Paul Seiffert

Paul Seiffert joined the Prussian Army around 1877/78 and was promoted to second lieutenant in 1879. He served in the West Prussian Uhlan Regiment No. 1 in Militsch (now Milicz in Poland). In 1885, he was seconded to the Military Riding Institute in Hanover but remained officially with his former regiment. In 1889, he rose to first lieutenant and was later stationed in Ostrowo (now Ostrów Wielkopolski in Poland). In 1892, he returned to Militsch and was promoted to captain and commander of the 4th squadron in the following year. Meanwhile transferred in the same position to the 5th squadron, he alternated his location between Ostrowo and Militsch until 1898.

Seiffert took over the command of the 2nd Squadron of the 2nd Hanoverian Uhlan Regiment No. 14 in St. Avold in the then German Lorraine. In this capacity, he was promoted to major in 1903. Two years later, he returned to the Military Riding Institute as commander of the cavalry school. After just one year, he was appointed commander of the newly established officers’ riding school in Paderborn. In 1910, he resumed a military command the Magdeburg Cuirassier Regiment “von Seydlitz” No. 7 in the rank of lieutenant colonel. At the 1912 Olympics, Seiffert was registered for the dressage event but did not compete. Later that year, he went to Hanover again as commander of the officers’ riding school. Promoted to colonel, he was appointed head of the Military Riding Institute.

Mobilized for World War I, he became commander of the 13th Cavalry Brigade. With this brigade, he was deployed to the Western Front. In 1916, he was promoted to major general and assigned to the staff of the quartermaster general as his representative for equine affairs. During the war he was awarded numerous decorations including the Iron Cross 1st class.

After the war, he joined the provisional Reichswehr as a major general and returned to his position as commander of the cavalry school in 1919. He was promoted to lieutenant general in 1920 and held his position until he retired from active service in 1921. Holding the honorary rank of general of cavalry, he spent the rest of his life in the Taunus region. He died after a long illness. His wife since 1884, the Englishwoman Dolores Anna Amelia Geneviève Lloyd, died after just one year of marriage. They had one son.