Three notgeld banknotes in denominations of 10, 20, and 50 marks, in honor of Anton von Arco auf Valley - the Jewish-German who murdered the leader of the socialist revolution in Bavaria Kurt Eisner, in order to be accepted by the German nationalists. These rare banknotes were issued especially to honor Valley for the murder, shortly after he was tried for his deed. They were issued in April 1920. Extremely rare.
Anton Graf von Arco auf Valley; [1897-1945] son of an aristocratic German family of Jewish descent born in Upper Austria - his mother was the daughter of a wealthy Jewish banking family. After a year of military service in the Bavarian regiment in the last year of World War I, he returned from the front holding extreme nationalist views of an angry and disappointed German over Germany's defeat and loss in the war and the loss of German rule.
Despite being Austrian by origin, he adopted Germany as his home, saw himself as German in every way, studied at the University of Munich and identified as a German nationalist, because of his origin as the son of an aristocratic family he adopted royalist values, and declared himself an antisemite despite his mother being of Jewish descent. Due to his life circumstances and his extreme views, he developed a revulsion for Kurt Eisner - the Jewish leader of the Independent Social Democratic Party of Germany, a party established in 1917 that advocated ending the war, and from year to year its electoral strength grew in Germany. Eisner - a Jewish-German journalist, publicist, theater critic and statesman who led the socialist revolution in Bavaria in 1918. After being rejected from joining the ranks of the neo-pagan sect Thule association due to his Jewish origin, and out of a desire to prove his Germanness more than his Jewishness, as well as his extreme right-wing views, Valley decided to assassinate party leader Kurt Eisner, and thereby gain the affection of the German right wing that he so much felt a part of. Here is how Valley expressed his hatred for Eisner: "Eisner is a Bolshevik, a Jew; he is not German, he does not feel German, he undermines all patriotic thoughts and feelings. He is a traitor to this country". On February 21, 1919, Valley went on a solo mission and shot Eisner dead in the street in Munich. Valley became the hero of the right and within a short time won the affection of the students. (However, his action provoked retaliation by socialists, communists and anarchists throughout Munich, during which several people were killed, including Prince Gustav of Thurn). The murder act he committed served as inspiration for the future Minister of Propaganda of the Nazi Party Joseph Goebbels, who was in Munich at the time. Arco-Valley was tried for murder in January 1920. He was found guilty and sentenced to death according to state laws, with the judges minimizing the severity of his act and saying: "If all German youth were imbued with such glowing enthusiasm we could face the future with confidence". After the verdict was read, Valley stood before the judges with anti-communist and nationalist declarations. In response, the entire courtroom broke into applause, which lasted for minutes. The next day, the Bavarian government, under the command of Minister of Justice and politician of the German Democratic Party Ernst Müller-Meiningen, unanimously decided to commute Arco's sentence to life imprisonment. He served his sentence in Landsberg prison in cell 70, and if that was not enough, the drama that only history knows how to provide - in 1924 he was removed from his cell to make room for Adolf Hitler after he was accused of leading the Beer Hall Putsch and sentenced to prison. Valley was released in 1925 after his sentence was reduced, and in 1927 he received a final pardon. After the strengthening of the Nazi Party, he was suspected of his royalist views and was not embraced by them. Over the years he worked as a journalist, and in June 1945, Arco-Valley, aged 48, was killed in a traffic accident in Salzburg.
Before us is a rare series of the three notgeld banknotes issued in April 1920 as a token of appreciation by German society for the murder act committed by Valley.
Three banknotes in denominations of 10, 20, 50. and in different colors, with each banknote's back showing a different view from Valley's Austrian birthplace. Same size: approximately 10x7 cm. Very good condition.
