Master Bibliography of the Freikorps

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R.M. Schultz
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Master Bibliography of the Freikorps

#1

Post by R.M. Schultz » 12 Aug 2004, 21:24

Ernst von Salomon wrote:Anyone who judges Freikorpskämpfers by the standards of the civilization it was their task to help destroy is utilizing the standards of the enemy.
This is a bibliography of the Freikorps, the para-military organizations that existed in the immediate aftermath of the Great War (c. 1918 - 1923). Though this list does include some memoirs from the period it does not include biographies. This bibliography had been compiled during the course of my research from the books I have read, the bibliographies in those books, various library catalogs (primarily Hoover Institution, Library of Congress, University of Chicago). Do note the following:

— It does not pretend to be complete. Please post any additions you may have and I will add them to the list.

— It may be wrong. Please post any corrections you may have and I will adjust the list.

— It lacks annotation. Please comment on the books so that we can flesh this out with more information.

Primary sources are marked:

Baird, Jay W.
• To Die For Germany : Heroes in the Nazi Pantheon
Indiana University Press, Bloomington, 1990

Benoist-Méchin, Jacques Gabriel Paul Michel, baron
• History of the German Army since the Armistice
Translated by Eileen R. Taylor
Scientia a.g., Zurich, 1939
Note: Benoist-Mechin was a minor minister in the Vichy Government and his politics are distinctly right-wing.

Carsten, F. L. (Francis Ludwig)
• Reichswehr und Politik
Kipenheuer & Witsch, Cologne, 1964

• The Reichswehr and Politics: 1918-1933
Translation of “Reichswehr und Politik.”
Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1966

Chickering, Roger P.
• The Reichsbanner and the Weimar Republic 1924 - 1926
Journal of Modern History, December, 1968, pp. 524-534
Note: the Reichsbanner was the SPD paramilitary organization the flourished in the late 1920’s and was composed of war and Freikorps veterans.

Diehl, James M.
• Paramilitary Politics in Weimar Germany
Indiana University Press, Bloomington, Indiana, 1977
Note: also covers other paramilitary groups, such as the Stahlhelm, the Orgesch, and the Republican Wehr.

Dornberg, John
• The Putsch That Failed
London, 1979

• Munich 1923 : the story of Hitler's first grab for power
Harper & Row, N.Y.C., 1982.

Drage, Charles
The Amiable Prussian
Anthony Blond, London, 1958
Note: this is the “as told to” auto-biography of Walter Stennis.

Ehrhardt, Hermann
Kapitän Ehrhardt, Abenteruer und Schicksale
Edited by Friedrich Freska
Berlin, 1924
Note: Kapitän Ehrhardt was the founder both of the Ehrhardt Brigade and Organization Consul. He, Gerhard Roßbach, and Beppo Röhmer were probably the most popular of the Freikorpsfürhers.

Fischer, Ruth
• Stalin and German Communism
Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Mass., 1948
Note: this is the “official Communist” interpretation of these events.

Freiwald, Ludwig
• Der Weg der Braunen Kämpfter: Ein Frontbuch von 1918 - 1933
Munich, 1934

Friedrich, Otto
• Before the Deluge, a Portrait of Berlin in the 1920’S
Harper and Row, New York City, 1972.

Gordon, Harold
• The Reichswehr and the German Republic: 1919-1926
Princeton University Press, Princeton, N.J., 1957

• The Beerhall Putsch
Princeton University Press, Princeton, N.J., 1972

Groener, Wilhelm
Lebenserinnerungen
Biblio- Verl., Osnabrück, 1972.
Note: Groener was de facto chief of the German Army during the Freikorps period.

Gruneberger, Richard
• Red Rising in Bavaria
London, 1973

Gürster-Steinhausen, Eugene
• “Picture in Despair: Ernst Jünger, Prophet of German Nationalism”
Social Science Quarterly 48, 1949, pp. 360-372

Haffner, Sebastian
• Die verratene Revolution. Deutschland 1918/19.
Scherz, Bern, München, Wien, 1969

• Failure of a Revolution: Germany 1918/19
Translated from the German “Verratene Revolution” by Georg Rapp.
Deutsch, London, 1973.
Note: far left in tone.

• Vollständige Taschenbuchausg.
Knaur, München, 1991.

Harman, Chris
• The Lost Revolution: Germany 1918-1923
Bookmarks, London, 1982

Heinz, Friedrich Wilhelm
Sprengstoff
Frundsberg-verlag g.m.b.h., Berlin, 1930
Note: Lieutenant Heinz was a member of the Ehrhardt Brigade and Organization Consul, he also participated in the Kapp Putsch.

Hozel, Curt
Deustsher Aufstand
Stuttgart, 1934

Jones, Nigel
• Hitler's Heralds. The Story of the Freikorps, 1918-1923
Dorset Press, New York City, 1987

• Brief History of the Birth of the Nazis: How the Freikorps Blazed the Trail for Hitler
Carroll & Graff Publishers, N.Y.C., 2004
Note: This is basically a re-issue of the author’s earlier “Hitler's Heralds.”

Jurado, Carlos Caballero
• The German Freikorps 1918 - 1923
Osprey Publishing, London, 2001

Kessler, Harry, Graf
The Diaries of a Cosmopolitan: Count Harry Kessler, 1918-1937
Translated from the German “Tagebücher, 1918-1937,” and edited by Charles Kessler; introduction by Otto Friedrich.
Weidenfeld and Nicolson, London, 1971
Note: Count Kessler was an eye-witness to the fighting in Berlin.

Killinger, Manfred, freiherr von
Das waren Kerle!
F. Eher nachf., München, 1944
Series: Soldaten Kameraden! ; Bd. 68
Note: fiction.
Note: Killinger was a member of the Ehrhardt Brigade and Organization Consul, participated in the Kapp Putsch.

Koch, Joachim W.
• Der Deutsche Bürgerkrieg
Berlin, 1978

Krüger, Gabriele
Die Brigade Ehrhardt.
Leibniz-Verlag, Hamburg, 1971

Laqueur, Walter Z.
• Young Germany: A History of the German Youth Movement
Basic Books, N.Y.C., 1962
Note: while this is not actually about the Freikorps, many of those involved in the Youth Movement (the so-called “Wandervögel”) were enthusiastic Freikorpskämpfers.

Ledebur, Ferdinand, Freiherr von
Geschichte des Deutschen Unteroffiziere
Junker und Dünnhaupt, Berlin, 1939

Maercker, Ludwig Rudolf Georg. von
Vom Kaiserheer zur Reichswehr; ein Beitrag zur Geschichte der deutschen Revolution.
R.F. Koehler, Leipzig, 1921.

Vom Kaiserheer zur Reichswehr; Geschichte des freiwilligen Landesjägerkorps; ein Beitrag zur Geschichte der deutschen Revolution.
K.F. Koehler, Leipzig, 1922.
Note: General Maercker was the first of the Freikorpsfürhers.

Messman, Carla
• “Völkish Paramilitarism in the Weimar Republic: A Case Study in Power Relationships.”
Doctoral Dissertation - University of Wisconsin, Madison, 1977.
Note: I am not certain if this actually concerns the Freikorps or their para-military successor organizations.

Mitchel, Allan
• Revolution in Bavaria
Princeton University Press, Princeton, N.J., 1969

Nevin, Thomas
• Ernst Jünger and Germany: Into the Abyss 1914 - 45
Duke University Press, Durham, NC., 1997

Noskie, Gustav
Von Kiel Bis Kapp: zur Geschichte der deutschen Revolution
Berlin, 1920

Zehn Jahre Deutsche Geschichte, 1918 - 1928
Berlin, 1928
Note: Noskie was the SPD Minister of Defense who initially authorized the raising of the Freikorps.

Oertzen, Friedrich von
Die Deutschen Freikorps, 1918-1923
F. Bruckmann, Munich, 1936
Note: this is a semi-official account.

Kamerad, Reich mir die Hände; Freikorps und Grenzschutz, Baltikum und Heimat
Ullstein, Berlin, 1933

Radek, Karl
“Leo Schlageter - the Wanderer into the Void”
Labour Monthly, September 1923.
Note: this eulogy for Leo Schlageter, a Freikorpskämpfer executed by French occupation authorities, is a primary artifact of the period.

Reissner, Larissa
Hamburg at the Barricades, and other writings on Weimar Germany
Translated from the Russian and edited by Richard Chappell
Pluto Press, London, 1977
Note: this is a remarkable first-hand account of the Hamburg uprising of 1923.

Röhm, Ernst
Die Geschichte eines Hochverräters
[“Memoirs of a Man Guilty of High Treason”]
(first edition) Franz Eher, Munich, 1928.
Eher Verlag, Munich, 1933.
Auflage. Eher Verlag, München, 1934
Verlag Frz. Eher Nachf, München, 1934 (fifth edition)

Roßbach, Gerhard
Mein Weg durch die Zeit: Erinnerungen unt Bekenntnisse [“My Way Across The Era: Recollections And Confessions”]
Vereinigte Weiburger Buchdruckverein, Weiburg an der Lahn, 1950
Note: Gerhard Roßbach was the founder of the famed Freikorps Roßbach that relieved Bischoff’s Eisern Division at Riga. Afterwards he participated in the Munich Putsch and organized the Schilljungend, perhaps the best of the German youth organizations. He, Hermann Ehrhardt, and Beppo Röhmer were probably the most popular of the Freikorpsfürhers.

Ryder, A. J.
• The German revolution of 1918: a study of German socialism in war and revolt
Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1967

Salomon, Ernst von
Die Geächteten
Berlin, 1930
Note: this is a fictionalized account of von Salomon’s adventures as a Freikorpskämpfer.

Das Buch vom deutschen Freikorpskämpfer, hrsg. im Auftrage der Dreikorpszeitschrift
W. Limpert, Berlin, 1938
Note: a truly massive, lavishly illustrated, compendium of memoirs and histories of all Freikorps campaigns.

Putsch und verschwörung; kämpfe um Deutschland in schwerer zeit.
M. Diesterweg, Frankfurt a. M., 1938.

Answers to the 131 Questions of the Allied Military Government “Fragebogen”
Translation of “Der Fragebogen” from the German by Constantine Fitzgibbon
Putnam & Co., Ltd., London, 1954.

The Outlaws
Translation of “Die Geächteten” (1930) by Ian F.D. Morrow. with a new introduction by Alasdair Stewart.
Kraus Reprint, Millwood, N.Y., 1983.

Schauwecker, Franz
Im Todesrachen, Die Deutsche Seele im Weltkriege
Heinrich Diekmann, Halle (Saale), 1921.
Note: Schauwecker was a strormtrooper in the Great War.

Schmidt-Pauli, Edgar von
Geschichte der Freikorps
R. Lutz, Stuttgart, 1936
Note: this is a semi-official account.

Stern, Howard
• The Organization Consul
Journal of Modern History, 35, March 1963, p. 20 - 32.
Note: Organization Consul was the successor organization to the Ehrhardt Brigade.

Strasser, Otto
History in my Time
translated by Douglas Reed,
Johnathan Cape, Ltd., London, 1941.

Theweleit, Klaus
Male Fantasies ( V. 1. Women, Floods, Bodies, History -- V. 2. Male Bodies: Psychoanalyzing the White Terror) Translation of “Männerphantasien” from the German by Stephan Conway in collaboration with Erica Carter and Chris Turner, foreword by Barbara Ehrenreich.
University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis, 1987/1989
Note: the truly bizarre thesis of this work is that the Freikorpskämpfers, and subsequently the Nazis, were motivated by a loathing of women and a fear of contamination by “menstrual flow.”

Waite, Robert G.L.
• Vanguard of Nazism: The Freikorps Movement in Post-War Germany 1918-1923
Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Mass., 1952
(revised edition) W.W. Norton and Company, New York, 1969.
Note: this is the best account in English.

Watt, Robert M.
• When Kings Depart: The Tragedy of Germany: Versailles and the German Revolution
London, 1969

Wohl, Robert
• The Generation of 1914
Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Mass., 1979.

Wheeler-Bennett, John W.
• The Nemesis of Power, The German Army in Politics 1918 - 1945
St. Martin’s Press, N.Y.C., 1954


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USAF1986
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#2

Post by USAF1986 » 13 Aug 2004, 01:11

A few more worthy additions:

• Thoms, Robert & Pochanke, Stefan. Handbuch zur Geschichte der deutschen Freikorps. MTM Verlag GmbH, Germany, 2001.

• Goltz, Rüdiger Graf von der. Meine Sendung in Finnland und im Baltikum. K.F. Koehler, Leipzig, Germany, 1920.

The first installment of Ramcke’s autobiography contains a chapter devoted to his service with Freikorps “von Brandis” in the Baltic, 1919 ("Baltikumkämpfer," pp. 124-146).

• Ramcke, Bernhard. Vom Schiffsjungen zum Fallschirmjägergeneral. Verlag die Wehrmacht, Berlin, Germany, 1943 (forward by Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring).

Best regards,
Shawn


Durand
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#3

Post by Durand » 13 Aug 2004, 14:36

Hallo,

Some additional entries you may wish to consider:

Large, David Clay. The Politics of Law and Order: A History of the Bavarian Einwohnerwehr, 1918-1921. (Transactions of the American Philosophical Society; v. 70, pt. 2, 1980)

Thoms, Robert. Der Sturm auf den Annaberg 1921 in historischen Dokumenten. Dokumenten zur Geschichte des deutschen Freikorps. 2001.

Venner, Dominique. Söldner ohne Sold: Die deutschen Freikorps, 1918-1923. 1984.

Also, the entry for Noskie should read Noske.

Best Regards,

Durand

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haldor
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Master Bibliography of the Freikorps

#4

Post by haldor » 17 Aug 2004, 02:20

And here are a couple more,

Hans J. Reichhardt, "Kapp-Putsch und Generalstreik März 1920 in Berlin." 1990 Landesarchiv Berlin.

Patrick Neuhaus, "Deutsche Freikorps 1918-1923."

walterkaschner
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#5

Post by walterkaschner » 24 Aug 2004, 08:57

Thanks to R.M. Schultz for his extremely helpful bibiography, and to Durand and Haldor for their respective additions. Wish I could find/afford items to fill up my library!

Regards, Kaschner

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freiwillige
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#6

Post by freiwillige » 20 Sep 2004, 15:11

I think you can add:

Wolley, Charles: GERMAN UNIFORMS, INSIGNIA & EQUIPMENT 1918-1923: Freikorps, Reichswehr, Vehicles, Weapons (Schiffer Books, 2002)


Ronden, Hans(editor): Deutsche Soldaten: Vom Frontheer und Freikorps über die Reichswehr zur neuen Wehrmacht (1935). A pictorial book on the style of the E. von Salomon "Das buch...."

Regards,

Ferran

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Robin Lumsden
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#7

Post by Robin Lumsden » 30 Sep 2004, 18:59

Here's one I got off ebay - a history of The Iron Division written in the 1930s by it's former commander, Major Josef Bischoff. The cover has the Iron Division Medal with skull. :D
Attachments
Iron Division Book.jpg
Iron Division Book.jpg (10.76 KiB) Viewed 15224 times

Ajax Pickering
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#8

Post by Ajax Pickering » 01 Sep 2005, 01:51

I just obtained a copy of Mit Ehrhardt durch Deutschland, by Rudolf Mann. (Trowitzsch & Sohn, 1921.)

Waite quotes from this book several times. You may recall Mann's assessment of the Kapp Putsch: "Everything would still have been all right," says Lieutenant Mann, "if we had just shot more people." (R.G.L. Waite, Vanguard of of Nazism, Norton 1969, page 161.)

Image

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EvSalomon
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#9

Post by EvSalomon » 26 Nov 2005, 14:35

Hi,

I would like to add the one or other reference, unfortunately all in german, sorry.

Markus J. Klein
Ernst von Salomon. Revolutionär ohne Utopie
ISBN: 392890616X
A Ph.D-thesis about E. v. Salomon from 1992 published in 2002,
sometimes not easy to read but very detailed, check out also http://www.ernst-von-salomon.de/


Manfred Freiherr von Killinger
Ernstes und Heiteres aus dem Putschleben
Published 1928, Berlin, Vormarsch-Verlag, memoires but frequently referenced, e.g. for what happened
with the 3 million cash box.


The book "Mit Ehrhardt durch Deutschland" is now available reprinted as No. 2 in the series
Quellentexte zur konservativen Revolution - die Nationalrevolutionäre.
(References to the conservative revolution - the nationalrevolutionists)
Toppenstedt, Uwe-Berg-Verlag, 2004

1. F.W. Heinz - Sprengstoff
2. Rudolf Mann - Mit Ehrhardt durch Deutschland
3. Ernst H. Posse - die politischen Kampfbünde Deutschlands
4. Hartmut Plaas - Wir klagen an! Nationalisten in den Kerkern der Bourgeoisie


And last but not least, the reprint of the book from

Hannsjoachim W. Koch
der deutsche Bürgerkrieg 1918-1923, Edition Antaios 2002.
I don't own the old one, so I am not sure if something was added or if it is just a reprint.



The other side:

Hans Spethmann
Die rote Armee an Rhein und Ruhr. Aus den Kapp-Tagen 1920
Published 1930, Berlin. Reimar Hobbing Verlag.,
Initially it was a chapter of a larger two volume publication about socialist strikes in the Ruhrgebiet
between the mid 1900s and 1930.


Erich Knauf
Ca ira! Reportage-Roman aus dem Kapp-Putsch
Published 1930, Berlin. Buchmeister-Verlag.,
a novel written from the point of view of a red army-member.

Best Regards,
Henrik

bob lembke
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A Note

#10

Post by bob lembke » 30 Jul 2006, 07:33

Hi;

Just a note. Mr Schultz included, in this very useful biography, the following:

Fischer, Ruth
• Stalin and German Communism
Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Mass., 1948
Note: this is the “official Communist” interpretation of these events.

In the early 1960's I took a course in the Soviet Union at Cornell University from a Professor Fischer. He was very knowledgeable, and the remarkable thing was that his father was an American Communist who lived in Moscow in the 1930's and was, supposedly, a close confidante of Stalin. Professor Fischer was born in Moscow, I understand. Certainly a good background for a student of the USSR.

I would guess that this Ruth Fischer was his mother, or possibly a sister. The basic name is common in the US, but the exact spelling "Fischer" is uncommon.

Bob Lembke

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Benoit Douville
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#11

Post by Benoit Douville » 27 Jan 2007, 23:17

I also highly recommend:

-National Identity and Weimar Republic Upper Silesia and the Eastern Border 1918-1922. T. Hunt Tooley.

Regards

annaberg1921
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#12

Post by annaberg1921 » 29 Nov 2007, 00:30

Greetings all,

I recently acquired the following 2 vol. set:

Die Mannschaft: Frontsoldaten erzahlen vom Front. Band I und II. Berlin, Wilhelm Limpert Verlag, 1936

Cheers

Jan-Hendrik
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Re: Master Bibliography of the Freikorps

#13

Post by Jan-Hendrik » 05 Apr 2008, 11:41

Hannsjoachim W. Koch
der deutsche Bürgerkrieg 1918-1923, Edition Antaios 2002.
I don't own the old one, so I am not sure if something was added or if it is just a reprint.
I thin the 2002-Edition is simply a paperback edition :wink:

Myself ist just waiting for

Dominique Venner Söldner ohne Sold. Die deutschen Freikorps 1918-1923

that I ordered this week...

Jan-Hendrik

beauregard61
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Re: Master Bibliography of the Freikorps

#14

Post by beauregard61 » 07 Jul 2008, 09:37

Niemöller, Martin, Vom U-Boot zur Kanzel, Berlin 1934
The late protestant opponent of the Nazis took part in the campaign against the red army of the Ruhr.

Pöppinghege, Rainer, Absage an die Republik. Das politische Verhalten der Studentenschaft der Westfälischen Wilhelms-Universität Münster 1918 - 1935, Münster 1994
Some pages of the book are dedicated to the "Akademische Wehr/Akademische Volkswehr Münster" and the "Technische Nothilfe".

Nicole S.
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Re: Master Bibliography of the Freikorps

#15

Post by Nicole S. » 12 Jul 2009, 09:16

From 1929 till 1944 the monthly gazetteer of all Freikorps formations was

Der Reiter gen Osten- Mitteilungsblatt des Bundes Schlageter e.V., Kameradschaftliche Vereinigung ehemaliger Baltikumer, Freikorps-, Grenzschutz-, Selbstschutz- und Ruhrkämpfer, sowie der Rhein- und Ruhrgefangenen

Horrido!

Nicole

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