Iron front

Symbol of the Iron Front

The Iron Front was a merger of the Reichsbanner Schwarz-Rot-Gold , the General German Trade Union Federation (ADGB), the General Free Employees 'Federation (Afa-Bund), the SPD and the Workers' Gymnastics and Sports Federation (ATSB) in resistance against National Socialism . The KPD was one of their political opponents . The KPD chairman Ernst Thälmann characterized the Iron Front as a "terrorist organization of social fascism ".

history

Rally of the Iron Front in the Berlin Sports Palace in January 1932

Election rally of the Iron Front on the Prussian election in Berlin's Lustgarten (April 1932)

The Iron Front was founded on December 16, 1931 on the initiative of the Reich Banner in order to be able to counterbalance the amalgamation of the anti-democratic right in the Harzburg Front . The political leadership of the defense alliance lay with the party chairman of the SPD Otto Wels , the technical direction with the Reichsbanner chairman Karl Höltermann . Höltermann declared in his appeal to found the Iron Front:

“The year 1932 will be our year, the year of the republic's final victory over its opponents. We don't want to remain on the defensive for a day or an hour - we attack! Attack across the board! Our deployment must be part of the general offensive. Today we call - tomorrow we hit! "

This clear challenge caused a temporary boost in motivation among the supporters of the republic , but after accepting the Prussian blow on July 20, 1932, this turned into resignation.

The symbol of the association were three arrows that were well suited to "destroy" a swastika by painting over it. The three arrows have been interpreted differently. They stood for the opponents of the Iron Front, the three enemies of democracy : communists , monarchists and National Socialists , but also for the three pillars of the labor movement : party, trade union and imperial banner as symbols for the political, economic and physical strength of the Iron Front. The three arrows were developed by Carlo Mierendorff and Sergej Tschachotin .

The Iron Front ceased to exist on May 2, 1933 with the suppression of the labor movement and the smashing of the trade unions .

SPD posters for the 1932 Reichstag elections

Sound recording

Iron Front record

The March of the Iron Front was recorded on a FREIHEITSPLATTE branded shellac record around 1932 by members of the Berlin Schubert Choir, accompanied by a brass orchestra. The red and gold label bore the three-arrows logo.

In pop culture

The American hardcore punk band Strike Anywhere uses the three arrows of the Iron Front as their band logo, even if they - accidentally - point in the wrong direction. Their fourth studio album is also titled Iron Front based on the historical model.

literature

Robert Hofmann: SPD - History of German Social Democracy (Part 1 to 1993) CD-ROM ; Munich: Bavarian Seminar for Politics e. V., 1996
Carlo Mierendorff , Sergej Tschachotin : Basics and forms of political propaganda ; Magdeburg: Federal Board of the Reich Banner Black-Red-Gold, 1932

Web links

Günther Gerstenberg: Iron Front, 1931–1933 . In: Historical Lexicon of Bavaria .

Individual evidence

^ Siegfried Lokatis: The red thread. Communist party history and censorship under Walter Ulbricht. Böhlau Verlag, Cologne 2003, ISBN 3-412-04603-5 (= Contemporary History Studies # 25), p. 60.
↑ Strike Anywhere - Official! Retrieved March 9, 2020 .

[1] Siegfried Lokatis: The red thread. Communist party history and censorship under Walter Ulbricht. Böhlau Verlag, Cologne 2003, ISBN 3-412-04603-5 (= Contemporary History Studies # 25), p. 60.

[2] Strike Anywhere - Official! Retrieved March 9, 2020 .