Folgt Meinem Beispiel [Follow my Example]

whole: the image occupies the majority. The title is integrated and positioned along the top edge, in red gothic script. The text is partially integrated and positioned in the right half, in black and red gothic script. All set against a white background. image: a half-length depiction of a German 'Freikorps' soldier, looking imploringly at the viewer. He has his arms outstretched and carries a rifle in his left hand. text: Folgt Meinem Beispiel Lasst das Vaterland das schwer bedrohte nicht im Stich, sondern meldet Euch sofort Freiwilligen-Regiment 'Oven' Charlottenburg Joachimstalerstr. 31/32 R. E. Prülener [?] KUNSTANSTALT WEYLANDT BERLIN S.O.16 [Follow my example. Don’t leave the severely threatened Fatherland in the lurch, but enlist immediately in the Volunteers’ 'Oven' Regiment. Charlottenburg [address]. Weylandt Art Office [address].]

The 'Freikorps' were formed in Germany in late 1918 predominantly recruiting from unsettled, often disaffected, First World War army veterans. They were also joined by students and adventure-seekers with right-wing, nationalist tendencies. Acting as an auxiliary police force they were assigned to maintain order by the new post-war republican government in Germany. Yet, many units proved little more than violent private armies, answerable to none but their commanders as they sought to crush communist-inspired civil unrest. Nevertheless the ruling SDP viewed them as a necessary evil and ordered them to suppress left-wing insurrection in Berlin, the Ruhr and Munich, as well as to fight in the disputed territory of Upper Silesia. The more moderate units were eventually merged into the newly formed 'Reichswehr' in 1920. Whereas radical elements went underground, with some taking part in the Nazi party’s ‘Munich Putsch’ of 1923. Although the failure of the coup brought an end to the 'Freikorps' units, many of its members formed 'Sturm Abteilung' (SA) to serve under the Nazi’s. Others joined veteran’s organisations, such as 'Stahlhelm'.

IWM: ART: 15454 [deleted]