Grand Duchy of Baden Gendarmerie Corps
Until the military agreement with the Kingdom of Prussia on 25 November 1870, it was part of the Baden Army; thereafter it was exclusively subordinated to the Ministry of the Interior in Karlsruhe, where the headquarters of the Corps was located.
This had been preceded by the Grand Ducal edict of 3 October: The constant need to ensure diligent handling of public law and order and security in the interior of the state of Baden has therefore prompted us ... to set up our own armed, militarily organised corps called the "Gendarmerie Corps" and to taks it with the maintenance of public law, order and security within the state of Baden from 1 December 1829.On 31 December 1831, Louis's successor, Grand Duke Leopold, issued a Gendarmerie Act (Gesetz über die Gendarmerie) in which, inter alia, its relationship to civil and military authorities was clearly defined.
Section 20 expressly stated that civil authorities had no right whatsoever to use the gendarmes for errands or other irrelevant activities.
In joint operations with the Army, in the event of two commanders having the same rank, the Gendarmerie officers took precedence.
Similar to the six districts of Baden that existed in 1829, it was divided into six divisions when it was founded, which in turn consisted of several gendarmerie 'brigades'.
The prerequisite for joining the Corps in 1829 was at least six years of military service, impeccable leadership qualities and abilities of reading, writing and arithmetic.
In addition, there were black gaiters and, for the gendarmes, a shako with a white plume of horsehair, while the officers sported a bicorne.
The arms carried by the gendarmes initially consisted of a percussion rifle, a pistol and a sabre.
As far as is known, this was a Baden peculiarity, since in other German gendarmeries the gendarmes were either on foot or on horseback, but not formed into a special unit.
During the Baden Revolution and the Imperial Constitution Campaign of 1848/49, which had greater popular support in Baden and south-west Germany than in other parts of the German Confederation the Gendarmerie was temporarily on the verge of being dissolved because the revolutionaries regarded it as a monarchist instrument of rule.
At times, at least regionally, the service came to a complete standstill or the gendarmes behaved passively, even to instructions from the Corps Headquarters.
It had previously taken place in the four districts of Constance, Freiburg, Karlsruhe and Mannheim under the direction of so-called training constables (Lehrwachtmeistern).
The civilian trainer was senior instructor (Oberlehrer) Fischer from the municipal school in Karlsruhe.
In the course of the November Revolution of 1918, the Gendarmerie was temporarily dissolved and transformed into the state police force.
At that time, the head of the Gendarmerie was former public prosecutor and now Colonel Hermann Kuenzer who had been the commander of the Baden State Police.
On the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the founding of the Corps, a ceremony organized by the German Police Union for the state of Baden-Württemberg, took place on 1 December 1979 in the town hall at Merzhausen.
