Wolfgang Kapp
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| “ | We will not govern according to any theory. | „ |
| ~ Wolfgang Kapp |
Wolfgang Kapp (July 24 1858 - June 12 1922) was a Prussian civil servant and journalist who was a leader of the Kapp Putsch, a failed nationalist attempt to overthrow the government of Germany and establish an autocratic dictatorship.
Biography edit
Wolfgang Kapp was born in 1858 in New York. His father was Friedrich Kapp, a German political theorist who had settled in America after the failed revolution of 1848. The family returned to Germany in 1870 so Wolfgang could attend the Friedrich Wilhelm High School.
Wolfgang got married in 1884 to Margarete Rosenow, who he went on to have three children with. In 1886, he graduated at the conclusion of his law studies at the University of Tübingen and was appointed to a position in the Finance Ministry the same year.
Wolfgang Kapp was the founder of the Agricultural Credit Institute, an agency that helped landowners in East Prussia to prosper. This put him in touch with the wealthy landowners of East Prussia and became the mouthpiece for their attacks on government ministers during World War I. Kapp also founded the German Fatherland Party, a short-lived far-right party of which he was chairman, in 1917.
After Germany's defeat in World War I, Kapp became a vocal supporter of the Stab-in-the-back myth that claimed the Jews were responsible for the course of the war. He opposed the Treaty of Versailles, a position that saw him through to the Reichstag in 1919. Believing that the Weimar Government (or "November Criminals" as he referred to them) were in league with the Jews, Kapp sought to overthrow them and establish a monarchy. To that end, he plotted with Walther von Lüttwitz to bring down the November Criminals.
In March 1920 von Lüttwitz ordered Hermann Erdhardt to rally the Freikorps, march on Berlin and overthrow the government. Officials of the government fled to Dresden and then to Stuttgart and the putschists declared a new state. However, what Lüttwitz and Kapp had failed to realise was that there was little support for their revolution and their state lasted only two days before a general strike was called. The lack of rail services prevented the putschists from using the city's transport links and the revolution collapsed.
Kapp fled to Sweden to avoid prosecution, and lived there for two years. He returned to Germany in 1922 and was charged with being a leader of the Kapp Putsch. Shortly after, he died of cancer while awaiting trial in Leipzig.