Walter Caspari (officer)

Karl Georg Erwin Walter Caspari (* 26. July 1877 in Detmold , † 29. July 1962 in Bremen ) was a German military and police officer and leader of a named after him volunteer corps , the instrumental in the defeat of the Bremer Soviet Republic involved and for years head of the Police in Bremen was.

Life

Walter was the son of the Privy Councilor of Justice Albrecht Caspari (1845–1927) and his wife Teo, née Barckhausen.

Caspari became a cadet , graduated from high school in 1896 and then joined the infantry regiment “von Wittich” (3rd Kurhessisches) No. 83 of the Prussian Army in Kassel as an ensign . From 1900 to 1901 he participated in the 5th East Asian Infantry Regiment in the suppression of the Boxer Rebellion in China. In 1902 he was transferred to the Infantry Regiment "Bremen" (1st Hanseatic) No. 75 in Bremen. In the First World War he took part as a company commander and as a battalion commander. In 1918 he was awarded the Order of Pour le Mérite and promoted to major .

On January 1, 1919, he returned to Bremen with the infantry regiment “Bremen” (1st Hanseatic) No. 75, where a workers 'and soldiers' council was founded and taken over as part of the November Revolution . An agreement was reached beforehand according to which the regiment would be included in the soldiers' council, keep its weapons and carry out police duties. When entering the designated quarters, the regiment was forced by armed workers to surrender their weapons. The corresponding negotiations were conducted by Caspari, among others. After the workers 'and soldiers' council allowed participation in the soldiers 'council despite the disarmament, Caspari had to give up his seat on the soldiers' council under pressure from the communists.

After the Reich Defense Units , the so-called "Division Gerstenberg", sent out by the Reich Government in Verden on January 29, 1919 , Caspari gathered around 600 volunteers as the " Freikorps Caspari" in Verden. Together with the Gerstenberg Division, the Freikorps attacked the Soviet Republic on February 4 and smashed it by evening.

After the suppression of the Soviet Republic, a "government protection force" with a strength of 1,400 men was formed from February 8, 1919, mainly from the Caspari Freikorps, government soldiers and volunteers. On November 1, 1919, parts of this protection force formed the security police and from September 1920 the protection police under Walter Caspari. In 1922 Caspari became head of the entire regulatory police in Bremen. In 1931, Walter Caspari was under discussion for the post of police senator if the NSDAP would participate in government . Nonetheless, when the National Socialists took power in Bremen on March 6, 1933, unconstitutionally, he refused to use the police on behalf of the National Socialists. On April 10, 1933, he had to say goodbye and was promoted to police general on this occasion. Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck criticized Caspari's deposition.

In World War II Caspari was as Colonel zV still commander of the Infantry Replacement Regiment 269 in Delmenhorst . On July 31, 1942, his mobilization provision was lifted.

After the war he lived in Bremen again.

The now closed Caspari barracks in Delmenhorst was named after Walter Caspari .

literature

• Kurt Heyser: Caspari, Karl Georg Erwin Walter. In: Historical Society Bremen, State Archive Bremen (Ed.): Bremische Biographie 1912–1962. Hauschild, Bremen 1969, p. 90 (column 2) to p. 92 (column 1).
• Herbert Black Forest : The Great Bremen Lexicon . Edition Temmen, Bremen 2001, ISBN 3-86108-616-6 .
• Dermot Bradley (ed.), Andreas Schulz , Günter Wegmann: The generals of the Waffen-SS and the police. The military careers of the generals, as well as the doctors, veterinarians, intendants, judges and ministerial officials with the rank of general. Volume 1: Abraham – Gutenberger. Biblio, Bissendorf 2003, ISBN 3-7648-2373-9 , pp. 183-184.