Antimilitarist Apparatus

The Antimilitarist Apparatus - Department of Military Policy (German: Antimilitaristische Apparat - Abteilung Militärpolitik, AM-Apparat), also commonly known as the Antimilitarist Apparatus, was initially the secret intelligence organization of the Communist Party of Germany (KPD), established to prepare the communist movement for a violent revolution. After the onset of the German Civil War, the AM-Apparat was subordinated to the Council of People's Deputies and served a role similar to the Cheka. Its members are commonly referred to as "Apparatists", a name that has carried on to its successor, the People's Ministry of Internal Security.
== History ==
The AM-Apparat was established sometime in early 1919 by the Communist Party of Germany. Its structure was highly secretive and many party members were unaware of its existence. As a result, the AM-Apparat managed to avoid being infiltrated by spies of the Weimar government. It had no more than a hundred "official" members prior to the May Revolution, but nonetheless played a crucial role in setting the stage for the uprising. 
As the German Civil War began, the AM-Apparat was transformed to serve a purpose similar to the All-Russian Extraordinary Commission, more commonly known as the Cheka. It was subordinated to the revolutionary government of the Council of People's Deputies, under the Department of Military Policy. Hans Kippenberger, a young 21 year old war veteran that had distinguished himself as a revolutionary militant in Saxony, became the head of the Department of Military Policy and thus the AM-Apparat. The AM-Apparat was soon faced with multiple tasks, including organizing extrajudicial arrests of counterrevolutionaries, maintaining discipline within the Volksarmee, suppressing anti-communist rebellions, seizing and distributing foodstuffs, and recruiting dedicated revolutionaries to its ranks. 
To aid in this task, the Internal Defense Forces were formed as a wing of the AM-Apparat, which by November 1920 had grown to 40,000 members. Also formed was the Operation Reporting Apparatus (German: Betriebsberichterstattungs-Apparats or BB-Apparat), responsible for organizing regional detachments of the AM-Apparat and reporting important information to its leaders, and the Defense Apparatus (German: Abwehparparats), responsible for recruiting troops to the Internal Defence Forces.
The conclusion of the civil war saw the need for a restructuring of the AM-Apparat. The Internal Defense Forces were quickly reduced in size, then disbanded entirely in February 1922. With the establishment of a constitution in 1921 and the creation of the Congress of People's Deputies, the AM-Apparat was merged into the People's Ministry of Internal Security. The Internal Defence Forces were succeeded by the Red Guard.Category:German political organizations