The Weimar Republic

OCCUPATION OF THE RHINE AND RUHR

A communist outbreak in the industrial regions of the Ruhr had led Germany to ask permission to quell the disturbance by use of troops. The British had been inclined to grant the request, France however, had opposed it. The Germans took matters into their own hand, moved the Reichswehr into the demilitarized zone. The French immediately occupied Frankfurt and Darmstadt in retaliation. Under articles 42 and 43 of the Versailles Treaty' Germany was forbidden to maintain or assemble troops either permanently or temporarily in the demilitarized zone. When the Germans withdrew their troops from the Ruhr area, France began to evacuate Frankfurt and Darmstadt.

k-274

On January 11, 1923, France occupied the Ruhr area on the grounds that Germany had not fulfilled its extensive lumber obligations under the reparation agreement. The "passive resistance" declared by the German government soon led to heavy fighting, especially in the western parts of the country. In memory of fourteen men who lost their lives on March 31, 1923 in Essen, Goetz fashioned his medal K-297, the Rütlischwur. French soldiers on that day entered the Krupp Works in Essen to confiscate automobiles. The Krupp workers, by order of management, left their working places and gave no hand. The French platoon started to fire at the German workmen. Eleven dead Germans suddenly cover the factory yard, two more died in the hospital.1 The name of the medal furthered the symbolic meaning. (According to the legend of Wilhelm Tell, representatives of Uri, Schwyz, and Unter-walden had met in 1307 to swear the Rütli Oath, on which Swiss freedom was founded.) Thus Goetz linked the German longing for freedom with that of Switzerland.