Editing Freikorps (section)

==== Bavarian Soviet Republic ====
The [[Bavarian Soviet Republic]] was a short-lived and unrecognized socialist-communist state from 12 April – 3 May 1919 in Bavaria during the [[German Revolution of 1918–1919|German Revolution of 1918–19]]. Following a series of political revolts and takeovers from German socialists and then Russian-backed Bolsheviks, [[Gustav Noske|Noske]] responded from Berlin by sending various Freikorps brigades to Bavaria in late April totalling some 30,000 men.<ref name="Jones_2004_p151" /> The brigades included [[Hermann Ehrhardt|Hermann Ehrhardt's]] second Marine Brigade Freikorps, the [[Görlitz|Gorlitz]] Freikorps under Lieutenant Colonel Faupel, and two [[Swabia]]n divisions from [[Württemberg]] under General Haas and Major Hirl as well as the largest Freikorps in Bavaria commanded by Colonel [[Franz Ritter von Epp]].<ref name="Jones_2004_p151" />

While they were met with little Communist resistance, the Freikorps acted with particular brutality and violence under Noske's blessing and at the behest of Major Schulz, adjutant of the [[Lützow Free Corps|Lützow Freikorps]], who reminded his men that it "[was] a lot better to kill a few innocent people than to let one guilty person escape" and that there was no place in his ranks for those whose conscience bothered them.<ref name="Jones_2004_p151" /> On 5 May 1919, Lieutenant Georg Pölzing, one of Schulz's officers, travelled to the town of [[Ramersdorf-Perlach|Perlach]] outside of [[Munich]]. There, Pölzing chose a dozen alleged communist workers—none of whom were actually communists, but members of the [[Social Democratic Party of Germany|Social Democratic Party]]—and shot them on the spot.<ref name="Jones_2004_p151" /><ref name=":1">{{Cite web|date=2018-05-01|title=Freikorps "Free Corps" in Germany.|url=https://ww2gravestone.com/freikorps-free-corps-in-germany/|access-date=2021-12-08|website=WW2 Gravestone|language=en-US}}</ref> The following day, a Freikorps patrol led by Captain Alt-Sutterheim interrupted the meeting of a local Catholic club, the St Joseph Society, and chose twenty of the thirty members present to be shot, beaten, and bayoneted to death.<ref name="Jones_2004_p151" /> A memorial on Pfanzeltplatz in [[Munich]] commemorates the incident.<ref name=":12">{{Cite web |date=2018-05-01 |title=Freikorps "Free Corps" in Germany. |url=https://ww2gravestone.com/freikorps-free-corps-in-germany/ |access-date=2021-12-08 |website=WW2 Gravestone |language=en-US}}</ref> Historian [[Nigel Jones (historian)|Nigel Jones]] notes that as a result of the Freikorps' violence, Munich's undertakers were overwhelmed, resulting in bodies lying in the streets and decaying until mass graves were completed.<ref name="Jones_2004_p151" />