Weimar paramilitary groups

Recruiting poster for the Freikorps Lützow: "Who will save the Fatherland? That is Lützow's wild, daring pursuit. German men! Soldiers of all weapons! Join our ranks!"

Weimar paramilitary groups were militarily organized units that were formed outside of the regular German Army following the defeat of the German Empire in World War I. The most prominent of them, the Freikorps, were combat units that were supported by the German government and used to suppress uprisings from both the Left and the Right. There were also Citizens' Defense (Einwohnerwehr) groups to maintain public order[1] and paramilitary groups associated with specific political parties to protect and promote their interests.[2]

Most who volunteered for the paramilitary groups came from the 6 million German soldiers[3] who returned from the war to a country in the midst of the turmoil of the German revolution, which overthrew the Hohenzollern monarchy and established the Weimar Republic. The Freikorps especially took part in significant fighting in the Baltics, Silesia, Berlin during the Spartacist uprising and the Ruhr during the 1920 uprising there.[2] The paramilitary groups as a whole contributed significantly to the remilitarization of Germany between the wars.[4]

The Citizens' Defense groups were disbanded in 1920 and the Freikorps in 1921 because the government came to see them as threats and because of pressure from the Allies, who feared that the paramilitary groups were being used to circumvent the 100,000 man limit on the German Army imposed by the Treaty of Versailles.[2][5] The paramilitary groups connected with political parties lasted throughout the life of the Weimar Republic and in the case of the Nazi Party's Sturmabteilung (SA), beyond its end.

  1. ^ Bucher, Peter (January 1971). "Zur Geschichte der Einwohnerwehren in Preußen 1918–1921" [On the History of Citizens' Defense in Prussia 1918–1921]. Militaergeschichtliche Zeitschrift (in German). 9 (1): 15–60. doi:10.1524/mgzs.1971.9.1.15.
  2. ^ a b c Sammartino, Annemarie (3 March 2021). Daniel, Ute; Gatrell, Peter; Janz, Oliver; Jones, Heather; Keene, Jennifer; Kramer, Alan; Nasson, Bill (eds.). "Paramilitary Violence". 1914–1918-online. International Encyclopedia of the First World War. Freie Universität Berlin. doi:10.15463/ie1418.10398/1.2. Retrieved 10 July 2024.
  3. ^ Schumann, Dirk (8 October 2014). Daniel, Ute; Gatrell, Peter; Janz, Oliver; Jones, Heather; Keene, Jennifer; Kramer, Alan; Nasson, Bill (eds.). "Post-war Societies (Germany)". 1914–1918-online. International Encyclopedia of the First World War. Freie Universität Berlin. Retrieved 16 July 2014.
  4. ^ Mommsen, Hans (1996). The Rise and Fall of Weimar Democracy. Translated by Forster, Elborg; Jones, Larry Eugene. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press. p. 39. ISBN 978-0-807-82249-4.
  5. ^ Wilson, Tim (2010). Frontiers of Violence. Conflict and Identity in Ulster and Upper Silesia 1918-1922. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 83. ISBN 978-0-199-58371-3.