Beschreibung:

A Collection of Thirty Eight Imperial German Photographic Printed Postcards Many Relating to the Berlin Coup of 1920 'Kapp Putsch', including images of the Freikorps in armoured vehicles, road-blocks, marches and gatherings The Kapp Putsch coup was planned by General Walther von Lüttwitz, fervent monarchist commander of the Berlin Reichswehr and organiser of Freikorps units in the wake of World War I, Wolfgang Kapp, a 62-year-old nationalist East Prussian civil servant, and retired general Erich Ludendorff who played an important role but kept in the background. The goal was to establish an authoritarian regime with a return to the federal structure of the Empire. Discussions about the coup had started as early as July 1919. In March 1920 orders were issued for the disbandment of the Marinebrigade Ehrhardt, a Freikorps of about 5,000-6,000 men. Its leaders were determined to resist dissolution and appealed to General von Lüttwitz for support, Lüttwitz responded by calling on President Ebert and Defence Minister Gustav Noske to stop the whole programme of troop reductions. When Ebert refused, Lüttwitz ordered the Marinebrigade Ehrhardt to march on Berlin and seize the main buildings of the capital, it occupied the capital on 13 March. Lüttwitz, therefore, was the driving force behind the 1920 putsch, even though its nominal leader was Kapp. (After the putsch Noske would name Kapp, Waldemar Pabst and Hermann Ehrhardt as being responsible, despite the support from much higher up in the army. At this point Noske called upon the regular army to suppress the putsch. He encountered a blank refusal. The Chef der Heeresleitung General Hans von Seeckt, one of the Reichswehr's senior commanders, spoke for many of his comrades when he said: "troops do not fire on troops. So, you perhaps intend, Herr Minister, that a battle be fought before the Brandenburger Tor between troops that have fought side by side against a common enemy? When Reichswehr fires on Reichswehr all comradeship within the officers' corps will have vanished". The government, forced to abandon Berlin, moved to Dresden, where they hoped to get support from Generalmajor Maercker. When they realized that Maercker did not want to take a clear stance they moved further to Stuttgart. Meanwhile, Kapp was declared Chancellor (Reichskanzler) by his troops and attempted to form a provisional government. Lüttwitz served as minister of defence. Several well-known conservatives and former secretaries of state were invited to assume government positions, but declined. International con-man Ignaz Trebitsch-Lincoln became Kapp's press censor. On March 13 the Cabinet issued a proclamation calling on Germany's workers to defeat the putsch by means of a general strike. The strike call received massive support among the working class. The unions, sympathetic to the government dominated by social democrats, joined the strike on the same day; the communists joined one day later. The ensuing struggles claimed numerous victims among workers all over the country. Adolf Hitler, who had been in contact with the instigators of the coup and was eager to help it along, flew into Berlin from Munich. He was met by striking workers at the airport and had to disguise himself. With the country paralysed, Kapp and Lüttwitz unable to govern, and the leading generals of the army - with the exception of Ludendorff - having informed Lüttwitz that his position and action were entirely irregular and that he must resign in the interests of the country, the putsch collapsed on March 17, only four days after it had begun. Kapp fled to Sweden and Lüttwitz to Hungary.