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March, 1933.

SA men storm a house in downtown Munich.

Official YIFY movies site: YTS.MX

The target of their attack is a newspaper.

They devastate the editorial offices and the print room.

They destroy the files and the valuable archive.

The attack does not target an ordinary newspaper,

but the Münchener Post.

With its annihilation ends a year-long struggle

on Hitler's way to total power.

The editorial staff of the Münchener Post

had drawn the deep hatred of the Führer onto themselves.

In the early 1920s,

hardly anyone takes Adolf Hitler and his party seriously.

But the editorial staff of the Münchener Post

recognized early on how dangerous the Nazis really were.

The Münchener Post was the only one

who consistently did something about Hitler from the start.

It soon became obvious

that these Nazis were their enemy number one.

Hitler hates the newspaper.

He does everything in his power to silence them.

But until 1933, the editorial staff can fight off his attacks.

There was a certain anger. Concessions were never made.

The Münchener Post's unique and lonely fight has almost been forgotten today.

This is the first documentary about these brave journalists.

HITLER'S BATTLE AGAINST THE PRESS

The social democratic newspaper

with headquarters in downtown Munich is accustomed to such attacks.

They also target the editors personally.

Martin Gruber, son of a typesetter

who had been working for the newspaper since 1890.

Editor-in-chief Erhard Auer has worked his way up from a farm worker

to chairman of the Bavarian SPD

and member of the state parliament.

The editorial staff includes a man who made a name for himself as a worker poet.

Julius Zerfaß is in charge of the feuilleton,

which is extremely political under his leadership

and repeatedly provokes controversy.

Eugen Kirchpfening, of whom no photo exists anymore,

comes, like many of the newspaper's employees, from a simple background.

He loves his hometown and is passionately connected to Munich.

The local pages are his department.

In 1920, he takes over the editorial office for a short time.

In this position, Eugen Kirchpfening

was the first editor to be sued by the Nazis.

In 1927, Edmund Goldschagg joins the editorial staff.

He will have a decisive influence on the newspaper's political line.

All these editors had something in common.

They became politically involved at an early age,

as social democrats.

Not an easy commitment.

In the revolutionary turmoil after the end of the war,

Bavaria has become a refuge for right-wing radical conspirators,

monarchists and political assassins.

STATE PARLIAMENT UNDER POLICE SUPERVISION!

BAVARIA TO BECOME A HOHENZOLLERN PROVINCE?

In the Munich right-wing milieu,

the small party of Adolf Hitler quickly gains new supporters.

The NSDAP and the SA troops

became more and more dangerous, louder and more and more popular.

And the Münchener Post saw

that the Bavarian government did very little about it.

Hitler and his followers

are not considered a threat by the conservative government in Bavaria.

But the editors of the Münchener Post see an anti-democratic storm

brewing in the state capital of Munich.

Veteran groups, home defense associations, former Freikorps fighters,

various right-wing radicals and monarchist groups

want to eliminate the democratic system.

Democracy is regarded as a Jewish system, introduced to corrupt Germany.

Supporters of this ideology can also be found in the ruling Bavarian Volkspartei.

Anti-Semitism is most radically represented by Hitler

and his NSDAP.

The anti-Semitism of the NSDAP and above all of Adolf Hitler

was recognized by the Münchener Post, by the editors of the Münchener Post

and especially by Erhard Auer very early on.

As early as September 1920, Auer, with a major political appearance

turned against anti-Semitism and was exposed to constant threats

and accusations by Adolf Hitler

in his appearances.

It does not stop at insults and verbal threats.

In October 1921,

Erhard Auer is on his way home to his family in the evening.

Due to the constantly growing danger, he has been armed for some time.

Suddenly, shots are fired.

Right-wing radicals shoot at him.

He returns fire.

The attackers flee.

Auer remains unharmed.

Anti-Semitism is widespread among the population.

The Nazis did not invent it.

They used general resentments for their political ideology

and declared the fight against the Jews to be their primary goal.

The Münchener Post is fighting this.

For the Münchener Post,

anti-Semitism was a very important point.

I find it very interesting

that the newspaper has always fought on two fronts.

On the one hand

against Hitler and his party,

but also against the Bavarian governments.

For the conservative Catholic government in Bavaria, the enemy is on the left.

And that includes the newspaper's printing presses.

Hitler wants to use all legal and illegal means

to silence the editors of the Münchener Post.

And the state government openly shows sympathy for the Nazis.

It sees in them patriotic forces that want to give Germany relevance

and greatness again.

Hitler is not so important yet.

You can always see him around as well.

"Yes, he's radical, but that's the way the youth is.

They're also patriotic and they're for the military."

The Münchener Post criticizes this downplaying.

It is the lonely struggle of a small social democratic newspaper.

Then, almost all papers were in the hands of political parties or close to them.

The Post only reaches a minority.

But that doesn't mean it's giving up the fight.

They are the only ones who have consistently, since the Nazis existed,

reported on them and exposed them wherever possible.

This means that the newspaper doesn't only

deal with the politics of the Nazi party,

but also with its Führer.

The Münchener Post also dealt with a subject that was taboo for Hitler.

Hitler had no profession.

He had no real job.

And one did not know exactly how he made his living.

And the Münchener Post has repeatedly published texts on this subject.

One can imagine that he was really angry.

The Post editors question former war comrades of Hitler and write,

"It is true that Hitler was already considered

a hysterical, pathological personality among his comrades."

Even in the NSDAP, some do not agree with Hitler.

They pass on information about his income

and his dictatorial leadership style to the Münchener Post.

Hitler sues against this article.

The responsible editor Eugen Kirchpfening is sentenced

and has to pay 600 Reichsmark in penalties to the NSDAP leader.

But the Münchener Post is not intimidated by this.

The fight against the Nazis continues.

The conflicts in Germany are intensifying.

France and Belgium occupy the Ruhr area

because Germany is in arrears with its reparation payments.

The Reich government propagates passive resistance

and has to pay the wages of 2.000 striking workers in the Ruhr area.

The Ruhr struggle plunges the whole of Germany into gigantic inflation.

The nationalists take advantage of the situation.

They sense indecision and treason.

They blame democracy and the Jews for Germany's situation.

Adolf Hitler sees part of the blame with the Münchener Post.

"Mr. Auer, with your spewing filth at Altheimer Eck,

you bear a large part of the blame for today's misery of the German people."

"Mr. Auer, you have accepted money from the kikes.

You sold yourself to the Jews."

Hitler describes the Münchener Post as "devil's workshop",

as "Munich plague", as "Jewish scribble".

The attacks on the editorial staff are increasing.

NEW ATTACK AGAINST THE MÜNCHENER POST

This newspaper could be fought

by simply having a Nazi battalion

go down the street and smash the windows,

by trying to break the door,

and then trying to destroy the editorial offices.

Or to personally attack the people who worked there.

The editors try to protect themselves as best they can.

The doors are barricaded.

Guards check passers-by on the street.

The newspaper's protective measures don't stay hidden from the police.

At the end of September, a raid took place in the building

of the Münchener Post, where several weapons were found,

which were probably stored there for self-protection.

And because of this weapons find, the Münchener Post was prevented

from being published at the beginning of October.

Can the newspaper survive this constant threat?

When the right wing attacks again,

even hand grenades land in the rooms of the Münchener Post.

The grenades do not explode.

They were duds.

The tension in Munich and in the editorial office is rising.

Several times in 1923, they are on the verge of a right-wing coup.

The editors research tirelessly.

What will the Reichswehr do in the event of an attempted coup?

What will Berlin do?

The Münchener Post keeps issuing warnings.

Throughout the year 1923, the Münchener Post

repeatedly published texts on the mobilization

of right-wing groups, the NSDAP,

paramilitary organizations,

and wrote a text which said

that Hitler and Ludendorff are the leaders of this movement.

It repeatedly admonished the Bavarian government.

The Bavarian government does not want to see this danger.

The conservatives there are themselves planning a coup in Berlin.

General State Commissioner Gustav von Kahr

is endowed with almost unlimited powers.

He governs Bavaria through emergency regulations.

Kahr enacts measures to expel many Jews

from the East, even if they, for 20 years,

had been residents of Munich. And the Münchener Post reports about it.

And that is the reason why he bans them.

This is how it goes. But then he gives in.

He demands that they humbly apologize,

which they do.

They of course never meant to offend the General State Commissioner.

After that, he allows them again for the time being.

He was an arch-conservative politician, a lawyer,

a monarchist, an anti-Semite.

And for him it was much more important to take action against left-wing groups

than against right-wing ones.

With von Kahr's approval,

the Reichswehr in Bavaria supports right-wing paramilitary groups

and equips them.

Contacts are established with right-wing groups throughout Germany.

Alliances are forged to overthrow the so-called Jewish government in Berlin.

But the Nazis are not included in the plans of Bavarian conservatives.

Von Kahr and his comrades

do not intend to involve Hitler and Ludendorff in power.

On the eighth of November, von Kahr invites to a large meeting

in the Bürgerbräu Keller.

The Nazis also mobilize.

The various nationalist groups are not yet in agreement.

Will this be the starting signal for the march on Berlin,

which is often talked about?

Those present expect decisions.

Then, the SA suddenly storms the room.

With his pistol drawn, Hitler forces

the most important men of the Bavarian government to enter a back room with him.

It is announced that the men in the back room have reached an agreement.

They proclaim a joint national government.

The Hitler shock troops are already roaming the city.

Hitler's elite troops assumed

that the leading figures of the Bavarian Volkspartei

and the German Nationalists would take part in the coup.

Leading Nazis assumed the only resistance would come from the Social Democrats,

who had no idea, who were not actually informed.

Now the Nazis are settling the score with the hated Münchener Post.

The Hitler shock troop storms the editorial office.

Hermann Göring is their leader.

Göring was SA leader at that time. A troop went in under Göring,

also on the evening of the Hitler coup.

They destroyed everything there.

They search and ravage the editorial rooms

and take with them what might be of value to them.

Göring's men have been instructed to leave the printing presses intact.

For the new rulers, these machines might come in handy, the Nazis believe.

But the assault on the Münchener Post misses an important target.

The Nazis do not find any editors.

Were they warned?

One division drives to the apartment of editor-in-chief Erhard Auer.

A search of the apartment took place,

during which furniture was smashed.

Erhard Auer's wife was also threatened,

as were his daughters and even his grandchild.

The two and a half year old grandchild was thrown out of bed.

The only male person found

was Auer's son-in-law, Karl Luber,

who was then taken hostage by Hitler's shock troop

and taken to the Bürgerbräu Keller.

The situation changed that night.

Posters announce a new national government,

but von Kahr learns on the phone

that the Reichswehr is not taking part in the coup outside Bavaria.

Thereupon, von Kahr gives instructions to resist the coup d'état.

Hitler will never forgive this betrayal.

The situation in Munich is still unclear.

With a march through the city, Hitler and Ludendorff want to turn the tide.

Ernst Röhm, up to this date captain of the Reichswehr,

and a right-wing radical student named Heinrich Himmler

entrench themselves with SA men in the War Ministry.

But the march of the Hitler followers is stopped at the Feldherrenhalle

by the Bavarian state police.

Shots are fired.

The coup collapses with the shots fired at the Feldherrenhalle.

Hitler manages to escape but is arrested soon afterwards.

The Münchener Post is cleaned up.

Original photos of the devastation have been preserved.

The files and the archive have been destroyed,

very important for the work of a newspaper.

The Münchener Post is on the brink of extinction.

But the damage is repaired with great effort.

The perseverance of the editors

and Auer's optimism are indestructible.

He was always sure that things would work out.

That was indeed the case.

The newspaper was destroyed in the night from the eighth to the ninth of November.

The next day, there was a provisional edition of the Münchener Post.

In the beginning of 1924,

under strict security measures,

the high treason trial against Hitler and his co-conspirators begins.

The same court

which had judged very harshly against the actors of the defeated Räterepublik

is trying this case in a very different manner.

It attests Hitler and his accomplices noble patriotic motives.

He is allowed to explain his world view in detail.

On the attack on the Münchener Post, he declares:

"What the Münchener Post has perpetrated on the German nation,

all these years, thousands of destructions cannot make up for."

Ultimately, the court imposes an extremely

mild punishment for the attempted coup.

The Münchener Post can only say that "Bavarian justice has come to an end".

In his comfortable prison cell, Hitler writes his book "Mein Kampf".

The Bavarian state government says

that it is the government of a republic

and therefore represents democratic interests.

In reality, however, they had a tongue-in-cheek agreement

with the plotters and with all those

who actually wanted to abolish the republic.

At the Isar river, government and judiciary are determined

to leave Hitler alone.

He has no German citizenship.

Actually, he should be deported.

That does not happen either.

After not even nine months in prison, Hitler is back on the loose again.

The editors of the Münchener Post get to keep their main opponent.

They discuss how Hitler can be harmed with the means of a newspaper

and try to discredit him with his nationalist supporters.

For example, for his good relations with the Italian dictator Mussolini.

It is about South Tyrol, which has been annexed by Italy.

HITLER'S TREACHERY AGAINST SOUTH TYROL

The Münchener Post tried

to cut the ground from under the right-wing nationalists' feet

by using nationalistic arguments.

The Münchener Post claimed

that Social Democrats are better Germans

than, for example, the National Socialists.

The National Socialists, who are in dialogue with Mussolini,

for example, are giving up South Tyrol to the Italians.

We as good Germans, as genuine Germans, as genuine nationalists,

are of the opinion that South Tyrol is good German land.

It should not simply be given to Mussolini.

The newspaper writes that Hitler received money from Mussolini.

For this statement, the head of the feuilleton, Julius Zerfaß,

is sentenced to 1,000 Reichsmarks in damages, payable to Hitler.

Nationalist thinking was common at the time.

Also the editorial staff of the Münchener Post is not free of it.

But despite all patriotic love,

there are limits experienced journalists like Martin Gruber would never cross.

Martin Gruber was the oldest editor at the Post.

He came to the newspaper very early,

at the end of the 19th century.

I would say he was a very courageous person.

He also wrote critical texts very early on,

against the Kaiser's expansionist policies.

That's why he went to prison once.

It was said that he had a good sense of humor

and that he was apparently a very good speaker.

The nationalist media spread the legend

that the World War had been lost because the undefeated army

had been stabbed in the back by traitors in the home country.

This is the Dolchstoß legend.

In truth, even the top army leadership had declared

that the situation was desperate and had urged politics to make peace.

But the military denies this.

In 1924, Paul Nikolaus Kossmann, an influential nationalist author,

once again spread in South German monthly magazines

the Dolchstoß legend.

Gruber writes a sharp opposing article.

He describes Kossmann's text as a falsification of history.

A provocation.

Kossmann files charges for insult.

Gruber has to appear in front of the court.

The trial makes waves.

The small Münchener Post becomes known beyond the borders of Germany.

Editor-in-chief Auer, the poet Zerfaß and the experienced journalist Gruber

all repeatedly become victims of attacks

and resign themselves to it.

For this reason, the authors of articles are not mentioned in the newspaper.

Hitler rages against the newspaper.

His thugs repeatedly attack the editors.

In 1925, the small newspaper is

at the forefront of defending democracy.

In the trial against Martin Gruber,

the Münchener Post is in the light of the world public.

It deals with central questions of German politics.

How did the empire fall?

Was there a stab in the back, a Dolchstoß?

Or did the army leadership itself declare

at the time that the front would collapse?

Did the Social Democrats support warfare, preserving the state?

Or did they commit treason against their fatherland?

All the newspapers throughout Germany reported on this.

And also abroad. Even the New York Times reported on it.

Because this was a very interesting discussion.

How did Germany lose the war?

There is heated discussion in the corridors of the court.

Gruber hopes for information from the Reich government that will prove

how desperate the military leadership regarded the situation.

But the government refuses the publication. State secret.

And this process actually proved quite clearly

that the Dolchstoß was an invention of the right-wing nationalists.

Nevertheless, the judge sentenced Martin Gruber,

the responsible editor of the Münchener Post,

to a reasonably mild penalty,

because the court, like the entire executive branch in Bavaria,

had secret sympathies for the right-wing nationalists.

In other words, he had to be sentenced.

The court finds that Kossmann was merely erring

when he wrote that the Social Democrats were there

when revolutionaries stabbed the army in the back.

Gruber must not call these writings lies and forgeries.

Although the Münchener Post feels like a moral winner,

the Dolchstoß propaganda of the Nazis continues.

They don't let the so-called Jewish paper dissuade them from their truth.

Martin Gruber also tried to argue in the Dolchstoß trial,

only that arguments are often not in demand in a political dispute,

but often, the louder voice is in demand,

or whoever simply threatens to strike soon.

These are actually more decisive arguments than a differentiated analysis.

The editors of the Münchener Post read the publications of the Nazis thoroughly.

And they register a change of course.

Hitler no longer strives for a violent overthrow.

He wants to come to power with legal means.

He also became attractive to bourgeois circles.

Some entrepreneurs have supported him financially for a long time.

Now he becomes an interlocutor for industrialists

and the high society.

During this time, Edmund Goldschagg joins the Münchener Post.

The experienced journalist comes just in time,

because Erhard Auer is often absent due to his many political functions

as a member of parliament and party chairman.

Goldschagg finds himself in a difficult situation.

He has to keep the editorial team together while Social Democrats

are fighting fiercely between the various factions.

Goldschagg is described as a very polite person.

He came from Berlin and quickly discovered

that there were different groups within the newspaper.

But for him it was important to have a good relationship

with everyone.

And he has to get used to the way of living and working in Bavaria.

Also at the Münchener Post, many decisions are made

at regular meetings.

The newspaper entertains two such meetings.

Goldschagg attends both with a Prussian sense of duty.

The editors often have to work in the beer cellars.

That's where politics takes place.

Also that of the Nazis.

It is the case that the editors of the Post often spied.

They spied on NSDAP events.

But I believe what was also very important for the reporting of the Post

was the fact

that they had informants within the NSDAP.

The Münchener Post's information about all events in the city is so good

that people talk of Auer's secret service.

The newspaper does not limit itself to what the Nazis announce publicly.

Erhard Auer is not squeamish when it comes to obtaining news.

In part, Auer also used other means

to obtain information,

namely by purchasing information from the right-wing camp,

by trying to obtain information

through potential dropouts from the right-wing camp,

and not just by observation.

With cunning and deception,

journalists of the Münchener Post obtain

information about the secret arming of the right.

Because the Versailles Treaty only allows an army of 100,000 men,

the Reichswehr regards the groups as an unofficial reserve.

It gives weapons to these groups,

for practice and for the event of a civil war.

In an unusual way, a machine gun

from the right-wing groups reaches the offices of the Münchener Post.

And then some Social Democrats dressed up as bourgeois,

practiced an authoritarian tone,

went there and said: "We are from a right-wing nationalist group

and we want to pick up the machine gun."

And they were handed the machine gun.

That was, of course, a giant triumph and was later described

very beautifully in the Münchener Post.

When it comes to Hitler, the Münchener Post has little scruples.

The more spectacular the headline and the more detrimental the statement,

the better.

NATIONAL SOCIALIST TREASON

The motivation was to circulate as incriminating material as possible

against the political opponent,

which was ultimately due to the brutal confrontation with the NSDAP,

which manifested itself in sometimes daily fights in the streets of Munich.

To this end, also wrong information was circulated.

In Munich, friend and foe have always been connected.

There is a give and take and a widespread esteem

for cultivated shrewdness and dignified coarseness.

Erhard Auer is the right person for this environment.

The other side of Erhard Auer is that he, as a Lower Bavarian rascal,

also controlled his informants.

Auer's secret service worked quite well,

because he said:

"If you tell me anything, it will stay between us."

It was in the Münchener Post the next day,

but that was another chapter.

He always relied on a level of personal dependencies, of favors.

One has to think of Mafia structures.

The Münchener Post also has no inhibitions

to attack Hitler's private life.

The Führer of the National Socialists has a niece

who lives with him on the same floor.

Geli Raubal, a young girl.

The nature of their relationship is never clarified.

In September 1931, Geli Raubal dies.

Suicide is suspected, with Hitler's pistol.

MISS GELI RAUBAL SHOT WITH HITLER'S FIREARM

Information is leaked to the Münchener Post.

The Münchener Post received information from the police

and published in detail

how the body was found, what the body looked like.

They also published information about a discussion

between the two a few hours earlier.

The Brown House, the Nazi headquarters, is alarmed.

The rumor mill is working overtime.

Hitler immediately writes a counterstatement,

which is published in the Münchener Post.

A MYSTERIOUS AFFAIR HITLER'S NIECE'S SUICIDE

"It's untrue that I had a fierce argument with my niece."

Around the same time the newspaper comes out with a headline

that is even more embarrassing for the Nazis.

Letters have been leaked to the editors.

They are to prove that Ernst Röhm of all people,

one of the highest leaders of the Nazis, is a practicing homosexual.

The Münchener Post is making huge noise.

The topic was explosive.

They absolutely wanted to harm Röhm, and indirectly Hitler.

Homosexuality is degenerated and reprehensible according to the Nazis.

In Röhm's case, the Nazis can be shown to be hypocrites.

The Münchener Post would be quite stupid

if it did not publish what it was told about its political opponent.

And this was quite problematic for their political opponent,

who was desperately looking for the leak.

But the Münchener Post also finds itself in a dilemma.

Although the newspaper and the SPD

are fighting against the discrimination and criminalization of homosexuals,

the paper shows no consideration here,

and is exploiting the Röhm case.

It was known in Munich that Röhm was homosexual.

The newspapers did not report on it.

It was a private matter, it was a sensitive subject.

What was only known as a rumor in Munich

was turned into a newspaper story by Auer.

Auer first bought a letter.

Later it turned out that the letter was a forgery.

Nevertheless, it led to the fact

that further information about Ernst Röhm were leaked by the right,

which could then be published in the Münchener Post.

Röhm does not seem to be harmed by this among the Nazis.

But in connection with the revelations about Röhm,

lawsuits and attacks against the Münchener Post are increasing.

In December 1931,

Martin Gruber is beaten up by two men

and seriously injured.

ATTACK ON MARTIN GRUBER

Despite the attacks, in December 1939 the Münchener Post reveals

an explosive and alarming story.

Again, it has received information from Nazi circles.

There was already a precise plan for what was to happen to the Jews in Germany.

A terrible glimpse into the future.

The Nazis want to deprive the Jews of all their rights.

"All Jews living in Germany have no right to citizenship."

The Nazis increasingly dominate the political life

that traditionally takes place in Munich's large beer cellars.

The National Socialists and their SA resort to

breaking up opposing events.

Beer mugs are collected under the table as throwing and striking weapons.

Heated by alcohol, fierce debates take place.

Then the battle begins.

Left party events regularly end in destruction.

Only their own troops

can still protect the left from the attacks of the right good squads.

The Nazis now win elections.

Their elected officials do not care about law and justice.

The Münchener Post documents this very precisely.

And it lists how the NSDAP spreads terror

through its thugs, not stopping short of murder.

CHECK-MATE TO THE SWASTIKA!

Despite everything, Hitler has enthusiastic supporters in Munich.

He fills large halls like the Circus Krone Building.

I think the Münchener Post reacted

by arguing even more anti-capitalistically,

by trying even more pointedly

to present their positions

of the struggle against fascism and for democracy.

On the other hand, the Münchener Post, in arguing for democracy,

was not able to inspire many people.

This most enormous political rally

that Munich has ever seen

proves that Munich is bristling with true Hitler spirit.

The Nazis stage their strength and determination.

But above all,

the leader of our movement, Adolf Hitler!

Hail!

Our German people, our fatherland!

They address the people's emotions.

The Münchener Post, however, after his loss in the 1932 elections,

sees Hitler on the floor.

ADOLF TAKES A DIVE AGAIN!

Many people cannot imagine

that their lives would change decisively

if a riot squad like the Nazis were in power.

Even the well-informed Erhard Auer believes

that in the worst case, Hitler would stay in power for a few months.

The transfer of power comes faster than expected.

The old Reich President von Hindenburg

appoints Hitler as chancellor of a coalition government.

The conservative coalition partners think they can keep Hitler under control.

And in Bavaria, they don't want to be dictated by Berlin.

After the National Socialists came to power,

it was believed that a Bavarian government

might be able to hold its own, at least in Bavaria.

The Münchener Post is still published.

But for how long?

Now the editorial offices of the Münchener Post

are also becoming a shelter for politically persecuted people,

because the current state government has announced that it will oppose Hitler.

And that's why Munich was actually the last refuge

for a number of democratic politicians

who tried to get away from Berlin.

The leading Social Democrats were suddenly able

to spend a modest night at the Münchener Post.

Some of them, of course, were also accommodated privately.

Hitler successively replaces the state governments

with National Socialist state commissioners.

Bavaria seems to be spared at first.

The first thing one wants to do is hit the most hated opponents.

These are the people who wrote most sharply against the National Socialists,

and that is the Münchener Post.

The Post is preparing for an attack.

Hundreds of social democratic workers are standing guard

to defend their newspaper.

They hope for reinforcement by the police.

But they are abandoned.

They were really willing to fight, to defend themselves

and to do everything to prevent the Nazis from coming to power.

And then they were simply sent home.

And that was depressing, one can't even imagine.

The employees just bring themselves and important documents to safety.

After the last editors,

the last Social Democrats, had left the house,

everything was finally beaten to shreds.

The destruction is systematic.

Then the clash happened,

and as a result, the orgy of destruction was even more extreme

than it had been during the Hitler coup in 1920.

This time, too,

the most important tools used by journalists are being destroyed.

The documents containing their collected knowledge.

Triumphantly, the Nazis proclaim the end of the hated enemy.

SA CAMP

The SA moves into the building.

They rule the city.

The editors of the Münchener Post and other leading Social Democrats

who were still in the city then met secretly in restaurants,

but were forced to remain in hiding.

Erhard Auer in particular was initially confident

that the Hitler government would not be able to hold its own for long.

The Nazis celebrate their power.

The journalists of the Post are made aware

that the rule of law has been suspended.

And then, the persecution began.

Several editors of the Post were arrested.

Hitler successfully used his power

and destroyed the paper that repeatedly courageously attacked and provoked him.

One must never forget that it was a small newspaper.

It was not the most important newspaper in Munich.

And this was an achievement in itself.

The journalists of the Post could not prevent Hitler from reaching for power.

But they were among those who opposed him

and risked their lives for democracy.

After the war, the Münchener Post did not reappear,

but it remains an example of an independent, democratic press

that cannot be intimidated.

Julius Zerfaß spends six months in Dachau concentration camp.

In 1934, he manages to escape to Switzerland.

He does not return to Germany.

Erhard Auer is mistreated by the Nazis and has to leave Munich.

He dies before the end of the war in Karlsruhe.

Eugen Kirchpfening goes into exile

and does not return to Munich until after the war.

At the age of 80, he publishes his book "Beloved Munich".

Martin Gruber is spared.

He dies in Munich in 1936.

Edmund Goldschagg, after his imprisonment,

survives the Nazis as an unskilled worker.

After the war, he co-founds the renowned Süddeutsche Zeitung.

Translated by Johanna Pumpernig