Georg Escherich was a German

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 politician

Politician

A politician, political leader, or political figure is an individual who is involved in influencing public policy and decision making...

, representative of the Bavarian People's Party

Bavarian People's Party

The Bavarian People's Party was the Bavarian branch of the Centre Party, which broke off from the rest of the party in 1919 to pursue a more conservative, more Catholic, more Bavarian particularist course...

. By profession he was a forester

Forester

250px|thumb|right|Foresters of [[Southern University of Chile|UACh]] in the [[Valdivian forest]]s of San Pablo de Tregua, ChileA forester is a person who practices forestry, the science, art, and profession of managing forests. Foresters engage in a broad range of activities including timber...

.

In 1919 he became head of the Bavarian

Bavaria

Bavaria, formally the Free State of Bavaria is a state of Germany, located in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the largest state by area, forming almost 20% of the total land area of Germany...

 Einwohnerwehren, anti-communist home guard groups set up by General Ludwig Maercker

Ludwig Maercker

Georg Ludwig Rudolf Maercker was a German General of World War I.Following the Armistice of 1918 that saw the end of fighting and of the Bolshevik revolution that led to the creation of the Soviet Union, there were many examples of disturbances throughout Germany...

. The following year Escherich organised his supporters into the 'Orgesch' (from 'Organisation Escherich), an anti-Semitic paramilitary

Paramilitary

A paramilitary is a force whose function and organization are similar to those of a professional military, but which is not considered part of a state's formal armed forces....

 group. This new group quickly established links with the Heimwehr

Heimwehr

The Heimwehr or sometimes Heimatschutz were a Nationalist, initially paramilitary group operating within Austria during the 1920s and 1930s; they were similar in methods, organisation, and ideology to Germany's Freikorps...

 in Austria

Austria

Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...

 and gave weapons to the units commanded by Richard Steidle

Richard Steidle

Richard Steidle was an Austrian lawyer and the leader of the paramilitary Heimwehr in Tyrol...

 and Walter Pfrimer

Walter Pfrimer

Walter Pfrimer was an Austrian politician and leader of the Heimwehr in Styria...

. Escherich was a close ally of Rudolf Kanzler

Rudolf Kanzler

Rudolf Kanzler was a German surveyor and politician who was involved in the organisation of Freikorps units after World War I....

, the leader of 'Orka', who was also close to the Heimwehr.

The Orgesch was disarmed and disbanded on the orders of the Allies

Allies of World War I

The Entente Powers were the countries at war with the Central Powers during World War I. The members of the Triple Entente were the United Kingdom, France, and the Russian Empire; Italy entered the war on their side in 1915...

 in 1921 as part of wider moves against the private armies that had sprouted up in Germany since the armistice. He returned in 1928 by founding a Bavarian Heimatschutz

Heimatschutz

Heimatschutz is a German word which literally translated means, "homeland protection."In 1916, Austrian Max Dvorak's Katechismus der DenkmalpfIege appeared...

, a name also used by the Styrian Heimwehr of his ally Pfrimer, although this group was less significant due to the growth on the right

Right-wing politics

In politics, Right, right-wing and rightist generally refer to support for a hierarchical society justified on the basis of an appeal to natural law or tradition. To varying degrees, the Right rejects the egalitarian objectives of left-wing politics, claiming that the imposition of equality is...

 of militia such as the Sturmabteilung

Sturmabteilung

The Sturmabteilung functioned as a paramilitary organization of the National Socialist German Workers' Party . It played a key role in Adolf Hitler's rise to power in the 1920s and 1930s...

 and the Stahlhelm, Bund der Frontsoldaten

Stahlhelm, Bund der Frontsoldaten

The Stahlhelm, Bund der Frontsoldaten also known in short form as Der Stahlhelm was one of the many paramilitary organizations that arose after the defeat of World War I in the Weimar Republic...

, and was disbanded in 1933 when Adolf Hitler

Adolf Hitler

Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...

took power.