It was formed by members of the Marinebrigade Ehrhardt, a Freikorps unit which disbanded after the Kapp Putsch failed to overthrow the German Weimar Republic in March 1920. It was responsible for the assassinations of the Republic's Minister of Finance Matthias Erzberger on 26 August 1921 and German-Jewish Foreign Minister Walther Rathenau on 24 June 1922. In response to Rathenau's murder, the "Law for the Protection of the Republic" (Republikschutzgesetz) was enacted by the Reichstag, resulting in the banning of the O.C. on 21 July 1922.