Walter Caspari

Karl Georg Erwin Walter Caspari (26 July 1877 – 29 July 1962) was a German military officer, policeman, and leader of a Freikorps militia unit named after him.

Caspari was the son of Albrecht Caspari (1845–1927), a member of the Privy Council of Justice, and Teo Caspari, née Barckhausen. Born in Detmold in 1877, Caspari became a cadet of the Prussian Army after graduating high school in 1896, joining the Infanterie-Regiment von Wittich (3. Kurhessisches) Nr. 83 of the 22nd Division. Between 1900 and 1901 he served in the 5th East Asian Infantry Regiment, fighting in the Boxer Rebellion in China. In 1902, after returning to Germany, he joined the Infanterie-Regiment Bremen (1. Hanseatisches) Nr. 75. serving in the city of Bremen. During the First World War Caspari served first as a company commander, later commanding a battalion. Promoted to Major, he was awarded the Pour le Mérite, the Kingdom of Prussia's highest order of merit, on 21 April 1918, a few months prior to the war's end.

On 1 January 1919 he returned to Bremen, and participated in the emerging German Revolution of 1918–19. In January a workers' and soldiers' council was formed in Bremen, and soon after the Bremen Soviet Republic was declared. Many of the regiment's troops were sympathetic to the revolutionaries, and after some initial negotiations the regiment was allowed to retain their weapons, and participate in policing, as well as joining the council. Soon after, the troops forced armed workers to surrender their weapons. Despite this, the regiment was allowed to continue their participation, although Caspari was forced to relinquish his seat under pressure from the Communists.

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