Career
By profession he was a forester. In 1919 he became head of the Bavarian Einwohnerwehren, anti-communist home guard groups set up by General Ludwig Maercker. The following year Escherich organised his supporters into the "Orgesch" (from "Organisation Escherich), an anti-Semitic paramilitary group.
This new group quickly established links with the Heimwehr in Austria and gave weapons to the units commanded by Richard Steidle and Walter Pfrimer.
The Orgesch was disarmed and disbanded on the orders of the Allies in 1921 as part of wider moves against the private armies that had sprouted up in Germany since the armistice.