The Freikorps Oberland ("Highlands Free Corps"; also Bund Oberland or Kameradschaft Freikorps und Bund Oberland) was a voluntary paramilitary organization that, in the early years of the Weimar Republic, fought against communist and Polish insurgents. It was successful in the 1921 Battle of Annaberg and became the core of the Sturmabteilung (SA) in Bavaria while several members later turned against the Nazis.
The group was founded in April 1919 by Rudolf von Sebottendorf, president of the Thule Society. The cabinet of Johannes Hoffmann (SPD) had fled from the Bavarian Soviet Republic to Bamberg. Major Albert Ritter von Beckh (1870–1958) then assumed military control. Most of the volunteers came from Bavaria, and therefore the symbol of the Edelweiß was chosen. Its direct precursor was the "Kampfbund" within the Thule Society, which also was against the Bavarian Soviet Republic.
In May 1919 the Freikorps Oberland fought against the Bavarian Soviet Republic. Elements of the Freikorps, combined with Freikorps Epp became the Reichswehr Brigade 21, which in 1920 fought in the Ruhr uprising. The Freikorps itself was dissolved on 21 October 1919. and all the members went to Organization Escherich.
In the Silesian Uprisings of 1921 the Freikorps was ready and participated in the conquest of the eponymous hill in Annaberg in Upper Silesia. The Freikorps also had a propaganda unit in Upper Silesia. It is believed to have ordered Feme murders and kidnappings.[1] It had close connections with radical right-wing organizations in Bavaria. The murderers of Matthias Erzberger, Heinrich Tillessen and Heinrich Schulz did not only belong to Organization Consul, but also to "Arbeitsgemeinschaft Oberland".(Committee Oberland).[2] Some members of Oberland were possibly involved with the murder of USPD politician Karl Gareis (1889–1921).[3]
In summer 1922 the Bund became separated because of the question of whether Bund Oberland should be integrated into Bund Bayern und Reich. The civil wing formed Bund Treu Oberland, later Blücherbund. The military wing was led by veterinarian Friedrich Weber.
In 1922 the Bund Oberland had a few hundred members.By November 1923 there were around 2000 members in Bavaria. Amongst them were many students, employees, members of free professions, and also some workers. Most of the military leaders were young former officers, who were studying. Most of the members were between 20 and 30 years old and had the experience of fighting either in the World War I or in the fights in Bavaria, the Ruhr area, or in Upper Silesia. They had enough weapons, although many were stored and maintained by the Reichswehr. The Bund may have been supported by the father-in-law of Friedrich Weber, national publisher Julius Friedrich Lehmann.[4]
Under the guidance of Weber, Bund Oberland approached continuously to the radical people under Adolf Hitler and Ernst Röhm. Together with the "Wehrverband Reichsflagge" and the SA the Bund formed the "Arbeitsgemeinschaft vaterländischer Kampfverbände" in January 1923 . In September 1923 they joined with the Nazi Party and other national organizations to form the "Deutscher Kampfbund". From 25 September 1923, the Kampfbund was guided by Adolf Hitler.
On 8 November 1923 the Bund activated many members and participated actively in the Hitlerputsch. Members of the Bund, led by Ludwig Oestreicher took Jewish people as hostages.
Because of his participation in the coup attempt the Bund Oberland e. V. was banned in Bavaria and, by the end of 1923, across Germany.[5] Gustav Ritter von Kahr dissolved the Bund Oberland on 9 November 1923. Weber was sent to prison the same day and later accused in the Hitler-Process and sentenced to five years in prison. Former members of the Bund worked with extreme-right terror organization Organisation Consul. On 9. January 1924 they killed separatist leader Franz Josef Heinz in the French-occupied Palatinate.[6]
After the end of the ban, the Bund was re-established in February 1925. By 1930 there were differences within the organization because the strong Austrian branch accepted the leadership of Austrofascist Ernst Rüdiger Starhemberg, whose specifically Austrian brand of fascism was in marked contradiction to the Pan-Germanism of Hitler and the Nazis.
After the War, in 1951, the old fighters gathered around Ernst Horadam and founded the still-existing traditional community Kameradschaft Freikorps und Bund Oberland. Some authors regard this as an extreme right organization.[7] As late as 2006, a church service took place in Schliersee to commemorate the members of the Freikorps killed in 1921. According to a statement of the president of Landsmannschaft Schlesien the event was regularly monitored by the State Office for the Protection of the Constitution.[8] The commemorate became much smaller after 2007.