Gendarmerie of the Grand Duchy of Saxony

The gendarmerie of the Grand Duchy of Saxony formed the gendarmerie of the Grand Duchy of Saxony-Weimar-Eisenach from 1903 to 1918 . It was founded in 1847 as a military gendarmerie corps, and from 1867 it was probably one of the few German gendarmerie corps with purely civil status.

history

Corporal of the orderly hussars of the Grand Duchy of Saxony-Weimar around 1840. They were also used as gendarmerie. The uniforms were modeled on that of the Prussian Ziethen hussars

The gendarmerie was founded on December 1, 1847 as the gendarmerie corps of the then Grand Duchy of Saxony-Weimar. It probably lost its military character due to the military convention with the Kingdom of Prussia of February 22, 1867, when the military contingent of the Grand Duchy was annexed to the Prussian Army . Presumably since then it has been under the exclusive control of the civil authorities. Until the founding of the gendarmerie corps in 1847, a 24-man hussar detachment , which mainly provided orderly services, also performed gendarmerie service.

tasks

The main task of the gendarmerie was to support the lower police and administrative authorities in maintaining public order, peace and security, as well as the prevention and investigation of crimes and other criminal offenses. In addition, there was the monitoring of police regulations and the recording of reports. The local authorities were instructed to support the gendarmerie, on the other hand, the gendarmes were to cooperate closely with the authorities.

Structure and number of staff in 1909

The gendarmes were stationed in all five administrative districts of the Grand Duchy. The head of the gendarmerie was the secret government councilor Dr. Johannes Schmid-Burgk, who was a consultant at the State Ministry , Department of Foreign Affairs and Interior . He and the five gendarmerie superintendent were responsible for supervising the gendarmes. The official seat was the Princely House of Weimar in the Weimar Residence .

The strength of the gendarmerie in 1909 was exclusively that of the chief:

• 1 office policeman
• 5 mounted gendarmerie sergeants as leaders of each administrative district
• 12 mounted gendarmes
• 52 foot policemen
• 1 sergeant and 6 mounted orderlies .

THURINGIA

These were distributed over the five administrative districts of the Grand Duchy with a total of 64 gendarmerie stations, the vast majority of which were individual items due to the number of staff:

1. Weimar (including the seven orderlies)

2. Apolda

3. Eisenach

4. Dermbach

5. Neustadt an der Orla .

Armament and uniform

Nothing is known about the original uniforms and weapons. It is not known whether the gendarmes wore a uniform analogous to the orderly hussars (which is rather unlikely) or green skirts and gray trousers like the grand ducal infantry . In 1909 the gendarmes apparently wore a uniform based on the pattern of the Royal Prussian Land Gendarmerie . However, it could also be based on the green and gray uniform of the old federal contingent of the Grand Duchy. As far as is known, the orderlies continued to wear the hussar uniform, which was modified several times, based on the model of the Prussian Ziethen hussars .

resolution

With the abdication of Grand Duke Wilhelm Ernst on 9 November 1918. as part of the November Revolution , the organization was probably disbanded and its members in the police of the new Thuringia integrated. Details are not yet known (as of 2019).

See also

• Ducal Gotha Gendarmerie Corps
• Grand Ducal Oldenburg Gendarmerie Corps
• Princely Lippisches Gendarmeriekorps

literature

• Heinrich Ambros Eckert , Dietrich Monten: The German army. Based on the uniform work from the years 1835 to 1843. Harenberg, Dortmund 1990, ISBN 3-611-00132-5 , p. 143.
• Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach. In: Meyers Großes Konversations-Lexikon . 17th volume, 6th edition. Bibliographisches Institut, Leipzig / Vienna 1907, pp. 398–402.

Web links

• Information on the gendarmerie and further links at www.seitengewehr.de