Freikorps Freikorps ( ) were German volunteer military or anti - communist paramilitary units . The term was originally applied to voluntary armies formed in German lands from the middle of the 18th century onwards . Between World War I and World War II the term was also used for the paramilitary organizations that arose during the Weimar Republic . An entire series of Freikorps awards also existed , mostly replaced in 1933 by the Honor Cross for World War I veterans . First Freikorps . The first " Freikorps " were recruited by Frederick II of Prussia in the 18th century during the Seven Years ' War . On July 15 , 1759 , Frederick II ordered the creation of a squadron of volunteer hussars to be attached to the Hussar Regiment No . 1 von Kleist . He entrusted the creation and command of this new unit to Colonel Friedrich Wilhelm von Kleist . This first squadron ( 80 men ) was raised in Dresden and consisted mainly of Hungarian deserters . This squadron was placed under the command of Lieutenant Johann Michael von Kovacs . At the end of 1759 , the first 4 squadrons of dragoons ( aka Horse - Grenadiers ) of the Freikorps were organised . They initially consisted of Prussian volunteers from Berlin , Magdeburg , Mecklenburg and Leipzig but later recruited deserters . The " Freikorps " were regarded as unreliable by regular armies , so they were mainly used as sentries and for minor duties . During the Napoleonic Wars , " Freikorps " were formed for the purpose of shaking off French rule in Germany . Those led by Ferdinand von Schill were decimated in the Battle of Stralsund ( 1809 ) ; many were killed in battle or executed at Napoleon ' s command in the aftermath . Later , Ludwig Adolf Wilhelm von Lützow , a survivor of Schill ' s " Freikorps " , formed the Lützow Free Corps , which took part in the German War of Liberation . The anti - Napoleonic " Freikorps " often operated behind French lines as a kind of commando or guerrilla force . Throughout the 19th century , these anti - Napoleonic " Freikorps " were greatly praised and glorified by German nationalists , and a heroic myth built up around their exploits . This myth was invoked , in considerably different circumstances , in the aftermath of Germany ' s defeat in World War I . Post - World War I . The meaning of the word " Freikorps " changed over time . After 1918 , the term was used for the paramilitary organizations that sprang up around Germany as soldiers returned in defeat from World War I . They were the key Weimar paramilitary groups active during that time . Many German veterans felt disconnected from civilian life , and joined a " Freikorps " in search of stability within a military structure . Others , angry at their sudden , apparently inexplicable defeat , joined up in an effort to put down communist uprisings or exact some form of revenge ( see stab - in - the - back legend ) . They received considerable support from Minister of Defense Gustav Noske , a member of the Social Democratic Party of Germany , who used them to crush the German Revolution of 1918 – 1919 and the Marxist Spartacist League and arrest Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg , who were killed on 15 January 1919 . They were also used to defeat the Bavarian Soviet Republic in May 1919 . On 5 May 1919 , 12 workers ( most of them members of the Social Democratic Party ) were arrested and killed by members of " Freikorps " Lützow in Perlach near Munich based on a tip from a local cleric saying they were communists . A memorial on Pfanzeltplatz in Munich today commemorates the incident . " Freikorps " also fought in the Baltic , Silesia , Poland and East Prussia after the end of World War I , including aviation combat , often with significant success . Anti - Slavic racism was present , although the ethnic cleansing ideology and anti - Semitism that would be expressed in later years was not developed yet . In Latvia Freikorps murdered 300 civilians in the town of Mitau that were suspected of having " Bolshevik sympathies " and after capture of Riga further 3000 people were killed , including summary executions of 50 - 60 prisoners daily . Though officially disbanded in 1920 , many " Freikorps " attempted , unsuccessfully , to overthrow the government in the Kapp Putsch in March 1920 . Their attack was halted when German citizens who were loyal to the state went on strike , cutting off many services and making daily life so problematic that the coup was called off . In 1920 , Adolf Hitler had just begun his political career as the leader of the tiny and as - yet - unknown Deutsche Arbeiterpartei / DAP German Workers Party , which was soon renamed the Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei / NSDAP ( National Socialist German Workers Party ) or Nazi Party in Munich . Numerous future members and leaders of the Nazi Party had served in the " Freikorps " , including Ernst Röhm , future head of the Sturmabteilung , or SA , Heinrich Himmler , future head of the Schutzstaffel , or SS , and Rudolf Höß , the future " Kommandant " of the Auschwitz concentration camp . Hermann Ehrhardt , founder and leader of Marinebrigade Ehrhardt , and his deputy Commander Eberhard Kautter , leaders of the " Viking League " , refused to help Hitler and Erich Ludendorff in their Beer Hall Putsch and conspired against them . Hitler viewed some of them as threats . A huge ceremony was arranged on November 9 , 1933 in which the " Freikorps " leaders symbolically presented their old battle flags to Hitler ' s SA and SS . It was a sign of allegiance to their new authority , the Nazi state . When Hitler ' s internal purge of the party , the Night of the Long Knives , came in 1934 , a large number of Freikorps leaders were targeted for killing or arrest , including Ehrhardt and Röhm . Historian Robert GL Waite claims that in Hitler ' s " Röhm Purge " speech to the " Reichstag " on July 13 , 1934 , he implied that the Freikorps were one of the groups of " pathological enemies of the state " .