What Frankfurt looks like today ?

SA march in Frankfurt am Main 1925

Tossing Reddit posts into the fire. Berlin, 10 May 1933

Idc I’m getting married this week

Dam I’ve been dropping the ball haven’t I

For years, Berlin was considered a stronghold of the communists. Nicknamed “die rote Hauptstadt” (the red capital), the few bands of SA men and party members living here struggled to make headway, operating out of cellars and the smallest rooms that could not be found by the Roter Frontkämpferbund.
Of all the districts in Berlin, Freidrichshain was considered one of the strongest communist areas, and many thought it a fantasy to see these areas freed from the control of Moscow.

Horst Wessel, who had joined the SA in 1926, was assigned to Trupp 34 in May 1929, located in Friedrichshain. In the coming months, hundreds would flock to the swastika in the heart of the red fortress. Through aggression and fearlessness, the SA men gathered on the streets, marched, held rallies, and disrupted the opposition. The KPD soon learned that the leaders of this growing threat could not be stopped through conventional means, and searched for a way to dispose of them.

Wessel, who was originally a university student, dropped out of his classes in the same year to fully commit himself to the cause and to better understand the struggles of his comrades, who were largely working class. He moved into an unkempt apartment on Kleine Frankfurter Straße with his fiancé Erna Jänicke, a former prostitute whom he had rescued from the streets. The apartment was rented from Elisabeth Salm, the widow of a Rotfront Kämpfer. She sometimes had disputes with Wessel over rent and Jänicke, who Salm feared was still working as a prostitute and would cause problems for her business as a landlord. Frustrated with these arguments, Salm appealed to the RFB friends of her late husband. Initially, the communists declined to help her until she told them who she was dealing with. This was the chance they had been waiting for.

On January 14, 1930, Albrecht Höhler and Erwin Rückert climbed the steps of Wessel’s apartment and knocked on the door, while around a dozen other men waited outside. The Sturmführer was expecting a visit from another SA man and was quick to answer. Höhler did not hesitate, and shot Wessel in the face as soon as the door opened. The two communists proceeded to search the room and take any weapons they could find and left, but not before giving Wessel a kick to the face as he lay on the floor. Jänicke ran for help, and the SA men took their dying leader to the Friedrichshain hospital.

Been busy as fuck. I have NOT forgotten about the assassination of Horst Wessel on January 14. Will post about it soon.

Social Composition of the Berlin SA

On February 12, 1931, the Berlin Police conducted house searches on the local Gau offices and the private residences of several Standartenführers. Among the files confiscated were 1,736 membership cards. Since the SA strength in Berlin at the time was estimated at close to 3,300, these files were far from complete. The files also did not appear to be consistently updated. Entire Sturms were missing, attributed to reorganization, and even Horst Wessel, who had passed away nearly a year prior, was still listed as a member. This incomplete index is typical of many surviving records of the SA, particularly before the Machtergreifung. While it does not accurately represent the Berlin SA during the time of these searches, it does provide insight into the statistics over the past year or so.

Occupations of the Berlin SA 1930-31

Self-Employed 1.5%
Freelancers 7.7%
Social Workers 2.5%
Office Workers 27.0%
Manual Workers 54.0% (of this 14% unskilled)
Students 7.3%

These statistics confirm that the Berlin SA consisted largely of the working class, but there are some flaws. Since the records are more representative of 1930, they do not include the areas where the SA grew in 1931, such as Wilmersdorf, Steglitz, Charlottenburg, and Schöneberg. These areas also happened to be more upper-middle class. Although the SA remained an organization with a working class majority, it is plausible there is an overrepresentation in these statistics.

Age Groups of the Berlin SA 1930-31

Under 18 1.4%
18-20 19.0%
20-22 25.0%
22-25 25.0%
25-30 19.0%
Over 30 10.6%

The average age of the Berlin SA was much lower than any other area of the Reich. In other areas of East Germany, between 70% and 85% of the SA were under 30. However, with the underrepresentation of the middle class in this index, there may also be a slight overrepresentation of the younger SA men, who were typically working class.