Max Ferdinand Bahrfeldt (), ennobled as von Bahrfeldt in 1913 (6 February 1856 – 11 April 1936), was a royal Prussian General of the Infantry, a local historian, and a

numismatist A numismatist is a specialist, researcher, and/or well-informed collector of numismatics, numismatics/coins ("of coins"; from Late Latin , genitive of ). Numismatists can include collectors, specialist dealers, and scholar-researchers who use coi ...

of world renown. In the

anglophone The English-speaking world comprises the 88 countries and territories in which English is an official, administrative, or cultural language. In the early 2000s, between one and two billion people spoke English, making it the largest language ...

and

francophone The Francophonie or Francophone world is the whole body of people and organisations around the world who use the French language regularly for private or public purposes. The term was coined by Onésime Reclus in 1880 and became important a ...

world, however, he was also notorious as the alleged perpetrator of atrocities in

Charleroi Charleroi (, , ; ) is a city and a municipality of Wallonia, located in the province of Hainaut, Belgium. It is the largest city in both Hainaut and Wallonia. The city is situated in the valley of the Sambre, in the south-west of Belgium, not ...

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

, during the German invasion of 1914.

Early life

Bahrfeldt was born into a family from Prenzlau in the Uckermark. Joining the Corps of Cadets in 1869 he was made a Lieutenant in the 75th Infantry Regiment "Bremen" in 1873, stationed at Stade. Bahrfeldt had been interested in numismatics from his youth. He specialized in the coinage of the

Roman Republic The Roman Republic ( ) was the era of Ancient Rome, classical Roman civilisation beginning with Overthrow of the Roman monarchy, the overthrow of the Roman Kingdom (traditionally dated to 509 BC) and ending in 27 BC with the establis ...

and the coins of

Lower Saxony Lower Saxony is a States of Germany, German state (') in Northern Germany, northwestern Germany. It is the second-largest state by land area, with , and fourth-largest in population (8 million in 2021) among the 16 ' of the Germany, Federal Re ...

. Bahrfeldt commenced his numismatic researches while he was in the Army and he published his first numismatic essay in 1874. One year later he became co-editor of the ''Numismatisch-Sphragistischer Anzeiger. Zeitung für Münz-, Siegel-, und Wappenkunde'' (published in

Hannover Hanover ( ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the States of Germany, German state of Lower Saxony. Its population of 535,932 (2021) makes it the List of cities in Germany by population, 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-l ...

). 3 years later he was assigned to the post of Regimental

Adjutant Adjutant is a military appointment given to an Officer (armed forces), officer who assists the commanding officer with unit administration, mostly the management of “human resources” in an army unit. The term is used in French-speaking armed ...

. During this period he served as secretary for the local historical society and curated its coin collection. He also carried out excavations at the

Perleberg Perleberg (; North Brandenburgisch dialect, Margravian: ''Perlberg'') is the capital of the district of Prignitz, located in the northwest of the Germany, German state of Brandenburg. The town received German town law, city rights in 1239 and as of ...

site of the beaker people. On 14 October 1878 Bahrfeldt married in

Gotha Gotha () is the fifth-largest city in Thuringia, Germany, west of Erfurt and east of Eisenach with a population of 44,000. The city is the capital of the district of Gotha and was also a residence of the Ernestine Wettins from 1640 until the ...

Elisabeth (Ella) Mary Charlotte Samwer (8 October 1859, Gotha – 19 October 1954, Frankfurt/Main), the daughter of the jurist, professor of constitutional law and author Karl Friedrich Samwer (1819–1882), who was also a numismatist. In 1883 Bahrfeldt published in Vienna from Samwer's papers the ''History of the Older Roman Coinage from about 200 B.C.'' He followed this up with further publications about the coinage issued in the region between the

Elbe The Elbe ( ; ; or ''Elv''; Upper Sorbian, Upper and , ) is one of the major rivers of Central Europe. It rises in the Giant Mountains of the northern Czech Republic before traversing much of Bohemia (western half of the Czech Republic), then Ge ...

and the

Weser The Weser () is a river of Lower Saxony in north-west Germany. It begins at Hannoversch Münden through the confluence of the Werra and Fulda. It passes through the Hanseatic city of Bremen. Its mouth is further north against the ports o ...

. In 1879 Bahrfeldt published, based on the previous work of Wilhelm Heinrich Jobelmann and Wilhelm Wittpenning, a revised ''History of the City of Stade''. From 1882 to 1885 he studied at the

Prussian Staff College The Prussian Staff College, also Prussian War College () was the highest military facility of the Kingdom of Prussia to educate, train, and develop German General Staff, general staff officers. Location It originated with the ''Akademie für ...

. In 1911, Bahrfeldt was granted an

honorary doctorate An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or '' ad hon ...

by the philosophical faculty of the University of Giessen and from 1921 onwards was honorary professor for numismatics at the University of Halle-Wittenberg. He was awarded the medal of the Royal Numismatic Society in 1912.

Late military career

Bahrfeldt was promoted to

Oberst ''Oberst'' () is a senior field officer rank in several German language, German-speaking and Scandinavian countries, equivalent to Colonel. It is currently used by both the Army, ground and air forces of Austria, Germany, Switzerland, Denmark, a ...

in 1904, and to Generalmajor in 1908. He commanded the 37th Infantry Division from 1911 till 1913. Being promoted to Generalleutnant on 16 June 1913, Bahrfeldt was ennobled as a member of the Prussian hereditary nobility (as part of the twenty-fifth anniversary of the reign of Kaiser Wilhelm II) and was awarded the Order of the Red Eagle 2nd class with oakleaves and the Order of the Crown 2nd class. In August 1914, at the start of

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, Bahrfeldt was given command of the 19th Reserve Division, part of the X. Reserve Corps and the 2nd Army. He captured

on August 22, 1914, and imposed on them the Couillet Treaty. Accused by the Allies of atrocities at Charleroi, in 1925 he was condemned to death ''in absentia'' by a Belgian court. His division participated in the Battle of St. Quentin and the following Battle of the Marne. He fought in the First Battle of Champagne and in June 1915 he was given command of the 10th Reserve Division and promoted to General der Infanterie. He led his division into the

Battle of Verdun The Battle of Verdun ( ; ) was fought from 21 February to 18 December 1916 on the Western Front (World War I), Western Front in French Third Republic, France. The battle was the longest of the First World War and took place on the hills north ...

and was phased out of the Army in April 1916.

Later life

Bahrfeldt joined the Deutsche Vaterlandspartei upon its formation in 1917. In the

Weimar Republic The Weimar Republic, officially known as the German Reich, was the German Reich, German state from 1918 to 1933, during which it was a constitutional republic for the first time in history; hence it is also referred to, and unofficially proclai ...

, he was a member of the Monarchist Deutschnationale Volkspartei and it's

paramilitary A paramilitary is a military that is not a part of a country's official or legitimate armed forces. The Oxford English Dictionary traces the use of the term "paramilitary" as far back as 1934. Overview Though a paramilitary is, by definiti ...

Wing, '' Der Stahlhelm''. After the forced dissolution of the Stahlhelm after the creation of the

Third Reich Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a totalitarian dictat ...

, Bahrfeldt transferred to the reserve of the SA.University of Halle-Wittenber
"Max von Bahrfeldt,"
Catalogus Professorum. Max von Bahrfeldt died on 11 April 1936 in Halle. Bahrfeldt is acknowledged as one of the greatest, possibly the greatest, student of coinage of the

References

Literature

* ''Gothaisches Genealogisches Taschenbuch der Adeligen Häuser'', Part B 1941, page 18, Justus Perthes, Gotha 1941. * * Jürgen Bohmbach: ''Stader Stadtlexikon''. Stade: Stader Stadtsparkasse 1994

External links

Biography with a portrait

*
Literature in the online catalog
of the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin {{DEFAULTSORT:Bahrfeldt, Max Von 1856 births 1936 deaths People from Uckermark (district) Military personnel from the Province of Brandenburg German untitled nobility German National People's Party politicians Generals of Infantry (Prussia) German numismatists German Army generals of World War I German people convicted of war crimes Military personnel from Brandenburg Stahlhelm members People sentenced to death in absentia Rape of Belgium perpetrators