Black crowds
The black multitudes were resistance groups of anarchist and anarcho-syndicalist youth and young adults in the last years of the Weimar Republic .
history
In many cities of the German Reich in the 1920s and 1930s there were small groups of the youth organization Syndicalist-Anarchist Youth of Germany (SAJD) of the Free Workers' Union of Germany (FAUD). As a protective force against the growing National Socialist movement and communist disruptive activities, local clandestine anti-fascist organizations, known as the black crowd , were founded from 1929 onwards, mostly equipped with few weapons and explosives . They dressed uniformly in black and were thus controversial in the syndicalist and anarchist movement, since uniformism was mostly rejected there. The anti-fascist formations were criticized among older comrades, as black clothing represented a militarization and the street fight could mean a relapse into the forms of political terrorism of the 19th century that had been overcome.
For a number of years the black multitudes were able to prevent attacks by the Nazis on assemblies and in working-class areas. "Everywhere the S. [black] S. [char] is not only stronger than the FAUD, but also stronger than the communist workers' militia" reported the FAUD in 1930 for the Upper Silesian area and wanted to promote this. The black multitudes were able to mobilize an average of 300–400, at most 1500, participants for their meetings. Further centers of the black multitudes were the Rhineland , Central Germany and the Berlin area . The founders included Theodor Bennek, Paul (Max) Czakon, Alfons Pilarski (Upper Silesia), Walter Kaps (Berlin), Willi Paul (Kassel) and Gustav Doster (Darmstadt).
With the seizure of power in 1933, the anarchist and anarcho-syndicalist youth organizations such as the SAJD dissolved themselves in order to avoid a ban and further arrests of the members, some of whom had been sent to the concentration camps of the National Socialists. Those who were spared either went into exile or formed an underground resistance together with older comrades. Funds were collected for imprisoned comrades, meetings were organized with other cities, courier trips were made and assistance was given to escape. Together with left youth groups, wall slogans were painted with simple means and pamphlets were printed. In the Rhineland, the Gestapo exposed the anarcho-syndicalist resistance around the turn of the year 1937 and arrested over 100 people. The young adults were taken into “ protective custody ”, tortured and most of them convicted in 1937 of “preparing for high treason”. Some were released in 1938, arrested again in 1939, sent to concentration camps and abused. Some of them died in custody. Some survivors were forced into special SS formations in 1944 . Others had already gone into exile in Spain from 1936 to fight against fascism in the Spanish civil war .
The black multitudes briefly published a magazine with rebels .
literature
- Helge Döhring: Black crowds. Anarcho-Syndicalist Workers' Armed Forces (1929–1933). Edition AV , Lich 2011, ISBN 978-3-86841-054-9 .
- Ulrich Linse , The anarchist and anarcho-syndicalist youth movement 1919–1933. Dipa-Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1976.
- Ulrich Linse, Die Schwarzen Scharen - an anti-fascist fighting organization of German anarchists. In: Archive for the history of resistance and work Bochum , No. 9 (1989), pp. 47–66.
- Ulrich Klan , Dieter Nelles: There is still a flame alive. Rhenish anarcho-syndicalists in the Weimar Republic and under fascism. Nevertheless publisher , Grafenau-Döffingen 1986.
- Rolf Theißen, Peter Walter, Johanna Wilhelms: Anti-authoritarian workers' movement in fascism. Anarcho-Syndicalist Resistance on the Rhine and Ruhr. Vol. I and II, Meppen 1980.
Movies
- It is never in vain - Young workers and National Socialism : Documentation on YouTube about a Wuppertal group of black crowds during the Nazi era
Web links
- The 'Black Sharms': A 'Paramilitary' Reaction to the Emerging National Socialism. Excerpt from: Hartmut Rübner: Freedom and Bread. The Free Workers' Union of Germany. A Study of the History of Anarcho-Syndicalism. Libertad Verlag, Berlin / Cologne 1994, ISBN 3-922226-21-3 .
- Ulrich Linse: The "Black Scharen": An anti-fascist struggle organization of German anarchists on anarchismus.at
- Black crowds against the darkness. Audio podcast from Radio Chiflado
- Black crowds, Anarcho-Syndicalist Workers' Defense 1929–33. Interview with Helge Döhring about his book of the same name. Radio Blau, Leipzig, February 2012.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Wolfram Beyer : What actually is anti-militarism ( Memento from July 22, 2015 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Dieter Nelles: Internationalism in the Dreiländereck ( Memento from January 9, 2006 in the Internet Archive ) Alfons Pilarski and the anarcho-syndicalism in Upper Silesia in the interwar period on anarchismus.at