Wehrwolf (military association)

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The military wolf. Association of German Men and Front Warriors was a nationalist and anti-republic, paramilitary military association in the Weimar Republic . It consisted mainly of Freikorps members and officers of lower ranks. At its heyday from 1924 to 1929 it had about 30,000 to 40,000 members.

history

The Wehrwolf was founded as a Central German Protection Association on January 11, 1923 in Halle an der Saale . Leading members of the then temporarily forbidden Stahlhelm-Bund such as Theodor Duesterberg and Fritz Kloppe , who founded the association as a preliminary organization for the recruitment and training of young members for the Stahlhelm, played a decisive role . Kloppe became federal leader of the Wehrwolf (from 1923 to 1933).

In the first half of 1923, the association expanded with the support of the Stahlhelm in Central Germany , then in the rest of the German Reich . On the first representative day of the local groups on May 12, the organization was finally in Wehrwolf. Renamed Federation of German Men and Front Warriors .

As early as 1923, in cooperation with the Reichswehr , the military training of the members, u. a. on Gewehr 98 , Pistole 08 , MG 08/15 , hand grenades, rifle grenades, mine throwers and infantry guns.

In 1924 the Wehrwolf severed its organizational ties to the Stahlhelm, although there were still local cooperation agreements in place.

In 1926/27 a system of military sport performance tests was introduced in the Wehrwolf . In addition, the ethnic elements intensified , a “ Third Reich ” based on the “ Volksgemeinschaft ” or a “social Greater Germany” was called for. In January 1926, the German newspaper of the Pan-German Association wished the Wehrwolf luck in his endeavors. The Völkischer Beobachter published several articles in September 1927 that praised the military wolf or wished him luck. However , the Wehrwolf turned down several requests to join the NSDAP ; Instead, he proposed a “united front” of all national revolutionary organizations. In December of that year, however, the attack was rejected, "unless Adolf Hitler had absolute leadership!" In the same month, Wehrwolf Federal Leader Kloppe took over the chairmanship of the Patriotic Opposition Bloc , an alliance around the German National Freedom Movement . However, after internal disputes, the Wehrwolf left the alliance before the Reichstag election in May 1928 .

In 1927/28 the police seized large contingents of weapons from Wehrwolf leaders, which is why the association in Hamburg was banned by the Senate on December 20, 1929.

On September 10 and 11, 1927, the Reich Meeting took place in Potsdam , the focus of which was on military sports competitions. In the special supplement published by the Wehrwolf it said:

“Therefore turn your eyes to the east. Our salvation lies there alone. Shout it out to the people that you want the crusade, the rescue of the 20 million. Preach the crusade from west to east. The crusade of homeland love, ethnic brotherhood love, species conservation, space expansion and work! Preaches the Great Migration to the East. Calls for the great feat of colonization: to acquire land in war and peace "

In the programmatic declaration, the Reich guidelines of 1928, it says:

"We affirm the war because without it we see no possibility of solving the German question."

From 1930 the Wehrwolf was overtaken by the NSDAP. 1930 and 1931 made attempts to contact the Freikorps Oberland and the revolutionaries fighting community Nazis of Otto Strasser to connect failed.

In the summer of 1933, at his own request, the Wehrwolf was integrated into the Sturmabteilung , the Jungwolf into the Hitler Youth and the Wehrwolf Kraftfahrstaffel into the National Socialist Motor Corps , with which the association ceased to exist.

organization

The Wehrwolf organized according to the leader principle ; the federal leadership was subordinate to the state leadership, to which the Gaue and ultimately the local groups were subordinate. Young members between the ages of 14 and 17 were organized in the Jungwolf . Members of the Faithful Ekkehart Group who were over 24 years old took on the training of young people. Women were grouped into victim groups that were affiliated with the local groups.

The ten-day newspaper Der Wehrwolf was published by the federal leadership from 1924 onwards .

Identification mark

The flag of the military wolf showed a silver skull on a black background, that of the young wolf a wolf rod on a black background.

The uniforms of the members passed a. made of field gray tunics with a white skull on a black collar tab , belt with skull on the lock, black-white-red armband with skull and black cap.

Known members

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l Kurt Finker: “Wehrwolf. Association of German Men and Front Warriors ”, in: Dieter Fricke u. a. (Ed.): The bourgeois parties in Germany . Volume II. The European Book, Berlin 1968, pp. 835-840.
  2. ^ Reimer Wulff: The German National Freedom Party 1922–1928. Hochschulschrift, Marburg 1968, p. 160.
  3. ↑ Quoted from Finker, p. 838.
  4. ↑ Quoted from Finker, p. 838.