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85-688: The Organisation Consul (O.C.) grew out of the Marine Brigade Ehrhardt , a Freikorps unit that had been officially disbanded in 1920. Its namesake commander, Hermann Ehrhardt , formed the O.C. from the ranks of the Brigade after the failure of the 1920 Kapp Putsch , an attempted coup against the German national government in Berlin. His fighters formed the Association of Former Ehrhardt Officers which then became

170-434: A Viking ship sailing with a single man at the helm. At the bottom was an ornamented panel with the inscription "Wilhelmshaven" in fraktur script. Below it were two oak twigs consisting of three leaves with an acorn bound together with ribbons. After the brigade was disbanded, successor organizations continued to use the insignia in a modified form with the inscription "Wilhelmshaven" replaced by "Ehrhardt". As field insignia,

255-582: A coordinating body, which was seen as the prelude to the parliamentarization of Germany and accordingly interpreted by conservatives as the "beginning of the revolution". The Committee, with the help of Ebert's oratory, galvanized moderate opponents of the 'war party' and served to pacify the working class. On 9/10 July Bethmann Hollweg obtained a promise from the Crown Council and Emperor Wilhelm II that equal manhood suffrage would be introduced in Prussia after

340-518: A freelance writer. Erzberger joined the Centre Party and was first elected to the German Reichstag in 1903 for Biberach . By virtue of unusually varied political activities, he took a leading position in the parliamentary party. He became a specialist in colonial policy and financial policy, contributing to the financial reforms of 1909. In 1912, Erzberger became a member of the leadership of

425-437: A fundamental upheaval in German domestic politics. Parliament had become involved in matters of foreign policy and warfare that under the constitution were reserved for the emperor, the military leadership and the government. Erzberger emerged from the proceedings surrounding the peace resolution as Germany's most powerful deputy. His attempt to end the war with an amicable peace contributed to his great popularity, especially among

510-514: A memorandum in which he laid out his view on Germany's war aims, advocating the annexation of Belgium and parts of Lorraine , among other territories. By this stage he was secretary to the Reichstag's Military Affairs Committee, and the "right-hand man" of the Chancellor Theobald von Bethmann Hollweg . He was in charge of foreign propaganda, especially relating to Catholic groups, and set up

595-472: A question in the Reichstag on 3 March to General Wilhelm Groener on whether a memorandum had been prepared for the reform of the War Contracting System. Erzberger's political attempts at peace failed, but his public attack on the war effort and dissemination of information about the fragility of the German military created a climate in which the government found it increasingly difficult to maintain

680-521: A shoulder wound, while the second was deflected by the minister's watch chain." Although he was immediately apprehended, Hirschfeld was convicted "not of attempted murder but of 'dangerous bodily harm' [...] and sentenced to a mere eighteen months in prison, then paroled after four months on 'health grounds'". Erzberger was once more returned to the Reichstag (which replaced the National Assembly) at

765-489: A small fraction of the total free corps forces, which totaled around 30,000 men. The government issued a proclamation calling on Germany's unions to defeat the putsch by means of a general strike. It received massive support, and by 18 March the putsch had failed. After the coup collapsed, Vice Chancellor Eugen Schiffer built "golden bridges" for Lüttwitz, Ehrhardt and Kapp to persuade them to surrender peacefully. The new Reichswehr leader Hans von Seeckt spoke highly of

850-599: A song that became known as the Ehrhardt Song. It was sung wherever people wanted to demonstrate a nationalistic and anti-republican stance. Koster, John (2018). Hermann Ehrhardt, the man Hitler wasn’t . Idle Winter Press. ISBN 9781945687051 Matthias Erzberger Matthias Erzberger (20 September 1875 – 26 August 1921) was a politician of the Catholic Centre Party , member of the Reichstag and minister of finance of Germany from 1919 to 1920. Erzberger

935-513: A system of information gathering using the resources of the Holy See and of the Freemasons . Erzberger was also involved in some diplomatic missions. For example, he worked with Bernhard von Bülow in a failed attempt to keep Italy from entering the war in 1915. He wrote letters to leading military authorities, later published, with extravagant plans for German annexations. Seen as an opportunist, he

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1020-406: A total of 367 men. In the course of further growth and the formation of new units, it was transferred on 30 March 1919 to Jüterbog south of Berlin and divided into the 3rd and 4th Marine Regiments and a brigade staff. The 3rd Marine Regiment had six infantry companies, the first made up of deck officers, the second of engineer trainees, and the third of NCOs. The other companies were formed from

1105-505: A vote on the Reichstag peace resolution which embodied all the points he had made in his speech, calling for a peace without annexations or indemnities, freedom of the seas and international arbitration. The resolution passed 212 to 126. It received the support of Chancellor Michaelis, but when he spoke of supporting it in his inaugural address, he added the proviso "as I interpret it", which he then used as an excuse to ignore it. Erzberger nevertheless succeeded in his main purpose in proposing

1190-635: A while later the new Chancellor, the Social Democrat Friedrich Ebert , telegraphed Erzberger to authorize him to sign. As the head of the German delegation, he signed the armistice ending World War I at Compiègne on 11 November 1918 with the French representative, Marshal Foch. He made a short speech on the occasion, protesting the harshness of the terms, and concluded by saying that "a nation of seventy millions can suffer, but it cannot die." Foch ignored Erzberger's attempt to shake his hand and

1275-523: Is a secret organization. " The O.C. was financed by industrialists and enemies of the Weimar Republic in the bourgeoisie, nobility and military, who, like Erhardt, wanted to force a violent change in the political situation. On 26 August 1921 Matthias Erzberger , a Centre Party politician hated by the right wing as one of the signers of the armistice between Germany and the Allied Powers at

1360-645: Is not bullet-proof". These attacks climaxed in Erzberger's murder on 26 August 1921 in Bad Griesbach , a spa in the Black Forest ( Baden ), while he was out walking with his friend and Centre Party colleague Carl Diez. The pair were accosted in broad daylight by two men armed with revolvers who "fired shots at Erzberger's head and chest. Erzberger leaped down the slope by the road, but three further shots hit him in his lung, stomach, and leg. The murderers then ran down

1445-675: Is said to have replied, " Très bien " ("very well"). Returning to Berlin, Erzberger agreed to remain Chairman of the Armistice Commission, a difficult and humiliating task. He fell out with Ulrich von Brockdorff-Rantzau , first Foreign Minister of the Weimar Republic , in early 1919 for advocating the handing over of Karl Radek , the Bolshevik diplomat and agitator, to the Entente following

1530-576: The Grenzschutz Ost [Border Protection East]. signed by the head of the Naval Station North Sea, [Andreas] Michelsen . The advertisement was run repeatedly and later included the "prevention of internal unrest" as one of its purposes. It was mainly former members of the Imperial Navy who reported for the new force. On 17 February 1919 Ehrhardt received the order to assemble it under

1615-707: The Ehrhardt Brigade , was a Freikorps unit of the early Weimar Republic . It was formed on 17 February 1919 as the Second Marine Brigade from members of the former Imperial German Navy under the leadership of Hermann Ehrhardt . The brigade was used primarily in the suppression of the Bavarian Soviet Republic and the First Silesian Uprising , both in the first half of 1919. In March 1920, faced with its imminent disbanding by orders of

1700-552: The German National People's Party (the old conservatives), on whom he laid the responsibility for the war; the result was a personal dispute with the leader of the Nationalists, the war-time state secretary for the treasury, Karl Helfferich , who published a brochure titled " Fort mit Erzberger! " ("Get rid of Erzberger!"), and Erzberger was ultimately compelled to bring an action against Helfferich for slander. The case

1785-577: The Weimar Constitution came into force in August 1919, Erzberger remained in that position. He supported the Treaty of Versailles, as he saw no military or political alternatives. He was treated with particular contempt by the nationalist right wing as the man who had signed what was coming to be viewed as a humiliating and unnecessary surrender. However, he succeeded in pushing new taxation measures through

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1870-504: The ultra-nationalist death squad Organisation Consul . The assassins were former Imperial German Navy officers and members of the disbanded Marinebrigade Ehrhardt . Erzberger's assassins were later smuggled into Hungary and were prosecuted only after World War II. His funeral turned into a political rally, at which one of the speakers was Joseph Wirth . Erzberger is buried in the Catholic cemetery of Biberach an der Riss . Erzberger

1955-524: The "Erzberger reforms" that transferred supreme taxing authority from the states to the central government and redistributed the tax burden more towards the wealthy. Under attack for corruption from a member of the right-wing German National People's Party , he was forced by the Centre Party to resign in March 1920 but was elected to the Reichstag of the Weimar Republic later in the year. Both his role in ending

2040-714: The 1,000-man barracks" was later considered the Marine Brigade's birth. The Reich government then decided to raise volunteer troops in Wilhelmshaven to fight other soviet republics such as the one in Bremen that lasted until 4 February 1919. Wilhelmshaven was chosen because it was a former port of the Imperial Navy and full of soldiers, many of whom were opposed to radical leftist efforts to set up communist governments in Germany. On 13 February 1919 an advertisement appeared in

2125-474: The Allies, Marshal Ferdinand Foch , the chief Allied negotiator, was unwilling to make any concessions, with the exception of a slight extension of the time allotted to the German army to withdraw. Erzberger was unsure whether he should hold out for further changes in Germany's favour. On 10 November, Paul von Hindenburg himself telegraphed back that the armistice should be signed, with or without modifications, and

2210-658: The Marine Brigade wore the field gray uniform of the Imperial German Army , although the assault company all had crew uniforms without rank insignia. Attached to the collar of the field blouse was the Guard Star with anchor. From about February 1919 members of the Marine Brigade wore the badge of the Second Marine Brigade Wilhelmshaven as a special insignia on the left upper arm. The badge was made of silver tinplate and showed, within an egg-shaped rope,

2295-464: The National Assembly in March 1920. During the trial, Erzberger was wounded in an assassination attempt by a young army ensign named Oltwig von Hirschfeld as he left the court on 26 January 1920. Hirschfeld, "recently subjected to compulsory demobilisation and determined to 'deal with' the most prominent of the 'Versailles traitors'", fired two shots at Erzberger, the first of which "inflicted

2380-399: The National Assembly. In July 1919, Erzberger introduced what became known as "Erzberger finance reform". The reform pursued two goals. First, it was to give the German federal government supreme authority to tax and spend and thus end the dependence of the central government on the constituent states, as in the former German Empire. Second, Erzberger aimed for a significant redistribution of

2465-521: The O.C. had planned and carried out Erzberger's murder as an organization could not be sufficiently supported by the evidence. Some of the members were nevertheless charged with membership in a secret society. On 24 June 1922 members of the O.C. assassinated German Foreign Minister Walther Rathenau . One of those involved was Ernst von Salomon , who described his membership in the O.C. in his popularly successful autobiographical work The Questionnaire ( Der Fragebogen ), published in 1951. Members of

2550-681: The O.C. were also responsible for the attempted assassination of Philipp Scheidemann using prussic acid on 4 June 1922, and probably also for the murder of Karl Gareis  [ de ] , a member of the Bavarian parliament, on 9 June 1921. During the investigation of the Erzberger murder, the headquarters of the O.C. was raided. On the basis of the Law for the Protection of the Republic ( Gesetz zum Schutze der Republik ) enacted on 21 July 1922,

2635-826: The Organisation Consul was banned. The Viking League was founded as a successor organization. During the Nazi era , the members of the O.C. were assigned to the Schutzstaffel (SS). They were celebrated as "heroes of the national resistance" even though the O.C. had been in competition with the NSDAP. Ehrhardt clashed several times with Adolf Hitler in Munich in the 1920s, accusing him among other things of breaking his word. He fled to Austria in 1934 and died there in 1971. Marinebrigade Ehrhardt The Marinebrigade Ehrhardt , also known as

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2720-530: The Organisation Consul. The O.C. was a militarily organized cadre group whose members were recruited largely from former mostly front-line officers of the Imperial German Army , Imperial Navy and the Freikorps. The Reich government and Reichswehr leadership initially tolerated it, hoping to use it and similar associations to undermine the arms restrictions of the Treaty of Versailles . With liaison officers throughout

2805-456: The Reich, Joseph Wirth, who prepared a fresh scheme of taxation designed to impose new burdens upon capital and upon the prosperous landed interests in the summer of 1921. The denunciations of the conservative and national liberal press went beyond the ordinary limits of party polemics. The Tägliche Rundschau observed, in allusion to Erzberger's appearance, "he may be as round as a bullet, but he

2890-588: The Reich, the Organisation Consul could draw from a pool of an estimated 5,000 men. Eventually it came to have districts encompassing large areas of the nation . They were particularly active in Berlin, where many of their crimes were committed. One of the best known members was the Freikorps fighter and post-war author Ernst von Salomon . The average age of the members was between 20 and 30. They were motivated by anti-bourgeois sentiments, extreme nationalism, anti-Semitism and opposition to Marxism. Jews were excluded from participation, and every member had to affirm that he

2975-466: The Reichstag in Berlin. Erzberger also was the leader of the left-wing of the Centre Party with Joseph Wirth . At a Reich party committee meeting, he said that "Left is life, Right is death." Erzberger continued to be pursued by the relentless animosity of the reactionary parties, the conservatives and the national liberals of the German People's Party . This hostility, which amounted to a vendetta ,

3060-486: The Wilhelmshaven daily newspaper Die Republik of the Majority Social Democrats , the party that led the Reich government in Berlin. It contained in part the following: Call for the formation of a government brigade in Wilhelmshaven. The Reich government has given me the order to form a government brigade in Wilhelmshaven, which, directly subordinate to the government, will be at the government's disposal for

3145-526: The assault company and each battalion of the Marine Brigade flew the Imperial War Flag ( Reichskriegsflagge ). From about October 1919 members of the brigade adorned themselves with anti-Semitic markings, such as when they wore swastikas on their helmets returning from operations against the insurgents in Upper Silesia. Source: When the brigade was demobilized in 1920, one of its members composed

3230-518: The attempts to overthrow the Republic. On 27 January 1919, during the Revolution of 1918–1919 that broke out following Germany's defeat in World War I , communist putschists from Bremen and Wilhelmshaven captured important buildings in Wilhelmshaven and declared it a socialist council republic ( Räterepublik ). When the putschists encountered isolated resistance, they entrenched themselves in

3315-473: The belief that the war could be won. When, towards the end of the war, the German Navy mutinied at Kiel , the sailors informed their officers that what they wanted was "Erzberger", by then synonymous with "peace". On 3 October 1918, Erzberger entered the government of Prince Max von Baden as a state secretary (equivalent to a minister) without a specified portfolio. On 6 November 1918, a reluctant Erzberger

3400-460: The brigade at the time was about 1,500 men. The brigade's first deployment took it to Braunschweig on 17 April 1919, where it joined units of the Maercker Free Corps in preventing the attempt to establish a soviet republic there. After the defeat of the northern communist forces, the brigade marched to the industrial cities of central Germany to fight the local communist uprisings in

3485-476: The brigade's discipline in a daily order issued on 18 March and the next day assured Ehrhardt in writing of protection from arrest. Only then did the brigade march out of Berlin, singing and flying flags as it had when it marched in. When boos were raised from an unfriendly crowd at the Brandenburg Gate , they summarily fired machine guns into the crowd. Twelve dead and thirty seriously wounded were left on

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3570-400: The city's 1,000-man barracks. About 300 officers and professional soldiers of the former Imperial Navy , including Corvette Captain ( Korvettenkapitän ) Hermann Ehrhardt, then armed themselves and stormed the barracks using rifles and machine guns. In the morning of 28 January, the 400 putschists surrendered. The fighting had left a total of eight dead on both sides. The "storming of

3655-743: The collapse of the German Revolution . After the elections for the Weimar National Assembly in January 1919, Erzberger entered the government of the German Republic led by Philipp Scheidemann , again as minister without a specified portfolio, but responsible for matters relating to the armistice. When Scheidemann resigned over the harsh terms of Treaty of Versailles and a new government led by Gustav Bauer took over on 21 June 1919, Erzberger became finance minister and vice chancellor. After

3740-609: The course of thirty years. He attended the seminaries in Schwäbisch Hall and Bad Saulgau , where he graduated in 1894, and started a career as a primary school ( Volksschule ) teacher. While teaching, he also studied constitutional law and economics at Fribourg , Switzerland. Two years later, he became a journalist working for the Catholic Centre party's publication Deutsches Volksblatt in Stuttgart , where he also worked as

3825-460: The end of World War I, was murdered by Heinrich Schulz and Heinrich Tillessen near Bad Griesbach in the Black Forest. The police investigation quickly led to the perpetrators and finally to the Organisation Consul to which the two belonged. Following additional investigations, 34 members of the O.C. were arrested across Germany. Most of them had to be released soon after because the suspicion that

3910-460: The enlisted ranks. Also attached to the regiment was the Sturm-Kompanie (assault company) which was made up of officers, midshipmen, and cadets. In addition to six infantry companies, the 4th Marine Regiment had a machine gun company, an engineering company, and a battery of 7.7 centimeter field guns. After its transfer to Munich on 29 April 1919, the Second Marine Brigade Wilhelmshaven had

3995-409: The following organization: brigade staff; Marine Regiment 3 with 1st and 2nd battalions; Marine Regiment 4 with 1st and 2nd battalions; Wilhelmshaven company; assault company; mortar company with two medium and six light mortars; pioneer company; flamethrower platoon; 1st battery with four 7.7 centimeter field guns; and 2nd battery with four light field howitzers and 12 heavy machine guns. The strength of

4080-744: The formation of the Nazi Sturmabteilung (SA) when in 1921 O.C. Lieutenant Hans Ulrich Klintzsch took over the military leadership of the former Gymnastic and Sports Division of the Nazi Party (NSDAP). Julius Schreck and Joseph Berchtold , later Adolf Hitler's bodyguards, also came from its membership. In the Organisation Consul's mission statement it defined its spiritual aims as "the cultivation and dissemination of nationalist thinking; warfare against all anti-nationalists and internationalists; warfare against Jewry, social democracy and leftist radicalism; fomentation of internal unrest in order to attain

4165-459: The general election of June 1920, but in accordance with the wish of his party, he abstained from immediate participation in politics, as proceedings had been instituted against him on a charge of evading taxation. In 1920, he published a memorandum endeavouring to justify his position during the war, and he followed it up with disclosures regarding the attitude of the Holy See in 1917 and the mission of

4250-500: The government in Berlin, the Marine Brigade was one of the main supporters of the Kapp Putsch that tried to overthrow the Weimar Republic. After the putsch failed and the brigade was disbanded in May, many of the former members formed the secret Organisation Consul under Ehrhardt's leadership. Before it was banned in 1922, it carried out numerous assassinations and murders in a continuation of

4335-577: The leading exponent of their views in the Reichstag and on public platforms. On the other hand, he incurred the strong opposition of the conservative and landed section of the Catholics, some of the higher clergy such Cardinal Archbishop Felix von Hartmann of Cologne , and the Bavarian agricultural interests as represented by the Catholic Bavarian People's Party in the State Diet at Munich and in

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4420-517: The military or working in certain areas of the economy to be employed in a job vital to the war effort and, in return, recognized trade unions as equal negotiating partners with employers. Apart from Karl Liebknecht (a member of the Reichstag for the Social Democratic Party (SPD) until 1916), Erzberger was the only German politician who is known to have tried to stop the Armenian genocide ,

4505-444: The mistreatment and shooting of those arrested, illustrated the increasing independence of the Freikorps movement in the fight against revolutionaries. By the summer of 1919, Navy leadership was considering disbanding the Marine Brigade. In August 1919 it went to Upper Silesia where local free corps, reinforced by groups such as the Marine Brigade, easily repressed the First Silesian Uprising of local Poles against German control of

4590-546: The name "Second Marine Brigade Wilhelmshaven". The order allowed him to determine the political orientation of the members of his brigade. It was to be a mobile unit and deployed throughout the Reich in the event of insurrections. After 24 March the Marine Brigade Wilhelmshaven was subordinate to the Guard Cavalry Rifle Division . The brigade initially consisted of four infantry companies with

4675-686: The new Organisation Consul , which he led. It used murders and assassinations in its continued fight to overthrow the Weimar government until it was banned in 1922. Ehrhardt fled to Switzerland in 1934 because of the Nazi internal purge known as the Night of the Long Knives . Two years later he went to Austria where he ran the manorial estate near Lichtenau im Waldviertel . He died there in 1971 without having taken part in any further political or military activity.. Members of

4760-451: The organizers of the Freikorps in 1918 and 1919 and an ardent monarchist, appealed to Reich President Friedrich Ebert and Reich Armed Forces Minister Gustav Noske to stop the disbandment. When Ebert refused, Lüttwitz triggered the Kapp-Lüttwitz Putsch when he marched at the head of the Marine Brigade into Berlin. On the night of 12/13 March 1920, it occupied the government quarter of Berlin with from 2,000 to 6,000 men. It made up only

4845-471: The overthrow of the anti-nationalist Weimar Constitution ." Its material aims were "The organization of determined, nationalist-minded men . . . local shock troops for breaking up meetings of an anti-nationalist nature; maintenance of arms and the preservation of military ability; the education of youth in the use of arms . . . Only those men who have determination, who obey unconditionally and who are without scruples . . . will be accepted. . . . The organization

4930-414: The papal legate in Munich , Eugenio Pacelli (later Pope Pius XII ). Erzberger's power in German politics was based on his great influence with the Catholic working classes in the Rhineland , Westphalia , central Germany and Silesia . In the industrial regions of these districts, the Catholic workers were organized in their own trade unions on lines of very advanced social policy, and Erzberger became

5015-433: The parliamentary party. He supported a significant military build-up in Germany in the years 1912–13. In 1900, he married Paula Eberhard, daughter of a businessman, in Rottenburg am Neckar . They had three children (a son and two daughters). Like many others in his party, he initially supported Germany's involvement in World War I and was carried along by a wave of nationalistic enthusiasm. In September 1914, he wrote

5100-404: The pavement. The Ehrhardt Brigade was officially disbanded effective 31 May 1920. A large part of it was taken into the German Navy ( Reichsmarine ) as "reliable cadres"; many of the rest went underground in various organizations including the Union of Former Ehrhardt Officers, the Viking League ( Bund Wiking ) and the Sport Club Olympia. Ehrhardt brought many from the brigade into

5185-418: The persecution of the Greeks, and the Aramean genocide in the Ottoman Empire . He travelled to Constantinople in February 1916 for negotiations with the Young Turks rulers allied with Germany, met Enver Pasha and Talaat Pasha on 10 February 1916, and at their request prepared a memorandum on the measures to be taken in favour of Christians in Turkey. It explicitly referred only to Catholic Armenians and

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5270-419: The region. In November the brigade was transferred a camp near Berlin, and in March 1920 the German government issued orders for it to be disbanded. The order was consistent with the Treaty of Versailles , which limited the size of the Republic's army, the Reichswehr , to 100,000 soldiers. The brigade's leaders were determined to resist and appealed to Reichswehr General Walther von Lüttwitz . Lüttwitz, one of

5355-422: The region. From there it was transferred to Thuringia , where it was kept ready as part of a large contingent of government units to fight against the Bavarian Soviet Republic . The brigade's advance into Munich without command orders to do so led to fierce street fighting in which the combined government units crushed the workers' uprising. The Freikorps' brutal actions in the street battles, including looting and

5440-461: The resolution, namely to persuade the Social Democrats to continue voting for war loans while a negotiated peace was sought. At the same time, the annexationists, especially those of the nascent German Fatherland Party , began a "wild agitation" against Erzberger. The fact that he succeeded in creating a majority consisting of the Centre, the Progressive Party, and the Social Democrats is considered one of his greatest achievements, since this represented

5525-471: The right. The German tax code still bears Erzberger's imprint. He stabilized national finances, although they remained strained by the burden of war reparations . He also reformed and unified the previously independent state railway administrations into the German Reichsbahn , which began to make a profit for the first time and helped pay the war reparations. In his disputes with the political right, Erzberger set himself in particularly sharp opposition to

5610-432: The slope themselves and fired more shots at him. Diez was also hit in the chest, but was able to return, bleeding, to the hotel and relate what had happened." Because Erzberger signed the armistice of 1918, many on the political right regarded him as a traitor. Manfred von Killinger , a leading member of the Germanenorden , masterminded his killing by recruiting two members – Heinrich Tillessen and Heinrich Schulz – of

5695-455: The state of the war effort. The report also came into the possession of the Allies . Although it has never been proven that Erzberger was responsible, it led to the extreme right seeing him as a traitor to his country. In March 1918, Erzberger was the most influential supporter in government of the candidacy of Wilhelm, Duke of Urach for the proposed throne of the stillborn Kingdom of Lithuania . Both were Catholics from Württemberg. He tabled

5780-415: The suppression of the Third Polish Uprising which attempted to have the territory ceded to Poland. The strategic goal of the O.C. was to provoke the political left into an uprising, which they then wanted to put down together with the Reichswehr in order to use the position of power thus gained to crush the Weimar Republic and install a right-wing dictatorship. The organization played a significant role in

5865-418: The tax burden, lightening the burden on low- to moderate income households. In July 1919, war levies on income and wealth were introduced, as well as the first German inheritance tax. In December 1919, an additional a one-time "emergency" tax on wealth was levied, causing outrage among the better-off. In March 1920, a federal income tax followed. Its high tax rates made Erzberger even more unpopular with many on

5950-484: The underprivileged classes. On the other hand, he became the most hated man among large sections of the upper classes and in circles that did not want to renounce annexations and rejected demands for a change in Germany's social and political structure. That same July, at a closed conference in Frankfurt , Erzberger revealed the content of a pessimistic secret report from Austria-Hungary 's Foreign Minister, Count Ottokar Czernin , to Austrian Emperor Karl I regarding

6035-474: The war and his financial policies earned him the enmity of the political right. On 26 August 1921, he was assassinated by two members of the right-wing terrorist group Organisation Consul . He was born on 20 September 1875 in Buttenhausen (today part of Münsingen ) in the Kingdom of Württemberg , the son of Josef Erzberger (1847–1907), a tailor and postman, and his wife Katherina (née Flad; 1845–1916). In his early life he gained massive weight, which he lost in

6120-499: The war in a speech in the Reichstag on 6 July in which he called on the government to renounce territorial ambitions and conclude a negotiated end to the war. The speech was remarkable at the time in the way he carefully delineated the extent of German military weakness. That same day, leading deputies from the Majority Social Democrats (MSPD), the Centre, and the liberal Progressive People's Party agreed to form an Inter-Party Committee as

6205-519: The war to replace the Prussian three-class franchise which apportioned votes based on taxes paid. The promise became known to the public on 12 July. Erzberger's actions during the first half of July helped to bring about the fall of Bethmann Hollweg. He hoped to have him replaced by Bernhard von Bülow. Instead, Georg Michaelis , the largely unknown and party-unaffiliated nominee of General Erich Ludendorff , became chancellor. On 19 July Erzberger called

6290-653: The war with the Allies and was one of the signatories of the Armistice of 11 November 1918 . He was elected to the Weimar National Assembly in 1919 and served as minister of portfolio in Philipp Scheidemann 's cabinet . When Scheidemann resigned as minister president in protest over the terms of the Treaty of Versailles , Erzberger – who supported the treaty because he saw no alternative to it – became finance minister and vice-chancellor under Gustav Bauer . He pushed through

6375-465: Was appointed chairman of the Armistice Commission sent to negotiate with the Allies in the Forest of Compiègne . Prince Max supposed that Erzberger, as a Catholic civilian, would be more acceptable to the allies than a Prussian military officer; in addition, he believed that Erzberger's reputation as a man of peace was unassailable. Against hopes that Erzberger would be able to obtain better conditions from

6460-525: Was based not so much upon Erzberger's foreign policy – his negotiation of the Armistice terms and the decisive influence which he exercised in securing the acceptance of the Treaty of Versailles – as upon his financial policies. He was suspect for his activities as finance minister in 1919, as the supporter of liberal Catholic trade unions and, it was said, as political adviser of the Catholic Chancellor of

6545-475: Was first elected to the Reichstag of the German Empire in 1903. During the early years of World War I he supported Germany's position enthusiastically but later became a leading opponent of unrestricted submarine warfare and proposed the successful 1917 Reichstag peace resolution , which called for a negotiated peace without annexations. In November 1918 he headed the German delegation to negotiate an end to

6630-498: Was heard in a Berlin court from 19 January to 12 March 1920. The action resulted in a small fine for Helfferich (German law did not make provision for any damages or penalties for slander). The court, however, in its judgment of 12 March 1920, took the line that Helfferich's allegations regarding Erzberger's corrupt business practices and untruthful statements were partly justified. Erzberger was consequently compelled by his party to resign his ministerial office and to give up his seat in

6715-524: Was instrumental in preparing the German nation for peace and in ensuring that the Catholic Centre Party, the predecessor of today's Christian Democratic Union , retained a modicum of power in an increasingly radicalized Germany. His financial, federal, and rail reforms transformed Germany. Erzberger, with his optimism and sense of responsibility, never retreated even in the face of the most difficult tasks. In fact his greatest, and most tragic legacy,

6800-583: Was never answered or considered by the Ottoman government. The general failure of his mission in Turkey filled Erzberger with indignation and disappointment. By 1917, with the armies stalemated on both fronts, Erzberger changed his political stance, becoming one of the leading opponents of unrestricted submarine warfare . In April 1917 he met a Russian envoy in Stockholm to discuss peace terms. He expounded his views on

6885-493: Was of "German descent". The O.C.'s statutes listed their goal as "the fight against everything anti-national and international, Judaism, social democracy and radical left-wing parties". They also took part in the so-called " Feme murders " against anyone, even members of their own group, who they believed to have betrayed their cause. Their statutes stated that "traitors fall to the Feme". The O.C. operated out of Munich where its presence

6970-580: Was prevented by the organization's ban in 1922. It financed itself through illegal arms trafficking, including with the Irish Republican Army . The eponymous "consul" was Ehrhardt himself, who ran the organization in a tautly militarily manner. Through the O.C. he oversaw a network of other paramilitary organizations. Members of the O.C. took part in the 1920 referendum campaign that preceded the Upper Silesia plebiscite and, as Sturmkompanie Koppe , in

7055-580: Was said to have "no convictions, but only appetites". On 25, 27, and 28 November, Erzberger spoke on modernizing the administration. He won widespread socialist support for attempting through the Bundesrat to protect the civil rights of citizens. In December 1916 he successfully used the Budget Committee of the Reichstag to navigate the Auxiliary Services Act into law. It required all men not in

7140-564: Was tacitly tolerated or covered up by Munich police chief Ernst Pöhner . As a front, the organization created the Bavarian Wood Products Company headquartered in Munich. About 30 full-time employees worked there under the de facto leadership of Ehrhardt's chief of staff, Alfred Hoffmann. The O.C. had seven main districts (Hamburg, Hanover, Berlin, Frankfurt am Main, Dresden, Breslau and Tübingen), each with up to three sub-districts. The establishment of planned additional districts

7225-647: Was the signature on the Armistice. Despite military pressure on him to sign as soon as possible, this was pointed out for decades afterwards as evidence for the Dolchstoßlegende ( stab-in-the-back myth ), which portrayed the surrender as betrayal by the civilians on the home front , especially by Socialist politicians for personal gain, undermining the German Army's will to fight. Later the stab-in-the-back legend helped propel to power Adolf Hitler , who made it an integral part of Nazi propaganda. For his role, Erzberger

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