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Sturmabteilung

Coordinates:48°08′38″N11°34′03″E/ 48.14389°N 11.56750°E/48.14389; 11.56750
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(Redirected fromBrown shirt)
For the assault detachments of the German Army during World War I, seeStormtroopers (Imperial Germany).For the youth groups, seeJungsturm (disambiguation).For other uses of stormtrooper, seeStormtrooper (disambiguation).

Sturmabteilung
Also known asBrownshirts (Braunhemden)
Leader
Dates of operationOctober 5, 1921(1921-10-05)–May 8, 1945(1945-05-08)
Country
AllegianceAdolf Hitler,Nazi Party
Motives
  • Protection
  • Intimidation
HeadquartersSA High Command,Barerstraße,Munich
48°08′38″N11°34′03″E/ 48.14389°N 11.56750°E/48.14389; 11.56750
IdeologyNazism
Political positionFar-right[1][better source needed]
Major actionsKristallnacht
StatusDissolved
Size4,200,000 (1934)[citation needed]
Part ofNazi Party
AlliesDer Stahlhelm(1933–1935)
Opponents

TheSturmabteilung(German:[ˈʃtʊʁmʔapˌtaɪlʊŋ]ⓘ;SA;literally "Storm Division" or Storm Troopers) was the originalparamilitarywing of theNazi Party.It played a significant role inAdolf Hitler's rise to powerin the 1920s and early 1930s. Its primary purposes were providing protection for Nazi rallies and assemblies, disrupting the meetings of opposing parties, fighting against the paramilitary units of the opposing parties, especially theRoter Frontkämpferbundof theCommunist Party of Germany(KPD) and theReichsbanner Schwarz-Rot-Goldof theSocial Democratic Party of Germany(SPD), and intimidatingRomani,trade unionists,and especiallyJews.

The SA were colloquially calledBrownshirts(Braunhemden) because of the colour of theiruniform's shirts,similar toBenito Mussolini'sblackshirts.The official uniform of the SA was a brown shirt with a brown tie. The color came about because a large shipment ofLettow-shirts,originally intended for the Germancolonial troopsinGermany's former East Africa colony,[2]was purchased in 1921 byGerhard Roßbachfor use by hisFreikorpsparamilitary unit. They were later used for his Schill Youth organization in Salzburg, and in 1924 were adopted by the Schill Youth in Germany.[3]The "Schill Sportversand" then became the main supplier for the SA's brown shirts. The SA developed pseudo-military titles for its members, withranksthat were later adopted by several other Nazi Party groups.

FollowingAdolf Hitler's rise to Nazi Party leadership in 1921, he formalized the party's militant supporters into the SA as a group that was to protect party gatherings. In 1923, owing to his growing distrust of the SA,Adolf Hitlerordered the creation ofa bodyguard unit,which was ultimately abolished after the failedBeer Hall Putschlater that year. Not long after Hitler's release from prison, he ordered the creation of another bodyguard unit in 1925 that ultimately became theSchutzstaffel(SS). During theNight of the Long Knives(die Nacht der langen Messer) in 1934, the SA's then-leaderErnst Röhmwas arrested and executed. The SA continued to exist but lost almost all its influence and was effectively superseded by the SS, which took part in the purge. The SA remained in existence until afterNazi Germany's final capitulationto theAlliesin 1945, after which it was disbanded and outlawed by theAllied Control Council.

Rise

[edit]

The termSturmabteilungpredates the founding of theNazi Partyin 1919. Originally it was applied to the specialized assault troops ofImperial GermanyinWorld War Iwho usedinfiltration tacticsbased on being organized into small squads of a few soldiers each. The first official Germanstormtrooperunit was authorized on March 2, 1915, on the Western Front. The German high command ordered theVIII Corpsto form a detachment to test experimental weapons and develop tactics that could break the deadlock on theWestern Front.On October 2, 1916,GeneralquartiermeisterErich Ludendorffordered all German armies in the west to form a battalion of stormtroopers.[4][page needed]They were first used during the8th Army'ssiegeofRiga,and again at theBattle of Caporetto.Wider use followed on the Western Front in theGerman spring offensivein March 1918, when Allied lines were successfully pushed back tens of kilometers.

The DAP (Deutsche Arbeiterpartei,German Workers' Party) was formed inMunichin January 1919, and Adolf Hitler joined it in September of that year. His talents for speaking, publicity andpropagandawere quickly recognized.[a]By early 1920 he had gained authority in the party, which changed its name to the NSDAP (Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterparteior National Socialist German Workers' Party) in February 1920.[6]The party's executive committee added "Socialist" to the name over Hitler's objections, to help the party appeal to left-wing workers.[7]

The precursor to theSturmabteilunghad acted informally and on anad hocbasis for some time before this. Hitler, with an eye to helping the party to grow through propaganda, convinced the leadership committee to invest in an advertisement in theMünchener Beobachter(later renamed theVölkischer Beobachter) for a mass meeting in theHofbräuhaus,to be held in Munich on October 16, 1919. Some 70 people attended, and a second such meeting was advertised for November 13 in theEberl-Bräubeer hall, also in Munich. About 130 people attended; there were hecklers, but Hitler's military friends promptly ejected them by force, and the agitators "flew down the stairs with gashed heads". The next year on February 24, he announced the party'sTwenty-Five Point programat a mass meeting of some 2,000 people at the Hofbräuhaus. Protesters tried to shout Hitler down, but his former army companions, armed with rubbertruncheons,ejected the dissenters. The basis for the SA had been formed.[8]

Hitler andHermann Göringwith SA stormtroopers in front ofFrauenkirche, Nurembergin 1928

A permanent group of party members, who would serve as theSaalschutzabteilung(meeting hall protection detachment) for the DAP, gathered aroundEmil Mauriceafter the February 1920 incident at the Hofbräuhaus. There was little organization or structure to this group. The group was also called the "Stewards Troop" (Ordnertruppen) around this time.[9]More than a year later, on August 3, 1921, Hitler redefined the group as the "Gymnastic and Sports Division" of the party (Turn- und Sportabteilung), perhaps to avoid trouble with the government.[10][11]It was by now well recognized as an appropriate, even necessary, function or organ of the party. The future SA developed by organizing and formalizing the groups of ex-soldiers and beer-hall brawlers who were to protect gatherings of the Nazi Party from disruptions fromSocial Democrats(SPD) andCommunists(KPD), and to disrupt meetings of the other political parties. By September 1921 the nameSturmabteilung(SA) was being used informally for the group.[12]Hitler was the official head of the Nazi Party by this time.[b]

The Nazi Party held a large public meeting in the Munich Hofbräuhaus on November 4, 1921, which attracted many Communists and other enemies of the Nazis. After Hitler had spoken for some time, the meeting erupted into a mêlée in which a small company of SA thrashed the opposition. The Nazis called this event theSaalschlacht(transl. Meeting hall battle), and it assumed legendary proportions in SA lore with the passage of time. Thereafter, the group was officially known as theSturmabteilung.[12]

The leadership of the SA passed from Maurice to the youngHans Ulrich Klintzschin this period. He had been a naval officer and a member of theEhrhardtBrigade,which had taken part in the failedKapp Putschattempted coup. When he took over command of the SA, he was a member of the notoriousOrganisation Consul(OC).[c]The Nazis under Hitler began to adopt the more professional management techniques of the military.[12]

In 1922, the Nazi Party created a youth section, theJugendbund,for young men between the ages of 14 and 18 years. Its successor, theHitler Youth(Hitlerjugendor HJ), remained under SA command until May 1932.Hermann Göringjoined the Nazi Party in 1922 after hearing a speech by Hitler. He was given command of the SA as theOberster SA-Führerin 1923.[14]He was later appointed an SA-Obergruppenführer(general) and held this rank on the SA rolls until 1945.

The SA unit inNuremberg,1929

From April 1924 until late February 1925, the SA was reorganized into a front organization known as theFrontbannto circumventBavaria's ban on the Nazi Party and its organs. (This had been instituted after the abortiveBeer Hall Putschof November 1923). While Hitler was in prison,Ernst Röhmhelped to create theFrontbannas a legal alternative to the then-outlawed SA. In April 1924, Röhm had also been given authority by Hitler to rebuild the SA in any way he saw fit. When in April 1925 Hitler and Ludendorff disapproved of the proposals under which Röhm was prepared to integrate the 30,000-strongFrontbanninto the SA, Röhm resigned from all political movements and military brigades on May 1, 1925. He felt great contempt for the "legalistic" path the party leaders wanted to follow and sought seclusion from public life.[15]Throughout the 1920s and into the 1930s, members of the SA were often involved in street fights, calledZusammenstöße(collisions), with members of the Communist Party (KPD). In 1929, the SA added a Motor Corps for better mobility and a faster mustering of units.[16]It also acquired an independent source of funds: royalties from its ownSturm Cigarette Company.Previously, the SA had been financially dependent on the party leadership, as it charged no membership fees;[17][18]the SA recruited particularly among the many unemployed in the economic crisis.[19]The SA used violence against shops and shopkeepers stocking competing cigarette brands; it also punished any SA member caught with non-Sturm cigarettes.[17][18]Sturm marketing was also used to make military service more appealing. Cigarettes were sold with collectible sets of images of historical German army uniforms.[20]

Marketing for the SA'sSturm Cigarette Companyalso promoted military service.[20]

In September 1930, as a consequence of theStennes revoltin Berlin, Hitler assumed supreme command of the SA as its newOberster SA-Führer.He sent a personal request to Röhm, asking him to return to serve as the SA's chief of staff. Röhm accepted this offer and began his new assignment on January 5, 1931. He brought radical new ideas to the SA and appointed several close friends to its senior leadership.

Previously, the SA formations were subordinate to the Nazi Party leadership of eachGau.Röhm established newGruppenthat had no regional Nazi Party oversight. Each Gruppe extended over several regions and was commanded by a SA-Gruppenführerwho answered only to Röhm or Hitler. Under Röhm as its popular leader andStabschef(Staff Chief), the SA grew in importance within the Nazi power structure and expanded to have thousands of members. In the early 1930s, the Nazis expanded from an extremist fringe group to the largest political party in Germany, and the SA expanded with it. By January 1932, the SA numbered approximately 400,000.[21]

Many of these stormtroopers believed in thestrasseristpromise ofnazism.They expected the Nazi regime to take more radical economic action, such as breaking up the vast landed estates of the aristocracy, once they obtained national power.[22]By the time Hitler assumed power in January 1933, SA membership had increased to approximately 2,000,000—twenty times as large as the number of troops and officers in theReichswehr(German Army).[23]

Fall

[edit]
The SA unit inBerlinin 1932

After Hitler and the Nazis obtained national power, the SA leadership also became increasingly eager for power. By the end of 1933, the SA numbered more than 3 million men, and many believed they were the replacement for the "antiquated"Reichswehr.Röhm's ideal was to absorb the army (then limited by law to no more than 100,000 men) into the SA, which would be a new "people's army". This deeply offended and alarmed the professional army leaders and threatened Hitler's goal of co-opting theReichswehr.The SA's increasing power and ambitions also posed a threat to other Nazi leaders.[24]Originally an adjunct to the SA, theSchutzstaffel(SS) was placed under the control ofHeinrich Himmler,in part to restrict the power of the SA and their leaders.[25]The younger SS had evolved to be more than a bodyguard unit for Hitler and demonstrated that it was better suited to carry out Hitler's policies, including those of a criminal nature.[26][27]

SA knife

Although some of the conflicts between the SS and SA were based on personal rivalries of leaders, the mass of members had key socio-economic differences and related conflicts. SS members generally came from themiddle class,while the SA had its base among the unemployed andworking class.Politically speaking, the SA was more radical than the SS, with its leaders arguing the Nazi revolution had not ended when Hitler achieved power, but rather needed to implementStrasserismin Germany. Hitler believed that the defiant and rebellious culture encouraged before the seizure of power had to give way to using these forces for community organization. But the SA members resented tasks such as canvassing and fundraising, considering themKleinarbeit( "little work" ), which had typically been performed by women before the Nazi seizure of power.[28]Rudolf Diels,the firstGestapochief, estimated that in 1933 Berlin, 70 percent of new SA recruits were former Communists.[29]

In 1933, GeneralWerner von Blomberg,the Minister of Defence, and GeneralWalter von Reichenau,the chief of theReichswehr's Ministerial Department, became increasingly concerned about the growing power of the SA. Röhm had been given a seat on the National Defence Council and began to demand more say over military matters. On October 2, 1933, Röhm sent a letter to Reichenau that said: "I regard theReichswehrnow only as a training school for the German people. The conduct of war, and therefore of mobilization as well, in the future is the task of the SA. "[30]

Blomberg and von Reichenau began to conspire with Göring and Himmler against Röhm and the SA. Himmler askedReinhard Heydrichto assemble a dossier on Röhm. Heydrich recognized that for the SS to gain full national power, the SA had to be broken.[31]He manufactured evidence to suggest that Röhm had been paid 12 million marks by French agents to overthrow Hitler. Hitler liked Röhm and initially refused to believe the dossier provided by Heydrich. Röhm had been one of his first supporters and, without his ability to obtain army funds in the early days of the movement, it is unlikely that the Nazis would have ever become established. The SA under Röhm's leadership had also played a vital role in destroying the opposition during the elections of 1932 and 1933.

Night of the Long Knives

[edit]
Main article:Night of the Long Knives
The architects of the purge: Hitler,Göring,Goebbels,andHess.OnlyHimmlerandHeydrichare absent.

Hitler had his own reasons for wanting Röhm removed. Some of his powerful supporters had been complaining about Röhm for some time. The generals opposed Röhm's desire to have the SA, a force of over three million men, absorb the much smaller German Army into its ranks under his leadership.[31]Since the officers had developed theReichswehras a professional force of 100,000, they believed that it would be destroyed if merged with millions of untrained SA thugs.[32]Furthermore, the army commanders were greatly concerned about reports of a huge cache of weapons in the hands of SA members.[31]Industrialists, who had provided the funds for the Nazi victory, were unhappy with Röhm's socialistic views on the economy and his claims that the real revolution had still to take place.President Hindenburginformed Hitler in June 1934 that if a move to curb the SA was not forthcoming, he would dissolve the government and declaremartial law.[33]

Hitler was also concerned that Röhm and the SA had the power to remove him as leader. Göring and Himmler played on this fear by constantly feeding Hitler with new information on Röhm's proposed coup. A masterstroke was to claim thatGregor Strasser,whom Hitler felt had betrayed him, was part of the planned conspiracy against him. With this news, Hitler ordered all the SA leaders to attend a meeting in the Hanselbauer Hotel[34]inBad Wiessee.

On June 30, 1934, Hitler, accompanied by SS units, arrived at Bad Wiessee, where he personally placed Röhm and other high-ranking SA leaders under arrest. Over the next 48 hours, 200 other senior SA officers were arrested on the way to Wiessee. Many were shot and killed as soon as they were captured, but Hitler decided to pardon Röhm because of his past services to the movement. On July 1, after much pressure from Göring and Himmler, Hitler agreed that Röhm should die. Hitler insisted that Röhm should first be allowed to commit suicide. When Röhm refused to do so, he was shot by two SS officers,Theodor EickeandMichael Lippert.[35]Though the names of 85 victims are known, estimates place the total number killed at between 150 and 200 men, the rest of whom remain unidentified.[36]

Some Germans were shocked by the executions, but many others perceived Hitler to have restored "order" to the country. Goebbels' propaganda highlighted the "Röhm-Putsch" in the days that followed. The homosexuality of Röhm and other SA leaders was made public to add "shock value", although Hitler and other Nazi leaders had known for years about the sexuality of Röhm and other named SA leaders.[37]

After the purge

[edit]

After theNight of the Long Knives,the SA continued to operate, under the leadership ofStabschefViktor Lutze,but the group was significantly downsized. Within a year's time, the SA membership was reduced by more than 40%.[36]However, the Nazis increased attacks against Jews in the early 1930s and used the SA to carry these out.

In November 1938, after the assassination of German diplomatErnst vom RathbyHerschel Grynszpan(a Polish Jew), the SA was used for "demonstrations" against the act. In violent riots, members of the SA shattered the glass storefronts of about 7,500 Jewish stores and businesses. The events were referred to asKristallnacht('Night of Broken Glass', more literally 'Crystal Night').[38]Jewish homes were ransacked throughout Germany. Thispogromdamaged, and in many cases destroyed, about 200synagogues(constituting nearly all Germany had), many Jewish cemeteries, more than 7,000 Jewish shops, and 29 department stores. Some Jews were beaten to death and more than 30,000 Jewish men were arrested and taken toconcentration camps.[39]

Thereafter, the SA became overshadowed by the SS; by 1939 it had little remaining significance in the Nazi Party, though it was never formally disbanded and continued to exist until the war ended. In January 1939, the role of the SA was officially established as a training school for the armed forces, with the establishment of the SAWehrmannschaften(SA Military Units).[40]With the start of World War II in September 1939, the SA lost most of its remaining members to military service in theWehrmacht(armed forces).[41]

In January 1941, long-standing rivalries between theAuswärtiges Amt(Foreign Office) and the SS exploded with the attempted coup d'état in Bucharest that saw SS back the coup by the Iron Guard under its leaderHoria Simaagainst the Prime Minister, GeneralIon Antonescu,while theAuswärtiges Amttogether with the Wehrmacht backed Antonescu. In the aftermath of the coup, the Foreign MinisterJoachim von Ribbentropmade an effort to curb the power of the SS to conduct a foreign policy independent of theAuswärtiges Amt.Taking an advantage of the long-standing rivalries between the SS and the SA, in 1941, Ribbentrop appointed an assemblage of SA men to head the German embassies in Eastern Europe, withManfred Freiherr von Killingergoing to Romania,Siegfried Kascheto Croatia,Adolf-Heinz Beckerleto Bulgaria,Dietrich von Jagowto Hungary, andHanns Ludinto Slovakia in order to ensure that there would be minimal co-operation with the SS.[42]The role of the SA ambassadors was that of "quasi-Reichgovernors "as they aggressively supervised the internal affairs of the nations they were stationed in, making them very much unlike traditional ambassadors.[43]The SA leaders ambassadors fulfilled Ribbentrop's hopes in that all had distant relations with the SS, but as a group they were notably inept as diplomats with Beckerle being so crude and vulgar in his manners that KingBoris IIIalmost refused to allow him to present his credentials at theVrana Palace.[42]As the ambassador inBratislava,Ludin arranged the deportation of 50,000 Slovak Jews to Auschwitz in 1942.[44]On 23–24 August 1944, Killinger notably bungled the German response toKing Michael I's Coupthat saw KingMichael I of Romaniadismiss Antonescu, sign an armistice with the Allies, and declare war on Germany, thereby costing theReichits largest source of oil.[45]Of the SA ambassadors, Killinger and Jagow committed suicide in 1944 and 1945 respectively while Kasche and Ludin were executed for war crimes in 1947 in Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia respectively. Beckerle spent 11 years in a Soviet POW camp, was released to West Germany in 1955, was charged with war crimes in 1966 for his role in the deportation of Macedonian Jews, which were dropped on grounds of ill health in 1968 and died in 1976 at a retirement home in West Germany.

In 1943, Viktor Lutze was killed in an automobile accident, andWilhelm Schepmannwas appointed as leader.[46]Schepmann did his best to run the SA for the remainder of the war, attempting to restore the group as a predominant force within the Nazi Party and to mend years of distrust and bad feelings between the SA and SS. On the night of 29–30 March 1945, Austrian SA members were involved in a death march of Hungarian Jews from a work camp at Engerau (modernPetržalka,Slovakia) toBad Deutsch-Altenburgthat saw 102 of the Jews being killed, being either shot or beaten to death.[47]

The SA ceased to exist in May 1945 when Nazi Germany collapsed. It was formally disbanded and outlawed by theAllied Control Councilenacting Control Council Law No. 2 on October 10, 1945.[48]In 1946, theInternational Military TribunalatNurembergformally ruled that the SA was not acriminal organization.[49]

Leadership

[edit]
Main articles:Supreme SA LeaderandStabschef
Ernst Röhm,SA Chief of Staff, 1931–1934

The leader of the SA was known as theOberster SA-Führer,translated as Supreme SA-Leader. The following men held this position:

In September 1930, to quell the Stennes Revolt and to try to ensure the personal loyalty of the SA to himself, Hitler assumed command of the entire organization and remainedOberster SA-Führerfor the remainder of the group's existence until 1945. The day-to-day running of the SA was conducted by theStabschef-SA(SA Chief of Staff), a position Hitler designated for Ernst Röhm.[52]After Hitler's assumption of the supreme command of the SA, it was theStabschef-SAwho was generally accepted as the Commander of the SA, acting in Hitler's name. The following personnel held the position ofStabschef-SA:

Organization

[edit]
SA organization[citation needed]

The SA was organized into several large regionalGruppen( "Groups" ). The group leader answered only to the Stabschef-SAor Hitler.[54]EachGruppewas made up of subordinate Brigaden( "Brigades" ).[55]Subordinate to theBrigadenwere the smallerregiment-sizedStandarten.[55]SA-Standartenoperated in every major German city and were split into even smaller units, known asSturmbanneandStürme.

The command nexus for the entire SA was theOberste SA-Führung,located inStuttgart.The SA supreme command had many sub-offices to handle supply, finance and recruiting.

The SA also had several military training units. The largest was theSA-Marine,which served as an auxiliary to theKriegsmarine(German Navy) and performedsearch and rescueoperations as well as harbor defense. The SA also had an "army" wing, similar to theWaffen-SS,known asFeldherrnhalle.This formation expanded from regimental size in 1940 to a fully-fledged armored corps (Panzerkorps Feldherrnhalle) in 1945. As for units formed outside of Germany, after the success of theinvasion of Polandin 1939, an SA unit, "Great Government" was formed. The units were renamed SAWehrschützen-Bereitschaftenin 1942. The title was abbreviated to SAWehrbereitschaften,thereafter.[56]

Organization structure August 1934–1945

[edit]
  • Oberste SA-Führung(Supreme SA-Command & Control)
  • Gruppe(Group): consisting of several brigades[e]
  • Brigade:3 to 9Standarten
  • Standarte(Standard,regimentsized unit):3 to 5Sturmbanner
  • Sturmbann(Storm bann,battalionsized unit):3 to 5Stürme
  • Sturm(Storm,companysized sub-unit):3 to 4Trupps
  • Trupp(Troupe,platoonsized sub-unit):3 to 4Scharen
  • Schar(section):1 to 2Rotten(squads or teams)
  • Rotte(squador team):4 to 8 SA-Men/SA-Troopers
  • SA-Mann(SA-Man/SA-Trooper)

"Beefsteaks" within the ranks

[edit]
See also:Beefsteak NaziandStrasserism

In his 1936Hitler: A Biography,German historianKonrad Heidenremarked that within the SA ranks, there were "large numbers of former Communists and Social Democrats" and that "many of the storm troops were called 'beefsteaks' – brown outside and red within."[57]The influx of non-Nazis into theSturmabteilungmembership was so prevalent that SA men would joke that "In our storm troop there are three Nazis, but we shall soon have spewed them out."[57]

The number of "beefsteaks" was estimated to be large in some cities, especially in northern Germany, where the influence ofGregor StrasserandStrasserismwas significant.[58]The head of the Gestapo from 1933 to 1934,Rudolf Diels,reported that "70 percent" of the new SA recruits in the city of Berlin had been communists.[29]This is evidenced further by historians, "As for the prior youth group memberships, nearly half of the SS members and nearly one-third of the instant stormtroopers were with the Free Corps, vigilantes, or militant veterans' groups during their first 25 years of life. They also came in disproportionate numbers from left-wing youth groups such as the Socialist or Communist Youth or the Red Front (RFB)."[59]

Some have argued that since most SA members came from working-class families or were unemployed, they were more amenable toMarxist-leaning socialism, expecting Hitler to fulfill the 25-pointNational Socialist Program.[60]However, historianThomas Friedrichreports that the repeated efforts by theCommunist Party of Germany(KPD) to appeal to the working-class backgrounds of the SA were "doomed to failure", because most SA men were focused on the nationalistic cult of Hitler and destroying the "Marxist enemy", a term that was used to identify both the KPD and theSocial Democratic Party of Germany(SPD).[61]

The "beefsteak" name also referred to party-switching between Nazi and Communist party members, particularly involving those within the SA ranks.

See also

[edit]

Similar paramilitary organizations

References

[edit]

Informational notes

  1. ^Before the end of 1919, Hitler had already been appointed head of propaganda for the party, with party founderAnton Drexler's backing.[5]
  2. ^At a special party congress held July 29, 1921, Hitler was appointed chairman. He announced that the party would stay headquartered in Munich and that those who did not like his leadership should just leave; he would not entertain debate on such matters. The vote was 543 for Hitler, and 1 against.[13]
  3. ^The OC's most infamous action was probably the brazen daylight assassination of the foreign ministerWalther Rathenau,in early 1922. Klintzsch was also a member of the somewhat more reputableViking League(Bund Wiking).
  4. ^The NSDAP and its organs and instruments (including theVölkischer Beobachterand the SA) were banned in Bavaria (and other parts of Germany) following Hitler's abortive attempt to overthrow theWeimarRepublicin theBeer Hall Putschin November 1923. The Bavarian ban was lifted in February 1925 after Hitler pledged to adhere to legal and constitutional means in his quest for political power.SeeVerbotzeit.
  5. ^The SA-Brigade was also designated asSA-Untergruppe(SA-Subgroup).[55]

Citations

  1. ^"Were the Nazis Socialists?".September 5, 2017.Archivedfrom the original on November 16, 2021.RetrievedFebruary 13,2021.
  2. ^Toland 1976,p. 220.
  3. ^Roßbach, Gerhard(1950).Mein Weg durch die Zeit. Erinnerungen und Bekenntnisse.Weilburg/Lahn: Vereinigte Weilburger Buchdruckereien.
  4. ^Drury 2003.
  5. ^Toland 1976,p. 94.
  6. ^Kershaw 2008,p. 87.
  7. ^Mitcham 1996,p. 68.
  8. ^Toland 1976,pp. 94–98.
  9. ^Manchester 2003,p. 342.
  10. ^William L. Shirer,The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich(1960) p. 42
  11. ^Toland 1976,p. 112.
  12. ^abcCampbell 1998,pp. 19–20.
  13. ^Toland 1976,p. 111.
  14. ^abZentner & Bedürftig 1991,p. 928.
  15. ^Zentner & Bedürftig 1991,p. 807.
  16. ^McNab 2013,p. 14.
  17. ^abLindner.
  18. ^abSiemens 2013.
  19. ^Klußmann, Uwe (November 29, 2012)."Conquering the Capital: The Ruthless Rise of the Nazis in Berlin".Spiegel Online.Archivedfrom the original on August 28, 2019.RetrievedOctober 6,2019.
  20. ^abGoodman & Martin 2002,p. 81.
  21. ^McNab 2011,p. 142.
  22. ^Bullock 1958,p. 80.
  23. ^"SA".Encyclopædia Britannica.RetrievedJuly 28,2017.
  24. ^Kershaw 2008,pp. 304–306.
  25. ^McNab 2009,pp. 17, 19–21.
  26. ^Baranowski 2010,pp. 196–197.
  27. ^Kershaw 2008,pp. 309–314.
  28. ^Claudia Koonz,The Nazi Conscience,p. 87
  29. ^abBrown 2009,p. 136.
  30. ^Alford 2002,p. 5.
  31. ^abcKershaw 2008,p. 306.
  32. ^Gunther, John(1940).Inside Europe.New York: Harper & Brothers. pp. 53–54.
  33. ^Wheeler-Bennett 2005,pp. 319–320.
  34. ^"Hotel Hanslbauer in Bad Wiessee: Scene of the Arrest of Ernst Röhm and his Followers (June 30, 1934) – Image".ghi-dc.org.Archivedfrom the original on October 6, 2018.RetrievedApril 28,2011.
  35. ^Kershaw 2008,pp. 309–312.
  36. ^abKershaw 2008,p. 313.
  37. ^Kershaw 2008,p. 315.
  38. ^GermanNotes,"Kristallnacht".Archived fromthe originalon April 19, 2005.RetrievedNovember 26,2007.
  39. ^The deportationArchivedOctober 6, 2018, at theWayback MachineofRegensburgJews toDachauconcentration camp(Yad VashemPhoto Archives 57659)
  40. ^McNab 2013,pp. 20, 21.
  41. ^McNab 2009,p. 22.
  42. ^abBloch 1992,p. 330.
  43. ^Jacobsen 1999,p. 62.
  44. ^Bloch 1992,p. 356.
  45. ^Bloch 1992,p. 411.
  46. ^McNab 2013,p. 21.
  47. ^Garscha 2012,pp. 307–308.
  48. ^"Schutzstaffel (SS), 1925-1945 – Historisches Lexikon Bayerns".historisches-lexikon-bayerns.de.Archivedfrom the original on April 3, 2020.RetrievedFebruary 19,2021.
  49. ^"The Sturmabteilung or SA".History Learning Site.Archivedfrom the original on May 16, 2015.RetrievedSeptember 22,2013.
  50. ^Hoffmann 2000,p. 50.
  51. ^abYerger 1997,p. 11.
  52. ^Yerger 1997,pp. 11, 12.
  53. ^McNab 2009,p. 14.
  54. ^Littlejohn 1990,pp. 5, 7.
  55. ^abcLittlejohn 1990,p. 7.
  56. ^Littlejohn 1990,pp. 39–40.
  57. ^abHeiden 1938,p. 390.
  58. ^Mitcham 1996,p. 120.
  59. ^Merkl, Peter H. (1975)Political Violence Under the Swastika: 581 Early Nazis,Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press. p. 586[ISBN missing]
  60. ^Bendersky, Joseph W. (2007)A Concise History of Nazi Germany,Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield. p. 96[ISBN missing]
  61. ^Friedrich 2012,pp. 213, 215.

Bibliography

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