The Nizkor Project: Remembering the Holocaust (Shoah)

Shofar FTP Archive File: imt/nca/nca-02//nca-02-15-criminality-04-03


Archive/File: imt/nca/nca-02/nca-02-15-criminality-04-03
Last-Modified: 1996/12/28

                                                  [Page 142]
                                                            
As an example of the nature of these articles, the article
appearing in the Franken Edition of "Der SA-Mann" for 30
October 1937, at page 3, is typical. It is entitled: "9
November 1923 in Nurnberg," and reads in part as follows:

     "We stayed overnight in the Coliseum. Then in the
     morning we found out what had happened in Munich. 'Now
     a revolution will also be made in Nurnberg,' we said.
     All of a sudden the Police came from the Maxtor Guard
     and told us that we should go home, that the Putsch in
     Munich failed. We did -not believe that and we did not
     go home. Then came the State Police with fixed bayonets
     and drove us out of the hall. One of us then shouted
     'Let's go to the Cafe Habsburg!' By the time we
     arrived, however, the Police again had everything
     surrounded. Some shouted then: 'The Jewish place will
     be stormed *** Out with the Jews!' Then the Police
     started to beat us up. Then we divided into small
     groups and roamed through town and wherever we caught a
     Red or a Jew we knew, a fist fight ensued.
     
     "Then in the evening we marched, although the Police
     had forbidden it, to a meeting in Furth. During the
     promenade again the police attempted to stop us. It was
     all the same to us. Already in the next moment we
     attacked the police in our anger so that they were
     forced to flee. We marched on to the Geissmann Hall
     There again they tried to stop us. But the Landsturm,
     which was also there, attacked the protection forces
     like persons possessed, and drove them from the
     streets. After the meeting we dissolved and went to the
     edge of town. From there we marched in close column
     back to Nurnberg. In the Wall Street near the Plaerrer
     the Police came again. We simply shoved them aside.
     They did not trust themselves to attack, for what would
     a blood bath have meant? We decided beforehand not to
     take anything from anyone. Also in Furth they had
     already noticed that we were up to no good. A large
     mass of people accompanied us on the march. We marched
     with unrolled flags and sang so that the streets
     resounded: Comrade reach me your hand; we want to stand
     together, even though they have false impressions, the
     spirit must not die, Swastika on the steel helmet,
     black--white--red armband, we are known as Storm Troop
     (SA) Hitler!"

Through such means the SA was chiefly responsible for
destroying all political elements hostile to the Nazis,
including liberalism and capitalism. This is shown by an
article which appeared on 6

                                                  [Page 143]
                                                            
January 1934, at page 1 of "Der SA-Mann," entitled "The SA
Man in the New State!"

     "The New Germany would not have been without the SA man
     and the new Germany would not exist if the SA man would
     now, with the feeling of having fulfilled his duty,
     quietly and unselfishly and modestly step aside or if
     the new State would send him home much like the Moors
     who had done his obligations.
                           *******
     "What has been accomplished up until now, the taking
     over of the power in the State and the ejection of
     those elements which are responsible for the pernicious
     developments of the post war years as bearers of
     Marxist liberalism, and capitalism are only the
     preliminaries, the spring-board for the real aims of
     National Socialism.
     
     "Being conscious of the fact that the real National
     Socialist construction work would be building in an
     empty space without the usurpation of power by Adolf
     Hitler, the movement and the A man as the aggressive
     bearer of its will primarily have directed all their
     efforts thereupon, to achieve the platform of continued
     striving and to obtain the fundamental for the
     realization of our desires in the State by force ***

     "*** Out of this comes the further missions of the SA
     for the completion of the German revolution. First: To
     be the guaranty of the power of the National Socialist
     State against all attacks from without as well as
     within: Second: to be the high institute of education
     of the people for the living National Socialism. Third:
     to build a bridge over which the present day German
     youth can march free and unhampered as first generation
     into the formed Third Reich."

(3) Consolidation of Nazi Control of Germany. The Third
function of the SA was to carry out various programs
designed to consolidate Nazi control of the German State,
including particularly the dissolution of the trade unions
and the Jewish persecutions. In the words of an SA officer,
it was the function of SA to be the "tool for strengthening
the structure of the new " and "to clean up" all that was
"worth cleaning up." It generally employed, says the SA man,
"where communism and elements hostile to the State still
insolently dared to rebel." (2168-PS)

SA groups were employed to destroy political opposition by
force and brutality where necessary. As an example, an
affidavit of William F. Sollman reads as follows:

                                                  [Page 144]
                                                            
     "*** From 1919 until 1933 I was a Social Democrat and a
     member of the German Reichstag. Prior to 11 March 1933,
     I was the editor-in-chief of a chain of daily
     newspapers, with my office in Cologne, Germany, which
     led the fight against the Nazi Party.
     
     "On 9 March 1933, members of the SS and SA came to my
     home in Cologne and destroyed the furniture and my
     personal records. At that time I was taken to the Brown
     House in Cologne where I was tortured, being beaten and
     kicked for several hours. I was then taken to the
     regular government prison in Cologne where I was
     treated by two medical doctors *** and released the
     next day. On 11 March 1933, I left Germany." (3221-PS)

Prior to the organization of the Gestapo on a national scale
local SA meeting places were designated as arrest points,
and SA members took into custody Communists and other
persons who were actually OR supposedly hostile to the Nazi
Party. This activity is described in an affidavit of Raymond
H. Geist, former U. S. Consul in Berlin:

     "*** At the beginning of the Hitler regime, the only
     organization which had meeting places throughout the
     country was the SA (Storm Troopers). Until the Gestapo
     could be organized on a national scale the thousands of
     local SA meeting places became 'arrest points.' There
     were at least fifty of these in Berlin. Communists,
     Jews, and other known enemies of the Nazis party were
     taken to these points, and, if they were enemies of
     sufficient importance, they were immediately
     transferred to the Gestapo headquarters." (1759-PS)

In addition, SA members served as guards at concentration
camps during this consolidation period and participated in
mistreatment of the persons there imprisoned. A report to
Hitler by the public prosecutor of Dresden concerning the
Knollprosse of one Vogel, who was accused of mistreatment of
the persons imprisoned in a concentration camp, reads as
follows (787-PS):

     "The prosecuting authority in Dresden has indicted
     Oberregierungsrat Erich Vogel in Dresden (case
     designation 16 STA 4 1o7/34) on account of bodily
     injury while in office. The following subject matter is
     the basis of the process:

     "Vogel belongs to the Gestapo office of the province of
     Saxony since its foundation and is chief of Main
     section II, which formerly bore the title ZUB
     (Zentralstelle fuer Um-
     
                                                  [Page 145]
                                                            
     sturzbekaempfung) (Central office for combatting
     overthrow). In the process of combatting efforts
     inimical to the State Vogel carried out several so
     called borderland actions in the year 1933 in which a
     large number of politically unreliable persons and
     persons who had become political prisoners in the
     border territories were taken into protective custody
     (Schutzhaft) and brought to the Hohnstein protective
     custody camp. In the camp serious mistreatment of the
     prisoners has been going on at least since summer of
     1933. The prisoners were not only, as in protective
     custody camp Bredow near Stettin, beaten into a state
     of unconsciousness for no reason with whips and other
     tools but were also tortured in other ways, as for
     instance with a drip-apparatus especially constructed
     for the purpose, under which the prisoners had to stand
     so long that they came away with serious purulent
     wounds of the scalp. The guilty SA-leaders and SA-men
     were sentenced to punishment of six years to nine
     months of imprisonment by the main criminal court of
     the provincial court in Dresden of 15 May 1935 (16 STA.
     3431.34). Vogel, whose duties frequently brought him to
     the camp, took part in this mistreatment, insofar as it
     happened in the reception room of the camp during
     completion of the reception formalities, and in the
     supply room, during issuing of the blankets. In this
     respect it should be pointed out that Vogel was
     generally known to the personnel of the camp exactly
     because of his function as head of the ZUB -- and his
     conduct became at least partly a standard for the above-
     named conduct of the SA-leaders and men."
     
     "In his presence, for instance, the SA-men Mutze dealt
     such blows to one man, without provocation, that he
     turned around on himself. As already stated, Vogel not
     only took no steps against this treatment of the
     prisoners, but he even made jokes about it and stated
     that it amused him the way things were popping here.
     
     "In the supply room Vogel himself took a hand in the
     beating amid the general severe mistreatment. The SA
     men there employed whips and other articles and beat
     the prisoners in such a manner that serious injuries
     were produced; the prisoners partly became unconscious
     and had to lie in the dispensary a long time. Vogel was
     often present in the supply room during the
     mistreatment. At least in the fol-
     
                                                  [Page 146]
                                                            
     lowing cases he personally laid violent hands upon
     prisoners."
                           *******
     "*** the prisoner was laid across the counter in the
     usual manner, held fast by the head and arms, and then
     beaten for a considerable time by the SA men with whips
     and other articles. Along with this Vogel himself took
     part in the beating for a time, and after this
     mistreatment slapped him again, so that the prisoner
     appeared green and blue in the face. The prisoner is
     the tinsmith Hans Kuehitz, who bore the nickname
     Johnny. Upon his departure Vogel gave the head of the
     supply room, Truppenfuehrer Meier from 6 to 8
     reichsmarks with the stated reason that the SA men 'had
     sweated so.' The money was then distributed by Meier to
     those SA-comrades who had taken part in the
     mistreatment." (787-PS)

Similarly, the SA participated in the seizure and
dissolution of the German trade unions in 1933, a measure
taken by the Nazis under the direction of Robert Ley. An
official Nazi Party circular containing an order promulgated
by Robert Ley concerning the program for the seizure of the
union properties read as follows:

     "SA, as well as SS, are to be employed for the
     occupation of trade union properties and for the taking
     into protective custody all personalities who come into
     the question.". (392-PS)


Home ·  Site Map ·  What's New? ·  Search Nizkor

© The Nizkor Project, 1991-2012

This site is intended for educational purposes to teach about the Holocaust and to combat hatred. Any statements or excerpts found on this site are for educational purposes only.

As part of these educational purposes, Nizkor may include on this website materials, such as excerpts from the writings of racists and antisemites. Far from approving these writings, Nizkor condemns them and provides them so that its readers can learn the nature and extent of hate and antisemitic discourse. Nizkor urges the readers of these pages to condemn racist and hate speech in all of its forms and manifestations.