Hans von Seisser

Hans Ritter von Seisser (in German Seisser , Wuerzburg , 9 of December of 1874 - Munich , 14 of April of 1973 ) was a colonel, head of the Police of the Bavarian State in 1923 and one of the main causes of failure of the Beer Hall Putsch .

In September 1923, after a period of riots and political violence, Prime Minister Eugen von Knilling declared martial law and appointed Gustav von Kahr Staatskomissar (state commissioner), with dictatorial powers. Together with him and General Reichswehr Otto von Lossow , Seisser formed a right-wing triumvirate in Bavaria.

That year, many right - wing groups wanted to emulate the March on Rome of Mussolini with a march on Berlin . Among these groups were World War I General Erich Ludendorff and the NSDAP , led by Adolf Hitler . When Hitler attempted to seize power in the Munich Putsch , both he and Ludendorff sought the triumvirate’s support, but Kahr, Seisser, and Lossow had their own plan to set up a nationalist dictatorship without Hitler, ¹ which was nevertheless determined to act before That the call to agitation would diminish. ²

On November 8, 1923, Hitler and the SA assaulted a rally of 3,000 people that had been organized by Kahr at the Bürgerbräukeller , a large brewery in Munich. Hitler interrupted Kahr’s speech, announced that the national revolution had begun and declared the formation of a new government with Ludendorff. ³

While threatening them with a pistol, Hitler got the support of Kahr, Seisser and Lossow. ⁴ The SA had initially succeeded in occupying the local Reichswehr and the police barracks; However, neither the army nor the state police supported the coup. Kershaw, 2008 , p. 129 and the triumvirate was released after a brief arrest. Then, they quickly withdrew their support and joined the opposition to the coup plotters. ⁵

The following day, Hitler and his followers marched from the brewery to the Bavarian War Ministry to overthrow the Bavarian government in their March on Berlin, but the police dispersed them. ⁶ 16 members of the NSDAP and 4 police officers were killed in the failed coup. ⁷

After the arrival to the power of Hitler, Seisser was arrested and locked up in the concentration camp of Dachau .

Once released, he joined the US Army from May to August 1945, obtaining the post of prefect of police of Munich. He would die in 1973 at age 93, in that same city.

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