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Weimar paramilitary groups
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== Citizens' Defense == {{Main|Citizens' Defense}} [[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 146-2008-0333, Königsplatz, Festakt der Einwohnerwehren.jpg|thumb|314x314px|Celebration in 1920 of the Citizens' Defense forces at Munich's [[Königsplatz, Munich|Königsplatz]]|left]] The [[Citizens' Defense]] paramilitary groups were voluntary, honorary associations based on part-time membership that performed self-protection tasks in local areas. They emerged in 1918 after the end of the First World War to ensure the maintenance of public order in cooperation with state authorities.<ref name=":4" /> After the [[Spartacist uprising]] in Berlin in January 1919, the [[Reichswehr Ministry]] instructed all general commands on 22 March 1919 to develop local militia groups into centrally controlled citizens' defense groups at the state level according to a uniform model. The newly created units were then to be directly subordinate to the [[Reichswehr]] leadership. In an emergency the citizens' defense forces were to serve as an army reserve.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Zeitschrift für Militärgeschichte. Volume 3 1964 |publisher=Deutscher Militärverlag |year=1964 |location=Berlin |page=33 |language=de |trans-title=Journal of Military History. Volume 3 1964}}</ref> Instead of becoming a pillar of support for the parliamentary system, some of the citizens' defense forces developed into anti-republican groups that were largely outside the control of the government and thus a threat to the Republic. As a result of the Allied disarmament requirements, the Citizens' Defense forces at Reich level were released from their military subordination and placed under the control of the individual state ministries. The Allies continued to regard them as a military reserve formation that was to be disbanded in accordance with the provisions of the Treaty of Versailles. After the failed Kapp Putsch, the Prussian minister of the Interior ordered the dissolution of the Citizens' Defense groups. His order was followed by the other states in the summer of 1920. Only [[Free State of Bavaria (Weimar Republic)|Bavaria]], where the groups had been most active, refused to disband its forces and kept them alive for another year.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Thoß |first=Bruno |date=25 January 2024 |title=Einwohnerwehren, 1919–1921 |url=https://www.historisches-lexikon-bayerns.de/Lexikon/Einwohnerwehren,_1919-1921 |access-date=20 July 2024 |website=Historisches Lexikon Bayerns |language=de}}</ref>
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