It was occasionally used by stormtrooper units during the war. Also, the Prussian and Brunswick Hussars had it part of their official uniforms. Here's Field Marshal Mackensen in a ceremonial uniform:
"Our Struggle": What If Hitler Had Been a Communist?
- Thread starter The Red
- Start date
It was occasionally used by stormtrooper units during the war. Also, the Prussian and Brunswick Hussars had it part of their official uniforms. Here's Field Marshal Mackensen in a ceremonial uniform:
So they're the baddies, then, pure Aryan skull shape be damned.Quite a lot of the vehicles used by Freikorps units seem to have this emblem.
It's odd how, strictly speaking, that is the correct answer.
Oh, we have make the giant fucking steel cannon death machine on tracks scarier by also dressing up like pirates.
Sorry for the silence this week guys, I've been struggling with some computer issues which have inhibited my ability to write large updates. These have now been largely resolved so there should be at least a few updates in the next week.
Thanks for your patience and I hope you all have a nice weekend.
Thanks for your patience and I hope you all have a nice weekend.
Chapter XV
"Man," said the Ghost, "if man you be in heart, not adamant, forbear that wicked cant until you have discovered What the surplus is, and Where it is. Will you decide what men shall live, what men shall die? It may be, that in the sight of Heaven, you are more worthless and less fit to live than millions like this poor man's child. Oh God! to hear the Insect on the leaf pronouncing on the too much life among his hungry brothers in the dust!"
~ Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol
Though the Spartacists were in high spirits going into their clash with the Freikorps they were largely made up of civilians who lacked adequate weapons and training. The Freikorps on the other hand were both heavily armed and comprised entirely of veterans. Though the revolutionaries fought bravely there was little doubt in the inevitable outcome of the battle and within a short time of the Freikorps entering the city the revolt was crushed. Liebknecht and Luxemburg were shot without trial prior to their bodies being unceremoniously thrown into the Landwehr canal.~ Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol
Even with order nominally restored in the capital, the provisional government no longer felt it safe to be the birthplace of their new republic. The city of Weimar would have that honour not only out of the virtue of boasting some of Germany’s greatest historical artists but also because it was securely in government hands.
It was hoped that new elections would ensure future stability, and though the capital still bore the visible scars of revolution Berlin went to the polls alongside the rest of the country to elect a constitutional assembly that would temporarily act as the Reichstag until the new republic was formally established. This first election was a disaster for the far-left, though the resulting chaos in Bavaria cannot be entirely ascribed to the communists feeling that liberal democracy wasn’t working for them.
The traditionally conservative region had been run by Kurt Eisner and his far-left colleagues in the Independent Social Democrats (USPD) since November. Eisner had not been elected, he had asserted himself as being that man in charge when revolutionary activity had swept Germany and the Bavarian establishment had been willing to accept his leadership in exchange for a peaceful regime. Eisner’s time as Prime Minister had promised great things but was largely uneventful, alienating many on the left whilst the right remained greatly suspicious of the socialist politician. Some radical right-wingers suspected that Eisner was taking his orders from Russia and developed plans to remove him forcefully. No conspiracy has ever been conclusively proven but Eisner’s eventual assassins were well known for their anti-socialist and extreme nationalist views.
Ironically for the right, their caricature of Eisner as a chaos inducing communist had no basis in reality though in assassinating him they provoked the forces they were attempting to silence. Eisner had kept the peace throughout his tenure but his death would spark a far more potent revolutionary force that would be Adolf Hitler’s first taste of revolutionary action.
Though largely under Eisner’s control, Bavaria had taken part in the assembly elections that would unofficially be the first in the Weimar Republic’s history. Despite their incumbency, the USPD were hammered coming far behind their more moderate conservative and social democratic opponents. In another feat of irony, Eisner had no intention of ignoring the result and was actually on his way to officially resign from power when he was gunned down in the by right-wing radicals. In trying to remove socialism from Bavaria they had only convinced many that the communist’s revolutionary agenda was the only true democracy available to the region.
Eisner’s murder would turn out to be the opening shots of the Bavarian revolution.
Geoffrey Corbett, Hitler's First Revolution
---
Peter hadn’t been enjoying school recently, it seemed that the teachers didn’t seem to know anything more than he did all of a sudden.Maths hadn’t changed much but history and even religious studies had taken on a sombre note all of a sudden. It had been made clear that the Kaiser was gone and that had scared him at the time, now he was just confused and it seemed almost everyone else was as well. All except his mother, who had kept up her cheery demeanour in spite of everything seeming to change around his family.
Today however, as she came to pick him up, he noticed that same look of fear in her face that the headmaster had had when he informed the school assembly that the war was over. As they walked back home she didn’t speak and neither did he, even though he wanted to complain that she was grasping his hand too tightly. He feared she was angry with him, even amongst the red banners everywhere that made him hope there was a fair in town. As they came closer to the house he began to realise why she was anxious.
The men standing outside were individuals Peter had never seen before though by his mother’s attitude towards them he knew they meant nothing good. The fact his father wasn’t to be seen increased his alarm and he suddenly felt like he wanted to cry.
Peter held back the tears alongside his wish to tell his mother that he really didn’t want to go closer to these men but he remained silent all the same. He could see that she was scared too and didn’t wish to worry her further though it seemed as if she had sensed it regardless.
Before they went in she knelt down in the courtyard and spoke to him face to face, she told him that Munich had been taken over by bad men and that whilst they would be gone soon he must stay close to his mother and father at all times and try to act as if everything was normal. He held his mother’s hand tightly as they walked past the odd soldiers at the door. How could they be bad men if they were wearing German uniforms? Could it have been something to do with the red armbands they were all wearing? It wasn’t long before Peter found out.
There was a great deal of noise and clutter in the house, as if the Christmas decorations were being packed up all over again, except none of the household staff where to be seen. Instead it seemed as if the house was full of vagrants, the sort of people his mother and father would pull him away from when they would go walking in Munich. He had been warned that they were dangerous but they seemed well behaved enough, albeit with several more of the soldiers watching them as they moved his family’s chairs and tables about the house. Amidst this confusion he could smell a rich soup wafting out from the living room, where his father and another one of the soldiers now emerged. His father’s face was red, like when he raised his voice but he looked more distressed than angry. His eyes opened wider upon seeing Peter and he ran over to hug his son.
“Don’t worry Peter, everything’s going to be alright, these people are just going to be here for a little while and-“
“What a fine young lad you have Herr Klompf!” The odd soldier who had been next to his father interrupted him and knelt down to speak to Peter. The man was smiling yet there was something in his eyes that didn’t match happiness. They seemed full of rage despite his perfectly calm demeanour.
“You must be very excited to meet all your new friends my young comrade!” Before Peter could ask what he might meant his father put a hand on his shoulder, his mother held both of them close.
“We haven’t had a chance to tell him yet.” The solider looked up at his father but continued to kneel and quickly looked back to Peter with that same odd smile. As he introduced himself as “Comrade Adolf” Peter realised how terrible the man’s breath was but he worried about how this odd man might take that so kept silent as the man told him about how he’d be sharing his house with a lot of people who didn’t have houses to make sure that everyone was looked after.
Peter wasn’t sure what to say, he had been taught in school that Christian’s must always think about other people and share things with those who didn’t have anything but now he was scared. A lot of the people around him were bigger than him and he was worried that if he shared his toys then he wouldn’t get them back. He tried to ask the man if he would be allowed to keep some of his toys for himself but could only whimper. Soon he was in tears with his mother consoling him. The man called Adolf walked away.
He didn’t seem to care.
---
The scene pictured above is Scrooge being directed to his future by The Ghost of Christmas Yet To Come from 1951's Scrooge.
AFAIK the Freikorps were a group of individual units with no common leadership, so it would very much depend on the unit commander. It's probably a safe bet that most of them weren't rosy though.