What is this sleeve badge?

[torstenbel]

This is a photo of German WW1 pilot Rudolf Berthold. Does anyone know what the badge on his sleeve is? Cheers, Torsten.

[Destruction]

Freikorps, Eiserne Schar Berthold

[Destruction]

[torstenbel]

ok. thanks. so this is a postwar Freikorps photo of the man then. Cheers, Torsten.

[Brian L.]

ok. thanks. so this is a postwar Freikorps photo of the man then. Cheers, Torsten.

Yes. One of the few if only postwar photo of him shortly before he was strangled to death with his Pour le Merite ribbon by a mob of Spartacist rebels.

[pzrwest]

What was the reason for his being strangled by these rebels? just curious

[streptile]

What was the reason for his being strangled by these rebels? just curious

Probably because they were Communist thug scumbags. Just guessing.

[mchap]

Probably because they were Communist thug scumbags. Just guessing.

True

Apparently Berthold and his men had just been through heavy fighting with the Spartacists, and since they were outnumbered he surrendered.
The mob murdered him and some officers but allowed the rest to flee.

I believe Ernst von Solomon took part in this action, and obviously made it out.

[Brian L.]

True

Apparently Berthold and his men had just been through heavy fighting with the Spartacists, and since they were outnumbered he surrendered.
The mob murdered him and some officers but allowed the rest to flee.

I believe Ernst von Solomon took part in this action, and obviously made it out.

I made a mistake actually. I repeated the long-believed myth about the strangulation. Berthold was actually shot to death in the aftermath of the Kapp Putsch.

Here is what really happened according to Peter Kilduff in his book, Iron Man: Rudolf Berthold: Germany's Indomitable Fighter Ace of World War I.

"There is a widespread myth that Rudolf Berthold was throttled to death with the ribbon of his Pour le Merite as ligature. The truth is more prosaic and more brutal. Berthold doubled back through the school when the onlookers attacked. As he exited the back door his Pour le Merite was spotted. The hue and cry was sounded. A swarm of people overpowered Berthold. His handgun was taken from him and used to shoot him twice in the head and four times in the body as the mob mauled him. His paralyzed right arm was ripped from its socket. His face was stomped into bloody mush. His corpse was robbed of his decorations, overcoat, and shoes.
His body was later found lying in the street. His remains were taken to the Wandsbeke hospital, in a Hamburg suburb. Two of his old fliers, former Leutnants Tiedje and Lohmann, lived in Hamburg. When they heard of Berthold's death, they rushed to the hospital. They stayed with Berthold until his wife Franziska arrived from Berlin. Berthold's Pour le Merite, Iron Cross First Class, and Pilot's Badge were rescued from a garbage dump in Harburg before she arrived".

[mchap]

Interesting, thanks for posting the excerpt Brian.

Its not clear to me what was happening while he was fleeing out the back door.
Was the fighting still happening, or did the FK surrender and Berthold try to make a break for it knowing his fate should he fall into Communist hands?

[Brian L.]

Interesting, thanks for posting the excerpt Brian.

Its not clear to me what was happening while he was fleeing out the back door.
Was the fighting still happening, or did the FK surrender and Berthold try to make a break for it knowing his fate should he fall into Communist hands?

I actually don't think it was Spartacists per se, but just an angry mob of civilians who were wound up over the high death-toll among them due to Freikorps excesses. I believe in reading the account that Berthold was trying to make a dash for it out the rear as his Freikorps guys exited out the front under truce. But, the schoolhouse was surrounded and there was no escape. especially when the mob recognized him and knew he was the leader.
The savagery of his death shows the depths to which the Germans had sunk by 1920, given that only a couple of years earlier he was a national hero celebrated in the media.