Freikorps Potsdam [Potsdam Volunteer Corps]

whole: the image occupies the majority. The Potsdam Freikorps emblem is positioned in the lower left. The title and text are separate and placed along the top edge, in the upper right and lower left, in black, held within an orange inset. All set against a grey background. image: a half-length depiction of a German 'Freikorps' soldier, holding a rifle in his right hand. He has his left arm around the shoulders of a woman, who stands with her eyes closed and head bowed. text: Freikorps Potsdam Meldestelle in allen Kasernen Potsdams Freikorps Potsdam Wir schützen Euch! Stye KUNSTDR. S. MALZ, G.m.b.H. BERLIN, S.W.11. [Potsdam Volunteer Corps. Recruiting offices in all Potsdam barracks. Potsdam Volunteer Corps. We are defending you! S. Malz Co. Ltd., Art Printers, Berlin, S.W.11.]

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'.

34315