavaria, the Bavarian Soviet Republic. The government lasted for just six days, and Levine made plans to give more luxurious apartments to the homeless and giving workers control and ownership of factories. He also planned educational reforms and the abolition of paper money, but the revolution was crushed by the Reichswehr. On 5 June 1919, he was executed by firing squad at the Stadelheim Prison in Munich.