Erich Mühsam (1878–1934 · publisher / tenant)

Brought up in a middle-class Jewish family, Mühsam was a renowned anarchist, author and publisher. Shortly before his exams at secondary school, he was expelled for “social democratic activities” and worked as an author and satirist. After a few years travelling around Germany, he moved to Munich and founded several anarchist groups. Among other publications, Mühsam wrote for the satirical magazine Simplicissimus and became a pivotal figure in the declaration of Munich's short-lived Soviet Republic, earning him a 15-year prison sentence. After his early release he moved with his wife, Zenzi, to 48 Dörchläuchtingstrasse in Berlin's Horseshoe Estate, where he published the journal Fanal. Mühsam was also notorious in the neighborhood for his free lifestyle, but he got involved by being an active member of the tenants' council, for example. Mühsam maintained a lively exchange with the publicist Rudolf Rocker, who lived just a few streets away, as well as with other prominent residents such as the artists Heinrich Vogeler and Stanislav Kubicki and the publicist Leon Hirsch. After the National Socialists came to power, Mühsam was arrested in the Hufeisensiedlung in 1933 and (despite the protests organized by Zenzi Mühsam) hanged in the Oranienburg concentration camp a year later - staged as a suicide by the SS. A memorial stone on site commemorates the famous resident.