Gustav Noske

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Gustav Noske (July 9, 1868 - November 30, 1946) was a German administrator. He served as the Defense Minister of Germany between 1919 and 1920. He was the first defense minister of the Weimar Republic.

Noske was born in Brandenburg an der Havel. He was a Master Butcher by trade, who had climbed the political ladder within the trade union movement. He was a member of the Social Democratic Party and became a member of the German Parliament in 1906, where he remained during World War I. He had long shown an interest in military and colonial affairs. Generally speaking, he was on the right wing of the socialists.

Best known for putting down the Communist and left wing risings throughout Germany in early 1919, Noske was and remains a controversial figure. To crush the incipient anarchy, he permitted and even encouraged the organization and employment of right-wing, ultra-nationalist freikorps. Between January 10 and January 17, 1919 they, together with Reichswehr troops under the command of General von Lüttwitz, crushed the Spartacist revolt by military force, the leaders - Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht - being killed. On the other hand, he defused the Kiel Mutiny of 1918 without a shot being fired. One of the few Social Democrats willing to work with the traditional officer class which continued to dominate the Army, Noske was instrumental in restoring order and preventing a German version of the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia. Nevertheless, he was deeply shocked when he finally realized (based on talks with General Hans von Seeckt) that the German Army's chief loyalty was not to the state, but to itself.

Noske was president of the Province of Hanover from 1920 on, but was dismissed by the Nazi government in 1933. In 1944 he was arrested by the Gestapo under suspicion of complicity in anti-Hitler plots. Noske was freed by advancing Allied troops and lived in Hanover afterwards. He died while preparing for a lecture tour of the United States.