A semi-autobiographical novel (original title: 'Die Geächteten') written by the German author Ernst von Salomon and first released in 1930. The plot is set during the first decade after the end of the First World War. The protagonist, an unnamed cadet at a Prussian military academy, witnesses the collapse of the German Empire and the creation of the Weimar Republic. Deeply impressed by the sight of battle-hardened veterans marching through his hometown, he decides to join the recently created Reichswehr – the armed forces of the new state. Pretty quickly he becomes disappointed with the Republican government and eventually deserts his unit with a small group of likely-minded comrades to join the Freikorps, the semi-legal paramilitary force which is fighting against the Bolsheviks in Latvia. Following the bitter fight and eventual defeat in the Baltic countries, he briefly returns home, but quickly he joins the Freikorps again, this time to repel the Polish insurgents trying to annex Upper Silesia – one of the eastern border provinces of Germany. When the Berlin government refuses to support the volunteer units, the embittered Freikorps soldiers turn to outright terrorist activities, assassinating French collaborators, separatists and, most importantly, Weimar government officials. For his direct involvement in the death of Minister Walther Rathenau, the protagonist receives a year-long prison sentence which allows him to recollect and process his experiences.
Written by a prominent member of the German Conservative Revolution movement, the novel presents a unique perspective, on the one hand presenting decidedly anti-Democratic and anti-Communist views, on the other hand often expressing author's disillusionment with reactionary conservative groups and segments of the society.
The book is not to be confused with the 2021 series of the same name.
Tropes used in this memoir:
- Ace Pilot: Captain Bertholt, the commander of the Bavarian battalion, served as a fighter pilot in WW1 with the ultimate score of 55 enemies shot down (this is the number mentioned in the book; in Real Life Bertholt had only 45 aerial victories).
- Adults Are Useless: When the teenage cadet tries to organise armed resistance against the November revolutionaries, he tries to gain help from people who he supposes to be natural enemies of the new order, like a certain retired officer. All he gets are kind words, empty praise, and eventually indifference.
- Cruel and Unusual Death: When the protagonist and his comrades are being taken away by the revolutionaries after their surrender in Harburg, they encounter the corpse of Lieutenant Bertholt stripped of his uniform, covered with knife cuts, and missing its head and one hand.
- Day of the Jackboot: This trope is used on a few different occasions. The November revolution depicted in the opening chapters is treated so by the more conservative Germans, including the main character. Then the Communists make an attempt to overthrow the government. Another attempt is made by the right-wing opposition during the Kapp putsch when a part of the official armed forces and some Freikorps try to establish a right-wing, military government. Finally, the protagonist hears rumours about the 1923 National Socialist coup in Munich and celebrates the event with scribbling a swastika on the wall of his cell.
- I Will Fight Some More Forever: The best way to describe attitude of those Freikorps soldiers who took part in the WW1. Some of them believe that the war hasn't finished and it is their duty to continue fighting for Germany. Others were simply molded into Blood Knights by the horrible experience of modern combat.
- A Father to His Men: Most of the Freikorps officers, especially Lieutenant Kay.
- Evil Laugh: During the night march in Harburg, the soldiers start singing a marching song and are immediately interrupted by hellish laughter coming from the single lit window in an entire house. The sound is so terrible that it doesn't seem to be a human voice anymore, but the demon of the city. Typically of him, the main hero has to fight down the urge to throw a bunch of explosives into the said window.
- The Horseshoe Effect: Although both German Communists and the Soviet Red Army are among the main enemies of the Freikorps, the protagonist cannot help sympathy and admiration for their attitude, if not for their ideology. After all, he and many of his comrades are revolutionaries themselves and therefore way more eager to respect other revolutionaries rather than a government which they perceive as weak and corrupt. During his imprisonment, the hero even befriends an activist of the German Communist Party.
- Nostalgia Filter: The conservative political groups and certain Freikorps fighters, especially officers, want to bring the good old German Empire back. The younger generation, including the hero, aims at a nationalist revolution and radical change of Germany, although in a different way than the moderate Left and the Communists.
- Humiliation Conga: This is how the narrative presents the fate of the defeated Germany which enters a period of internal strife after the armistice. Ultimately, this becomes the fate of the Freikorps too, as they are forced to leave their battlefields despite their fierce courage and self-sacrifice.
- Ragtag Bunch of Misfits: German troops fighting in Upper Silesia are described like this. Their units are formed from volunteers coming from every possible corner of Germany and even from abroad, like Sweden or Finland. Moreover, the soldier had various occupations before joining the Freikorps, from university students to jobless men.
- Rebellious Rebel: Following the November revolution, the Communist extremists attempt to overthrow the new Social-Democratic government, which is perceived by them as traitorous to the workers' cause, by starting a new revolution.
- Red Shirt Army: The Lithuanian and Polish soldiers from the German point of view.
- Refuge in Audacity: While he is traveling to Upper Silesia, the protagonist meets a group of forest academy students, led by their teachers as officers, who also plan to join the fight. They board the train with weapons hidden in their luggage and when asked by the train crew what is inside, they claim that they are carrying measure instruments to be used in the Silesian forests.
- Shot at Dawn: During the Latvian campaign, the hero witnesses the execution some of captured Bolshevik soldiers. Not much later, he barely evades being shot himself when he is briefly captured by the enemy.
- Song of Courage: An entire tenement house full of Communist workers sings 'The International' during a search conducted by government soldiers.
- There Is No Kill Like Overkill: The hitmen from Organisation Consul use machine pistols and hand grenades to assassinate a single man, most likely unarmed and accompanied only by his driver.
- Worthy Opponent: According to the narrative, the main reason for the assassination of Rathenau was his particular talent insight and political talent. These qualities could allow him to stabilise the inner situation in Germany and effectively make any attempt of a Nationalist, right-wing revolution hopeless.
