Bundesarchiv Bild 102-10194, Arthur Mahraun

Artur Mahraun (30 December 1890 – 29 March 1950) was the founder and leader of the

Young German Order The Young German Order (in German , often abbreviated as ) was a large para-military organisation in Weimar Germany. Its name and symbol (see picture) were inspired by the Teutonic Knights ( in German). The pseudo-chivalric group was involved i ...

(''Jungdeutscher Orden'' or Jungdo) and an early contender for the leadership of the far right youth in

Weimar Germany The Weimar Republic (german: link=no, Weimarer Republik ), officially named the German Reich, was the government of Germany from 1918 to 1933, during which it was a constitutional federal republic for the first time in history; hence it is als ...

. Born the son of a privy councillor in Kassel, Mahraun became a career soldier with the Prussian Army when he enlisted in the

Prussia Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an ...

n Infantry Regiment No. 83 in 1908.

Philip Rees Philip Rees (born 1941) is a British writer and librarian formerly in charge of acquisitions at the J. B. Morrell Library, University of York. He has written books on fascism and the extreme right. Works *''Fascism in Britain'' (Harvester Pres ...

, ''

Biographical Dictionary of the Extreme Right Since 1890 The ''Biographical Dictionary of the Extreme Right Since 1890'' is a reference book by Philip Rees, on leading people in the various far right movements since 1890. It contains entries for what the author regards as "the 500 major figures on the r ...

'', 1990, p. 247 He served with distinction on the Eastern Front during

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. Like many of his contemporaries he became involved in

Freikorps (, "Free Corps" or "Volunteer Corps") were irregular German and other European military volunteer units, or paramilitary, that existed from the 18th to the early 20th centuries. They effectively fought as mercenary or private armies, rega ...

activity after the Armistice, forming his own group, the ''Offizierkompagnie Kassel'' in January 1919. The group was restructured in May 1920 when the Jungdo was adopted and by 1921 Mahraun could call on 70,000 followers. A strong believer in law and order, he rejected revolutionary activity and instead called for Germany to reconcile with

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

and rebuild her prestige through Franco-German co-operation. At its peak Mahraun's movement, which sought a return to the

Wandervogel ''Wandervogel'' (plural: ''Wandervögel''; English: "Wandering Bird") is the name adopted by a popular movement of German youth groups from 1896 to 1933, who protested against industrialization by going to hike in the country and commune with n ...

spirit, could call on as many as 300,000 followers.Nigel Jones, ''The Birth of the Nazis: How the Freikorps Blazed a Trail for Hitler'', Constable & Robinson, 2004, p. 209 After meeting

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...

during the Beer Hall Putsch he quickly became a critic of the

Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...

leader. Mahraun entered the political arena in 1928 when he formed the

People's National Reich Association People's, branded as ''People's Viennaline'' until May 2018, and legally ''Altenrhein Luftfahrt GmbH'', is an Austrian airline headquartered in Vienna. It operates scheduled and charter passenger flights mainly from its base at St. Gallen-Alten ...

(''Völksnationale Reichsvereiningung'') as an electoral arm of his movement, merging it with the

German Democratic Party The German Democratic Party (, or DDP) was a center-left liberal party in the Weimar Republic. Along with the German People's Party (, or DVP), it represented political liberalism in Germany between 1918 and 1933. It was formed in 1918 from the ...

to form the

German State Party The German State Party (german: Deutsche Staatspartei or DStP) was a short-lived German political party of the Weimar Republic, formed by the merger of the German Democratic Party (Deutsche Demokratische Partei, DDP) with the People's National Rei ...

in 1930. However the move was not a success as the new party performed very poorly at election. Mahraun's party and Jungdo were banned in 1933 and he was for a time imprisoned by the

Gestapo The (), abbreviated Gestapo (; ), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of Prussia into one orga ...

. He was briefly associated with a group called the ''Nachbarschafts-Bewegung'' after the war until his death in

Gütersloh Gütersloh () is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, in the area of Westphalia and the administrative region of Detmold. Gütersloh is the administrative centre for a district of the same name and has a population of 100,194 peo ...

in 1950.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mahraun, Artur 1890 births 1950 deaths Politicians from Kassel People from Hesse-Nassau German State Party politicians Young German Order members Conservative Revolutionary movement Prussian Army personnel German Army personnel of World War I 20th-century Freikorps personnel