and Saxony, and against Poles in Upper Silesia. He participated in the suppression of the German Revolution of 1918–19 with the Freikorps in multiple German cities in 1920 and 1921. Later, he commanded an armed formation of students which was set up by him under the Württemberg "Highway Watch". On Easter Sunday 1921, Dirlewanger commanded an armoured train that moved towards Sangerhausen, which had been occupied by the Communist Party of Germany militia group of Max Hoelz in one of their raids intended to inspire worker uprisings. An attack by Dirlewanger failed, and the enemy militiamen succeeded in cutting off his force. After the latter was reinforced by pro-government troops during the night, the Communists withdrew from the town. During this operation, Dirlewanger was grazed on the head by a gunshot. After the Nazi Party gained power, Dirlewanger was celebrated as the town's "liberator from the Red terrorists" and received its honorary citizenship in 1935. Between his militant forays, he studied at the Goethe University Frankfurt and in 1922 obtained a doctorate in political science. He wrote his doctoral thesis as an analysis and critique of the planned economy, titled: “Critique of the idea of a planned management of the economy." The following year, he joined the Nazi Party and its SA militia, and later also the SS. From 1928 to 1931 he was an executive director of a textile factory owned by a Jewish family in Erfurt where he renounced active service in the SA but financially donated to the SA, possibly obtaining the money by embezzling from his company. Dirlewanger held various jobs, which included working at a bank and a knitwear factory. In 1933 after the Nazi seizure of power, Dirlewanger was rewarded to become director of the Heilbronn employment agency, a strategic post for local-level Nazi leaders. Dirlewanger was repeatedly convicted for illegal arms possession and embezzlement. In 1934, he was convicted and sentenced to two years' imprisonment for "contributing to the delinquency of a minor with whom he was sexually involved", as well as the illegal use of a government vehicle and damaging said vehicle while under the influence of alcohol. Dirlewanger also lost his job, his doctor title and all military honours, and was expelled from the party. Soon after his release from the prison in Ludwigsburg, he was arrested again on similar charges for criminal recidivism. He was sent to the Welzheim concentration