Erhard Auer (22 December 1874 – 20 March 1945) was a Bavarian politician, member of the state parliament, first Minister of the Interior of the Free State of Bavaria, and leader of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) in Bavaria. Life and occupation The illegitimate son of a seamstress from an already social democratic family, Auer was born in Dommelstadl, Neuburg am Inn near Passau. He worked at the age of twelve as a farm labourer. At the age of fifteen, Auer was one of the co-founders of an immediately banned agricultural labor movement. After his military service, he achieved a remarkable social rise. As a messenger, he joined in 1896 in a Munich trading house and reached in the course of time through intensive training a senior position. In 1900 he entered the service of the Ortskrankenkasse München. This position he gave in 1908 due to his numerous political obligations. In the First World War Auer was a soldier. Party and parliamentary mandates From 1892 Auer was a member of the Social Democratic Party of Germany. From 1900 to 1921 he was head of the newly established State Secretariat of the Bavarian SPD and was, therefore, a close associate of the chairman Georg von Vollmar. From 1907 Auer was a member of the Bavarian Chamber of Deputies and from 1919 until the end of the Republic Vice-President of the Bavarian State Parliament. In 1919/20 he was a member of the Constituent Weimar National Assembly. Auer during the revolution of 1918/19 Auer was viewed as the great rival of socialist Kurt Eisner who was shot dead in Munich by a German nationalist on 21 February 1919. Auer was viewed as the best hope to fend off a Bolshevik Revolution. To Auers role during the strike with Krupp in January 1918 Ernst Toller writes in " A youth in Germany"The" leader of the legal socialists "Auer had appeased the workers:" For days the strike lasted until the right-wing socialist parliamentarians took control of the leadership, promising the war minister to strangle the strike, shortly after which the strike collapsed. Before that, a delegation will be elected to "hand over the demands of the strikers to the minister with all seriousness and with all vigor". The leader of the legal socialists Auer appeased the dissatisfied workers by vouching for the fulfillment of their demands, promising that he would lead the delegation to the