Fritz Weineck

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**Friedrich August Weineck** (26 March 1897 – 1 February 1925), better known as **Fritz Weineck**, was a horn player and a Great War veteran who was murdered by members of the far-right Organisation Consul at a gathering of the Roter Frontkämpferbund in 1925. The incident is commemorated every year on 1 February in the Free Socialist Republic of Germany, and Weineck in particular became a martyr and a national symbol. Weineck became known as *The Little Trumpeter* (German: *Der kleine Trompeter)*, after the title of the song dedicated to him.

## Early Life

Weineck was born in Glaucha, a predominantly working-class district of Halle, Germany. He became a broom-maker and, later, a soldier in the Great War, where he was wounded.

In 1919 he joined the side of the Spartacists in the German Civil War, where he distinguished himself in combat in the Battle of Berlin. After the Civil War he married a woman named Meta Dietze and had a child with her. In 1924 he joined the Roter Frontkämpferbund (RFB), the paramilitary wing of the Communist Party of Germany. He became a member of the marching band of the RFB and learned to play the horn.

## Murder

Roter Frontkämpferbund leader Ernst Thälmann held a rally in Halle on 1 February 1925 as part of a national tour. The Halle section of the RFB was one of the largest in the country, leading to particularly high turnout for the rally. While a group of French communists were speaking, two armed gunmen belonging to the right-wing militant group Organisation Consul entered the building.

One of the gunmen, Karl Erhard (5 March 1895 – 1 February 1925), disguised himself as an RFB member and concealed an MP 18 submachine gun. Since RFB members are often armed this would have raised no alarms. His accomplice, Rüdiger Koch (17 October 1904 – 2 January 1928), concealed a Luger pistol. Erhard was a veteran of the Great War and had fought on the side of the Whites in the civil war, but had been released under amnesty in 1922 and had been working at a shop in Leipzig. Koch had been too young to serve in either war, having fled with his family to Baden-Württemberg in 1920 amidst the Spartacist advance. Erhard distanced himself from the crowd and then unconcealed his firearm and fired wildly and indiscriminately into the crowd. Koch, from another angle of the room, fired off two shots, of which one missed, before his pistol jammed, and he was forced to flee. Erhard fired off a full magazine before being charged by multiple RFB members. He was disarmed, restrained, and then fatally shot in the head before the authorities could arrive. Witnesses refused to identify his killer, and the matter wasn't pursued further.

Koch was identified by multiple witnesses and was found two days later by the regional militia, who narrowly prevented him from being executed by a group of RFB members. A bomb was found outside the entrance, but it failed to detonate and was disarmed. In interrogation Koch revealed that it had been intended to detonate as attendees fled towards the entrance amidst the chaos, causing further casualties. Koch also revealed that the primary target of the attack had been Ernst Thälmann, but said that an attendee had incorrectly told him that Thälmann had already departed the rally. Koch, acting as an agent of Organisation Consul, had illegally crossed the heavily militarized border into the FSRD in 1924, finding employment in Halle and meeting Erhard, who he subsequently recruited as an accomplice after learning of his background. It is believed that Koch had formed a larger cell, but he refused to reveal other connections and no others were arrested in connection with him. He later died of pneumonia in prison on 2 January 1928.

8 people were killed and 19 wounded in the attack. Three victims were killed instantly, another was fatally wounded and died before medical attention could be received, while the remaining four died later during medical treatment, with the last of them dying on 15 February from sepsis. Among them was Weineck who, due to his youth and local popularity, became a martyr. He had been struck in the heart by a bullet fired by Erhard's MP 18, which killed him instantly. Over 50,000 residents attended his funeral, and most city functions halted for the day. The Great War song, *Von allen Kameraden*, was rewritten with lyrics about Weineck and the RFB, and became known as *Der kleine Trompeter*. Weineck has been honored in other ways as well:

* 1 February is a national holiday known as "Fritz Weineck Day".
* A statue of Weineck was erected in 1930 in Halle.
* One of the role model figures of the Young Communist League of Germany is Weineck.
* The youth wing of the RFB, the *Rote Jungfront*, has *Der kleine Trompeter* as a secondary official anthem.
* A number of streets, buildings and squares in the FSRD are named after Weineck.
* Weineck's horn is on display in the "Museum of the May Revolution" in Berlin.