It's not exactly something that gets discussed much over German history.....but I'll give you a brief idea of their legendary status.
Once WW I closed out (November 1918), things fell into chaos around Germany. The Soviet groups were starting to wage civil war, and for a brief period of roughly five months....Germany was on the verge of collapse.
So in the period of March/April 1919....one of the key things to 'save' Germany was the Marinebrigade Ehrhardt (Freikorps). This was a group of militarily-trained German men (6,000 in number) that could be described as ultra-anti-communist. Hyped-up on ultra-nationalism? Absolutely.
After things stabilized in 1919...the Ehrhardt 'team' was more or less disbanded.
Roughly a year later....they come back into being. What you can say is that the Erhardt 'team' shifted around and became Organisation Consul (O C). Purpose? Well....this part is debatable and has various reasons given. My description is that they served as a secretive unit which was anti-left, anti-Jew, and anti-Weimar Republic. They saw themselves as protectors of the country.
For 1920, 1921, and 1922....the published views suggest they killed at least 350 individuals....which they deemed as a threat to Germany.
Justified murders? In a strange way, the O C folks created a court which reviewed charges and if execution was warranted....they sanctioned the business and passed judgement.
So, how did they come to an end?
They decided in the early summer period of 1922....that the Foreign Minister (Walther Rathenau, note: a Jew) was to be put on the execution list. He was killed on 24 June 1922.
Within days, a draft law was written up over the murder...referred to as the "Law for the Protection of the Republic."
In simple terms, the government banned the O C (beginning on 21 July 1922).
The question which I've often pondered....did the O C just dissolve away, or did they go into a evolutionary state....evolving into the Nazi Party?
If they had not disbanded O C? Well...I might suggest that the Weimar Republic would have folded up by 1925/1926, with massive chaos and revolution.
A five-star story for a movie? Absolutely....but no one over the years has ever taken the story to that level.
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