Hans Knirsch (14 September 1877 in

Třebařov Třebařov (; german: Triebendorf) is a municipality and village in Svitavy District in the Pardubice Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 900 inhabitants. Třebařov lies approximately north-east of Svitavy, east of Pardubice, and east o ...

– 6 December 1933 in

Duchcov Duchcov (; german: Dux) is a town in Teplice District in the Ústí nad Labem Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 8,600 inhabitants. Duchcov is known for the Duchcov Chateau, Duchcov Castle. The historic town centre with the castle complex i ...

) was an Austro-German activist from

Moravia Moravia ( , also , ; cs, Morava ; german: link=yes, Mähren ; pl, Morawy ; szl, Morawa; la, Moravia) is a historical region in the east of the Czech Republic and one of three historical Czech lands, with Bohemia and Czech Silesia. The me ...

for

Austrian Nazism Austrian Nazism or Austrian National Socialism was a pan-German movement that was formed at the beginning of the 20th century. The movement took a concrete form on 15 November 1903 when the German Worker's Party (DAP) was established in Austri ...

. After the breakup of the

Austro-Hungarian Empire Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of ...

, he led the original party in

Bohemia Bohemia ( ; cs, Čechy ; ; hsb, Čěska; szl, Czechy) is the westernmost and largest historical region of the Czech Republic. Bohemia can also refer to a wider area consisting of the historical Lands of the Bohemian Crown ruled by the Bohem ...

, called the German National Socialist Workers' Party. Together with

Rudolf Jung Rudolf Jung (16 April 1882 – 11 December 1945) was an instrumental figure and agitator in the German Bohemian Nazi movement, and later became a member of the Nazi Party. Jung was born in Plasy in Bohemia and went to school in Jihlava, a town f ...

and Hans Krebs, he was one of the original core that remained in the Nazi Party after 1933.

Biography

Hans Knirsch became a ''Geschäftsführer'', or managing leader, of the Mährisch-Trübauer Verband in 1901. In that capacity he published an appeal which extolled the political unification of all Germans into one state, referring to it as ''der alte Sehnsuchstraum der deutschen Demokraten'' ("the old nostalgic dream of the German democrats"). Active in several party congresses, before

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

he attempted to get the DAP to add the words "National Socialist" to their name. The effort failed, as the proposed name was felt to be too reminiscent of the

Czech National Social Party Czech National Social Party (Czech: ''Česká strana národně sociální'', ČSNS) is a civic nationalist political party in the Czech Republic, that once played an important role in Czechoslovakia during the interwar period. It was established ...

Following his arrest for the failed

Beer Hall Putsch The Beer Hall Putsch, also known as the Munich Putsch,Dan Moorhouse, ed schoolshistory.org.uk, accessed 2008-05-31.Known in German as the or was a failed coup d'état by Nazi Party ( or NSDAP) leader Adolf Hitler, Erich Ludendorff and othe ...

Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Germany from 1933 until his death in 1945. He rose to power as the leader of the Nazi Party, becoming the chancellor in 1933 and then ...

went on a hunger strike. It was Hans Knirsch who talked Hitler out of his depression and convinced him to resume eating.''Why Hitler, The Genesis of the Nazi Reich'',

Samuel W. Mitcham Samuel W. Mitcham Jr. is an American author and military historian who specializes in the German war effort during World War II and the Confederate war effort during the American Civil War. He is the author of more than 40 books and has collabo ...

, Praeger, Westport, CT, 1996. pg 106

Writings of Knirsch

*''Aus der Geschichte der deutschen nationalsozialistischen Arbeiterbewegung Altösterreichs und der Tschechoslowakei'', (Aussig, 1932). *
Die Stellung der Deutschen zum tschechischen Staat. Referat, erstattet am 1. Gesamtparteitag der deutschen nationalsozialistischen Arbeiterpartei
' Dux, Buchdruckerei "Gutenberg" 1919

References

External links

* 1877 births 1933 deaths People from Svitavy District People from the Margraviate of Moravia Moravian-German people German Workers' Party (Austria-Hungary) politicians German National Socialist Workers' Party (Czechoslovakia) politicians Members of the Austrian House of Deputies (1911–1918) Members of the Provisional National Assembly Members of the Chamber of Deputies of Czechoslovakia (1920–1925) Members of the Chamber of Deputies of Czechoslovakia (1925–1929) Members of the Chamber of Deputies of Czechoslovakia (1929–1935) Suicides in Czechoslovakia Czechoslovak politicians who committed suicide {{Germany-activist-stub