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Appeal to the Population of Schleswig-Holstein (November 7, 1918)


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Appeal to the Population of Schleswig-Holstein


Political power lies in our hands.

A provisional provincial government will be formed; it will establish a new order in cooperation with the existing authorities.

Our goal is a free, socially-minded people’s republic.

In those parts of the province where workers’ and soldiers’ councils do not yet exist, we call on the population of the city and the countryside to follow our example and stand united behind the new people’s government and support its work on behalf of the common good.

At first, our main task will be to secure the peace and heal the damage created by the war. Issues that extend beyond the jurisdiction of the provincial administration remain, of course, under the authority of state and Reich legislation. We are willing to work together, in the customary ways, with the entire civil service, as long as it supports the new course.

We are determined to meet any opposition with all the public power at our disposal.

People of Schleswig-Holstein! An old democratic dream of freedom and unity, for which many of the best of you fought and suffered, will now become reality on a new and higher level!

Kiel, November 7, 1918.
The Workers’ and Soldiers’ Council.



Source of original German text: Kieler Stadtarchiv, KStA

Translation: Frederick Reuss

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