Reinhold Elstner

Reinhold Elstner (born 1920 in the predominantly German inhabitated and cultural Sudetenland, which now lies in the Czech Republic) was a German Wehrmacht veteran and Diplom Chemist who poured gasoline over himself and committed suicide at about 8 pm on April 25, 1995, on the steps of Munich's historical Feldherrnhalle, in protest against what he called "the ongoing official slander and demonization of the German People and German soldiers 50 years after the end of World War II". Twelve hours later, on April 26, he died in a Munich hospital.

In a farewell letter, he wrote:

:"With my 75 years of age, all I can do is to set a final sign of contemplation with my death in flames. And if only one German comes to consciousness and finds his way to the truth, then my sacrifice will not have been in vain."

Elstner was never a member of the NSDAP, he had a Czech grandmother and some Jewish relatives in Prague. Still, each year right-wing extremists from various European countries try to hold a commemorative ceremony for him, which Bavarian authorities try to prevent with help from state and federal courts.

External links

* [http://www.best-of-munich.com/feldherrnhalle/feldherrnhalle_ger.html Feldherrnhalle, Munich, Germany]
* [http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oskar_Br%C3%BCsewitz Priest Oskar Brüsewitz, political self-immolation in the German Democratic Republic]
* [http://voigt.bravehost.com/landserehre.html Deutschherrenklub: In memory of Reinhold Elstner]

ee also

* Germans in Czechoslovakia (1918-1938)
* Self-immolation
* Jan Palach
* Alice Herz