''Volkswacht'' (meaning ''People's Guard'' in English) was a

social democratic Social democracy is a political, social, and economic philosophy within socialism that supports political and economic democracy. As a policy regime, it is described by academics as advocating economic and social interventions to promote soci ...

newspaper which was published in

Freiburg im Breisgau Freiburg im Breisgau (; abbreviated as Freiburg i. Br. or Freiburg i. B.; Low Alemannic German, Low Alemannic: ''Friburg im Brisgau''), commonly referred to as Freiburg, is an independent city in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. With a population o ...

from 1911 until 1933. The newspaper masthead carried the slogan Tageszeitung für das werktätige Volk Oberbadens (Daily newspaper for the working people of Upper Baden).

History and profile

When the ''Volkswacht'' appeared for the first time on 1 July 1911, the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

of Southern Baden reacted at once and the newspaper was denounced from church pulpits already on the following day, 2 July 1911, with a

pastoral letter A pastoral letter, often simply called a pastoral, is an open letter addressed by a bishop to the clergy or laity of a diocese or to both, containing general admonition, instruction or consolation, or directions for behaviour in particular circumst ...

. In 1920 the ''Volkswacht of Freiburg'' was the German newspaper which, in its editions of 22 and 23 March, covered the most extensively the

legal proceeding Legal proceeding is an activity that seeks to invoke the power of a tribunal in order to enforce a law. Although the term may be defined more broadly or more narrowly as circumstances require, it has been noted that " e term ''legal proceedings'' i ...

before the

court-martial A court-martial or court martial (plural ''courts-martial'' or ''courts martial'', as "martial" is a postpositive adjective) is a military court or a trial conducted in such a court. A court-martial is empowered to determine the guilt of memb ...

in Freiburg against

Unteroffizier () is a junior non-commissioned officer rank used by the . It is also the collective name for all non-commissioned officers in Austria and Germany. It was formerly a rank in the Imperial Russian Army. Austria , also , is the collective name t ...

Digele who had killed

Gustav Landauer Gustav Landauer (7 April 1870 – 2 May 1919) was one of the leading theorists on anarchism in Germany at the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century. He was an advocate of social anarchism and an avowed pacifist. In 1919, he ...

on 2 May 1919 in

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

. On 17 March 1933, the ''Volkswacht'' was prohibited. The pretext for this action was that the social democratic member of the regional parliament Christian Nußbaum panicked because of previous threats when a group of policemen had invaded his apartment in Freiburg between 4 and 5 o'clock in the morning and broke the bedroom door open. He shot several times and two policemen were mortally wounded.Freiburgs Geschichte
Die Affaire Nußbaum
/ref> Thereupon the publishing house of the ''Volkswacht in Freiburg'' was taken by assault by members of

NSDAP The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party (german: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP), was a far-right politics, far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that crea ...

, SA, SS and ''

Der Stahlhelm ' (German, 'The Steel Helmet, League of Front-Line Soldiers'), commonly known as ''Der Stahlhelm'' ('The Steel Helmet'), was a German First World War veteran's organisation existing from 1918 to 1935. It was part of the "Black Reichswehr" and ...

'' who threw 16,000 hot off the press copies of the newspaper into the street and then went about setting them on fire. The publishing house was pillaged and devastated.Ein Volk von Umfallern
''

Der Spiegel ''Der Spiegel'' (, lit. ''"The Mirror"'') is a German weekly news magazine published in Hamburg. With a weekly circulation of 695,100 copies, it was the largest such publication in Europe in 2011. It was founded in 1947 by John Seymour Chaloner ...

'' 1 November 1999.

References

External links

Volkswacht archive at MFA
{{Authority control German-language newspapers Defunct newspapers published in Germany Newspapers published in Germany Socialist newspapers Social Democratic Party of Germany