German History (Helen Roger-Viollet)

German History, vintage 7 x 9 inch silver print fiber photograph depicting "Berlin 1919 - a crowd of people waiting to enter the Berlin mourgue." Image circa 1919. Credited to notable French photographer Helen Roger-Viollet.

The Spartacist uprising, also known as the January uprising (Januaraufstand), was a general strike (and the armed battles accompanying it) in Germany from 4 to 15 January 1919. Germany was in the middle of a post-war revolution, and the two paths forward were social democracy or a council/soviet republic similar to the one which had been established by the Bolshevik Party in Russia. The uprising was primarily a power struggle between the moderate Social Democratic Party of Germany led by Friedrich Ebert, and the more radical communists of the Communist Party of Germany, led by Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg, who had previously founded and led the Spartacist League (Spartakusbund). This power struggle was the result of the abdication of Kaiser Wilhelm II and the resignation of Chancellor Max von Baden, who had passed power onto Ebert as the leader of the largest party in the German parliament.

Verso bears original Roger-Viollet credit stampings and handwritten filing notations [in French]. In very good condition.

Provenance: From the American Heritage Publishing Archives.