Deutsche Post 50th Anniversary of the Kieler Matrosenaufstand

DEUTSCHE POST of Demokratisch Republik (DDR) on 5 September 1967 issued three stamps commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Kieler Matrosenaufstand (The Kiel Mutiny or The Revolutionary Sailors Movement). The three stamps depicted  the WWI battleship Prinzregent Luitpold  with the leaders of the revolt, Albin Köbis and Max Reichpietsch, as well as a group of sailors, soldiers and civilians in another stamp.

In the summer of 1917, Max Reichpietsch and Albin Köbis  (crewmen of the dreadnought Prinzregent Luitpold) became  the leaders of a movement of 350  sailors from the German Imperial Fleet, whose complaints about food and other conditions soon developed into agitation against the war. On 26 August 1917, they were arrested, court-martialed by death for being the "main ringleaders" for the  "complete uprising"   along with accomplices Sachse, Weber and Beckers.

Max Reichpietsch had previously received a total of fourteen disciplinary and court-martial terms for various offenses including lateness, absenteeism, disobedience and theft. The death sentence imposed on him was one of 150 during the entire war in the German Reich, of which only 48 were carried out.

The death sentences imposed on Sachse, Weber and Beckers were eventually commuted to prison terms of 15 years each. On 5 September 5, 1917, the death sentences against Max Reichpietsch and Albin Köbis were carried out at the Wahn shooting range near Cologne. Today the Wahn Air Force barracks are located there

These executions were denounced as naval judicial murders by Marxist politicians and newspapers, and helped trigger the Naval Mutinies of 1918, which led to the German Revolution of 1918–1919. This event made Köbis and Reichpietsch heroes of the German socialist movement, hence the DDR commemorative stamps.

Ultimately the revolt  triggered the 1918 German revolution, sweeping aside the monarchy of Kaiser Wilhelm II and the Kingdom of Bavaria within a few days. This led to the end of the German Empire and to the establishment of the Weimar Republic.  

Since this incident a number of streets in Germany, books and films have been dedicated to them. Even German military barracks were named after them.

Source: Wikipedia