AUER, ERHARD

AUER, ERHARD (1874–1945), politician; Kurt Eisner's* tentative political ally. Born in the village of Dommelstadl (near Passau), he passed an orphaned youth as a shepherd. At fifteen he was incarcerated for attempting to organize rural workers. Service in the Bavarian Guards brought him to Munich, where he chose to settle. He supported the SPD from an early age, becoming private secretary in 1896 to Bavarian Party leader Georg von Vollmar. Elected to the Bavarian Landtag in 1907, he later served as the chamber's Vice President. World War I briefly took him to Belgium and France. Considered Vollmar's heir apparent when the latter resigned his Reichstag* seat in October 1918, he was opposed for the mandate by Eisner. A by-election, scheduled for 17 November, never materialized. When Eisner proclaimed a republic during the night of 7–8 November 1918, Auer became the indifferent Interior Minister of an ill-fated revolutionary regime. Consistently at odds with Eisner over the Workers' and Soldiers' Councils*— he allowed them no executive authority—Auer pressed for early Landtag elections. As Eisner's support evaporated, Auer hoped to isolate the Prime Minister and eventually replace him. But on the morning of 21 February 1919, soon after Eisner was assassinated, Auer was shot in the Landtag by Alois Lindner, a radical member of Munich's Workers' Council who held him responsible for Eisner's death. After a long convalescence he was elected to the Reichstag, where he led Bavaria's Social Democrats until 1933.