Rudolf Berthold (March 24, 1891 in Ditterswind – March 15, 1920 in Harburg an der Elbe) was a German fighter pilot in World War I and leader of a Freikorps. When his Freikorps, which was involved in the Kapp Putsch, surrendered, his unit fired several times at a group of Harburg workers without prior notice. After that, Berthold was mauled by an angry crowd and shot dead.
The Kiel sailors’ uprising, the November Revolution that followed, the abdication of Kaiser Wilhelm II and the Armistice of Compiègne deeply shook Berthold, who was nationalist and loyal to the Kaiser. He rejected the democratic parties, in particular the left-wing groups and their representatives, as “street socialists”.
With the approval of the Reich government, Berthold then founded the “Franconian Farmers’ Detachment Eiserne Schar Berthold” based in Bad Kissingen. The Freikorps received equipment, food and pay from state funds. The “Eiserne Schar” was to be disbanded as early as September. Berthold withdrew from this and transferred the Freikorps to Konigsberg. Berthold incorporated his troops into the Western Russian Volunteer Army and took part with them in the Latvian War of Independence in the Baltic States. For this reason, Bertold’s Eiserne Schar was also counted among the “Baltikumer”.…
