Der Stahlhelm, Bund der Frontsoldaten
This article needs additional citations for verification. (March 2020) |
servicemen's organization | |
Purpose | Maintain peace and order and foster comradeship founded in the field. |
---|---|
Headquarters | Berlin |
Origins | End of World War I and the German Revolution of 1918 |
Area served | Weimar Republic (1918–1933) Nazi Germany (1933–1935) |
Membership | 1,500,000 (1933 est.) |
Federal Leader | Franz Seldte |
Deputy Leader | Theodor Duesterberg |
Key people | August von Mackensen |
Publication |
|
Subsidiaries |
|
Affiliations | Deutschnationale Volkspartei |
Der Stahlhelm, Bund der Frontsoldaten (German: 'The Steel Helmet, League of Front-Line Soldiers'), commonly known as Der Stahlhelm ('The Steel Helmet'), was a German
History
Weimar Republic (1918–1933)
Der Stahlhelm was formed on 25 December 1918 in
The league was a rallying point for
After the failed Kapp Putsch of 1920, the organization gained further support from dissolved Freikorps units. In 1923 the former DNVP politician Theodor Duesterberg joined Der Stahlhelm and quickly rose to Seldte's deputy and long–time rival. In 1923, Stahlhelm units were actively involved in the formally passive resistance struggle of paramilitary formations against the French occupation of the Ruhr area. These units were responsible for numerous acts of sabotage on French trains and military posts. One of the volunteers operating in the Ruhr area was Paul Osthold, who headed the German Institute for Technical Work Training (DINTA) in the 1930s and became one of the leading representatives of German employers' associations in the Federal Republic of Germany.[3] From 1924 on, in several subsidiary organizations, veterans with front line experience as well as new recruits would provide a standing armed force in support of the Reichswehr beyond the 100,000 men allowed. With 500,000 members in 1930, the league was the largest paramilitary organization of Weimar Republic. In the 1920s Der Stahlhelm received political support from Fascist Italy's Duce Benito Mussolini.[4]
Although Der Stahlhelm was officially a non-party entity and above party politics, after 1929 it took on an anti-republican and anti-democratic character. Its goals were a German dictatorship, the preparation of a revanchist program, and the direction of local anti-parliamentarian action. For political reasons its members distinguished themselves from the Nazi Party (NSDAP) as "German Fascists". Among their further demands were the establishment of a Greater Germanic People's Reich, struggle against Social Democracy, the "mercantilism of the Jews" and the general liberal democratic worldview, and attempted without success to place candidates favorable to the politics of a renewed expansion to the East.
In 1929 Der Stahlhelm supported the "Peoples' Initiative" of DNVP leader Alfred Hugenberg and the Nazis to initiate a German referendum against the Young Plan on World War I reparations. In 1931 they proposed another referendum for the dissolution of the Prussian Landtag. After both these referendums failed to reach the 50% necessary to be declared valid, the organization in October 1931 joined another attempt of DNVP, NSDAP and Pan-German League to form the Harzburg Front, a united right-wing campaign against the Weimar Republic and Chancellor Heinrich Brüning. However, the front soon broke up and in the first round of the 1932 German presidential election, Theodor Duesterberg ran as Der Stahlhelm candidate against incumbent Paul von Hindenburg and Adolf Hitler. Facing a massive Nazi campaign reproaching him with a non-pure "Aryan" ancestry he only gained 6.8% of the votes cast.
Nazi Germany (1933–1935)
After the Nazi
On 27 April 1933, Seldte had officially declared Der Stahlhelm subordinate to Hitler's command. The attempts by the Nazis to integrate Der Stahlhelm succeeded in 1934 in the course of the "voluntary" Gleichschaltung (English: Synchronization) process: the organization was renamed Nationalsozialistischer Deutscher frontkämpfer-Bund (Stahlhelm) (English: National Socialist German Combatants' Federation (Stahlhelm)) (NSDFBSt) while large parts were merged into the SA as Wehrstahlhelm, Reserve I and Reserve II contingents.
The remaining NSDFBSt local groups were finally dissolved by decree of Adolf Hitler on 7 November 1935. Seldte's rival Duesterberg was interned at Dachau concentration camp upon the Night of the Long Knives at the beginning of July 1934, but released soon after.
Ranks and insignia
Collar insignia | Shoulder insignia | Ranks |
---|---|---|
Bundesführer | ||
Bundeshauptmann | ||
Obergruppenführer | ||
Divisionsführer | ||
Brigadeführer | ||
Regimentsführer | ||
Stabsführer | ||
Bataillonsführer | ||
Kompanieführer | ||
Oberzugführer | ||
Zugführer | ||
Oberfeldmeister | ||
Feldmeister | ||
Gruppenführer | ||
Stabswehrmann | ||
Oberwehrmann | ||
Wehrmann | ||
Source:[5] |
See also
References
- ^ Stackelberg (2007). The Routledge Companion to Nazi Germany, p. 243.
- ^ "Parteien und Verbände in der Weimarer Republik" [Parties and Associations in the Weimar Republic]. Regionalmuseum Bad Frankenhausen (in German). Retrieved October 9, 2023.
- ISBN 0195088751.
- ISBN 9780299080648. Pp. 62.
- ^ Davis 1980, p. 223.
Further reading
- Tauber, Kurt (1967). Beyond Eagle and Swastika: German Nationalism Since 1945. Middletown, Conn.: Wesleyan University Press.
- Davis, Brian Leigh (1980). German Uniforms of the Third Reich 1933-1945 (1st ed.). Poole, Dorset: Blandford Press. ISBN 0-7137-0881-6.
External links
- Der Stahlhelm, Bund der Frontsoldaten (in German) at the German Historical Museum, Berlin
- Der Stahlhelm, Bund der Frontsoldaten at Flags of the World
- Works by or about Der Stahlhelm, Bund der Frontsoldaten at Internet Archive