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Max Ferdinand Bahrfeldt was born to a family from Prenzlau in the Uckermark on February 6, 1856. He was a Prussian General of the Infantry, a local historian, and a numismatist of world renown. But in the eyes of the Anglo-French alliance, he was notorious as the alleged perpetrator of atrocities in Charleroi, Belgium during the initial invasion of 1914.

THE YOUNG HISTORIAN

The young Bahrfeldt joined the Corps of Cadets in 1869. Four years later, he became a lieutenant in the 75th Infantry Regiment “Bremen” (stationed at Stade).

Bahrfeldt had been interested in numismatics from his youth. He specialized in the coinage of the Roman Republic and Lower Saxony. Bahrfeldt commenced his numismatic researches while he was in the German Army, and he published his first numismatic essay in 1874. A year later, he became co-editor of the Numismatisch-Sphragistischer Anzeiger Zeitung für Münz-, Siegel-, und Wappenkunde (published in Hannover).

In 1877, Bahrfeldt was assigned to the post of regimental adjutant. During that time, he served as secretary for the local historical society and curated its coin collection. Bahrfeldt also carried out excavations at the Perleberg site of the beaker people.

On October 14, 1878, Max Bahrfeldt married in Gotha Elisabeth (Ella) Mary Charlotte Samwer, the daughter of the jurist, professor of constitutional law, and author Karl Friedrich Samwer (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 and the Weser. Four years earlier, Bahrfeldt published a revised History of the City of Stade, which was based on the previous work of Wilhelm Heinrich Jobelmann and Wilhelm Wittpenning.

From 1882 to 1885, Bahrfeldt studied at the Prussian Staff College. In 1911, he was granted an honorary doctorate by the philosophical faculty of the University of Giessen. He was awarded the medal of the Royal Numismatic Society one year later.

THE WARRIOR

He also continued to expand his military portfolio. Bahrfeldt was first promoted to Oberst in 1904, then Generalmajor in 1908. For two years (from 1911 to 1913), he was in command of the 37th Infantry Division. Upon his promotion to Generalleutnant on June 16, 1913 (the twenty-fifth anniversary of the rise of Kaiser Wilhelm II), Bahrfeldt was ennobled as a member of the Prussian hereditary nobility. He was also awarded the Order of the Red Eagle, Second Class (with oak leaves) and the Order of the Crown, Second Class.

At the start of First World War, Bahrfeldt was given command of the 19th Reserve Division, which was part of the X Reserve Corps of the German Second Army. His men crossed the border into neutral Belgium on August 14, 1914. Eight days later, Bahrfeldt captured Charleroi. One week later, his division participated in the Battle of St. Quentin (Guise).

In early September 1914, Bahrfeldt’s men participated in the crucial Battle of the Marne, which resulted in a major defeat for the German Army. Three months later, his troops engaged the attacking Allied forces in the First Battle of Champagne. The inconclusive fight lasted three months, with no significant gains by either side.

In June 1915, Bahrfeldt was given command of the Tenth Reserve Division and promoted to General der Infanterie. He led his division in the opening phases of Operation Gericht (a.k.a. the Battle of Verdun) in February 1916. But two months later, Bahrfeldt was phased out of the Army altogether!

POST-WAR GUILT?

Bahrfeldt soon went into politics. He joined the Deutsche Vaterlandspartei (German Fatherland Party) upon its formation in 1917. In the post-war Weimar Republic, he was a member of the conservative Deutschnationale Volkspartei and Der Stahlhelm.

However, his past soon came into the spotlight. Bahrfeldt was accused by the Allies of atrocities committed by his men at Charleroi in the summer of 1914.

Bahrfeldt claimed it was the work of free shooters and partisans. He made the following statement:

“My division’s goal was the city of Charleroi, the headquarters of Belgian industry. With its surroundings it is similar to the large industrial towns in Westphalia, only Charleroi is much dirtier. The lower working population is a mixture of Walloons, Vlamen, German and foreign immigrants, influenced by the lower Catholic clergy, degenerated as a result of the lack of any social welfare, addicted to alcohol and consequently stunted, the Walloon easily excitable, insidious, a dangerous enemy in the rear of the army.”

During the invasion of Charleroi, a fierce battle broke out. The Germans were shot at from roofs, windows and cellar holes. After the city was surrendered, Bahrfeldt ordered the residents to pay a fine of ten million francs and to provide food and necessities of all kinds.

But Bahrfeldt refused to reconsider the incidents under the aspect of Article 2 of the Hague Land Warfare Regulations, which included the protection of the population in non-occupied areas:

“I did not shoot any resident or set houses on fire. The bandits who opposed us against all international law and weapon in hand were shot and only received their fair wages. The houses occupied by the free riflemen from which the shooting was fired were set on fire.”

Max von Bahrfeldt was not aware of any guilt and refused to accept responsibility… which he undoubtedly had as the commanding general. In 1925, he was sentenced to death in absentia by a Belgian court. Bahrfeldt, however, remained defiant:

“According to the above descriptions, where are my crimes that I am supposed to have committed and for which I was sentenced to death?”

In the end, the sentence was never carried out…

MORT NATURELLE

After the dissolution of the Stahlhelm during the Third Reich, Bahrfeldt transferred to the reserve of the SA, the Sturm Abteilung. But on April 11, 1936 in Halle an deer Saale, Max von Bahrfeldt died at the age of eighty.

Today, he is acknowledged as one of the greatest (possibly THE greatest) student of coinage of the Roman Republic.