Walter Stennes
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Walter Stennes | |
---|---|
Regional commander in Eastern Germany | |
In office 30 September 1927 – April 1931 | |
Supreme SA Leader | Franz Pfeffer von Salomon Adolf Hitler |
Personal details | |
Born | Walter Franz Maria Stennes 12 April 1895 Bad Wünnenberg, Province of Westphalia, Kingdom of Prussia, German Empire |
Died | 19 May 1983 Lüdenscheid, North Rhine-Westphalia, West Germany | (aged 88)
Political party | German Social Party |
Other political affiliations | Nazi Party (1927–1931) |
Spouse |
Hildegard Margarete Elisabeth Borkenhagen
(m. 1930) |
Schloss Bensberg | |
Occupation | Officer |
Military service | |
Allegiance | German Empire |
Branch/service | Imperial German Army |
Rank | Leutnant |
Unit | 3rd Westphalian Infantry Regiment |
Battles/wars | |
Awards | Iron Cross First Class Knight's Cross of the House Order of Hohenzollern |
Walter Franz Maria Stennes (12 April 1895 – 19 May 1983) was a leader of the Sturmabteilung (SA, stormtroopers, or "brownshirts") of the Nazi Party in Berlin and the surrounding area. In August 1930 he led a revolt against Adolf Hitler, the leader of the party, and Hitler's appointed regional head of the party in the Berlin area, Joseph Goebbels. The dispute was over Hitler's policies and practices in the use of the SA, and the underlying purpose of the paramilitary organization. Hitler quelled the revolt peacefully, but after a second rebellion in March–April 1931, the SA was purged and Stennes was expelled from the party.
Early life
Stennes was born in 1895 to Fritz Stennes, a
After Stennes graduated in the summer of 1913, he entered officers' school. In August 1914 during
After leaving the army, Stennes held positions as a police captain and as a leader of the Freikorps, the volunteer paramilitary units made up largely of ex-servicemen. He was also an arms racketeer.
Nazi Party
Stennes joined the
Stennes revolt
Stennes led
On 27 August, Stennes threatened
Stennes decided that firm action was needed for his threats to be taken seriously. Accordingly, the Berlin SA refused to provide protection for Goebbels at his
The SA then stormed the Gau office on Hedemannstrasse, injuring the SS men and wrecking the premises. Goebbels, shaken by the incident, notified Hitler, who left the
Hitler spoke with some SA men directly and then had two meetings with Stennes on the night of 31 August. The next day, at a meeting of 2,000 or so stormtroopers, Hitler announced that he would replace von Pfeffer as the Supreme Leader of the SA, a statement that was received with joy by the SA men. Hitler called for loyalty to him personally and to the Führerprinzip, and the assembled men took a loyalty oath, as would all stormtroopers throughout Germany and all men who later joined the organisation. Stennes then read Hitler's declaration that significant improvements would be made in the financial condition of the SA, the money to come from party dues. The stormtroopers would also have free legal representation if they were arrested in the line of duty. With those concessions, the crisis was over.[3][7][8][9]
Expulsion
In spring 1931, Stennes continued to complain that the SA in
Stennes rebelled again. The SA once again stormed the party offices in Berlin on the night of 31 March – 1 April and took control of the building. In addition, the SA took over the offices of Goebbels' newspaper, Der Angriff. Pro-Stennes versions appeared of the newspaper on 1 April and 2 April.[8]
Hitler instructed Goebbels to take whatever means were necessary to put down the revolt. Goebbels and Göring purged the SA in Berlin, and Stennes was expelled from the party.
There is some evidence that Stennes may have been paid by the government of German Chancellor Heinrich Brüning, with the intention of causing conflict within the Nazi movement.[12]
Exile
After the Nazi takeover in 1933, Stennes went with his wife and daughter into exile. Göring had made him promise to leave the country immediately and not to settle in Switzerland.
Stennes then emigrated to China and arrived with his wife in Shanghai on 19 November 1933 on board the steamboat Ranchi. Stennes served as a military advisor to Chiang Kai-shek's Kuomintang until 1949. His efforts were to reorganise the army and police forces of the Chinese nationalists on the model of the Prussian armed forces.[citation needed]
Return to Germany
Stennes returned to Germany in 1949. In 1951, he was a leading member of the right-wing German Social Party . Afterwards, he retired to private life. He applied for recognition as a victim of National Socialist tyranny, which was rejected in 1957 by the Federal Court.[citation needed] He lived in Lüdenscheid until his death in 1983.[citation needed]
In popular culture
Stennes (played by Hanno Koffler) and his 1931 revolt are depicted in Season 4 of Babylon Berlin.
In The Man Who Crossed Hitler Stennes was played by Ronan Vibert.
References
- Citations
- ^ Read 2004, pp. 199–221.
- ^ Hoffmann 2000, p. 15.
- ^ a b c d Kershaw 1999, p. 347.
- ^ Fest 1973, p. 282.
- ^ Grant 2004, pp. 62–63.
- ^ a b Machtan 2002, pp. 182–183.
- ^ Hoffmann 2000, pp. 17–19.
- ^ a b Lemmons 1994, p. 80.
- ^ Fest 1973, p. 283.
- ^ Fischer 2002, pp. 85–87.
- ^ Fischer 2002, p. 86.
- ^ Evans 2003, p. 273.
- Bibliography
- ISBN 0-14-303469-3.
- ISBN 0-394-72023-7.
- Fischer, Conan (2002). The Rise of the Nazis. Manchester: Manchester University Press. ISBN 0-7190-6067-2.
- Grant, Thomas D. (2004). Stormtroopers and Crisis in the Nazi Movement: Activism, Ideology and Dissolution. New York: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-19602-7.
- ISBN 0-306-80947-8.
- ISBN 0-393-04671-0.
- Lemmons, Russel (1994). Goebbels and Der Angriff. Lexington, Kentucky: University Press of Kentucky. ISBN 9780813118482.
- ISBN 0-465-04309-7.
- ISBN 0-393-04800-4.
- ISBN 0-15-136076-6.
Further reading
- Andrew, Christopher & Mitrokhin, Vasili (29 August 2000). The Sword and the Shield: The Mitrokhin Archive and the Secret History of the KGB. Basic Books. pp. 94–. ISBN 978-0-465-00312-9.
- Hett, Benjamin Carter (18 September 2008). Crossing Hitler: The Man Who Put the Nazis on the Witness Stand. Oxford University Press. pp. 71–. ISBN 978-0-19-974378-0.
- Hett, Benjamin Carter (February 2014). Burning the Reichstag: An Investigation Into the Third Reich's Enduring Mystery. OUP USA. pp. 51–. ISBN 978-0-19-932232-9.