bavarikon4URally to proclaim the Soviet Republic in Starnberg, 7 April 1919
For a long time, the revolutionary period was little noticeable in Starnberg. In November 1918, a workers’, citizens’ and peasants’ council was elected in Starnberg, which had about 4,000 inhabitants; however, it did not develop any significant activities. The city, which even before WWI was a popular lakeside resort with numerous villas, had no revolutionary potential. It was primarily due to the geographical proximity to Munich that for some time a Soviet Republic existed in Starnberg. It was proclaimed on 6 April by the Revolutionärer Arbeiterrat (Revolutionary workers' council), newly formed in Starnberg. The following day the event was celebrated with a march through the city, in which the interest of the population was visibly limited: The march, which was preceded by a red revolutionary flag, may have had a little over a hundred participants and it was flanked by a few people and curious children.
The Revolutionärer Arbeiterrat in Starnberg avowed itself in favour of the ideas of the first Soviet Republic. However, it rejected its replacement by a Soviet Republic based on the [Russian] Soviet model in the wake of the "Palmsonntagsputsch" (Palm Sunday Coup) on 13 April. Thus the Starnberg Workers' Council found itself in a situation, in which it propagated the Soviet system but was confronted with and threatened by the representatives of the Munich Communist Soviet Republic. For them, the Starnberg area was of strategic importance for Munich's defence. The city was thus caught between the front lines since soldiers of the Red Army occupied strategic points in Starnberg and in the surrounding area, while Württemberg troops advanced from the South on 28 April. The Starnberg Workers' Council succeeded in adopting a reasonably neutral position. The city, which was occupied by government troops on 30 April, was spared direct fighting. However, there was fighting in the area, during which several dozen Red Army soldiers died in combat and during court-martial executions.