Stahlhelm putsch

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The scene of the Stahlhelm Putsch on March 27, 1933 in Braunschweig: the AOK building
Memorial plaque in front of the AOK building for the victims of the Stahlhelm Putsch

The event referred to as the Stahlhelm Putsch by the leadership of the NSDAP in the Free State of Braunschweig , generally known as the Stahlhelm Action or Stahlhelm Conflict , took place on Monday, March 27, 1933 in Braunschweig . Under the leadership of the NSDAP interior minister and later Prime Minister of the State of Braunschweig , Dietrich Klagges , the National Socialists there managed to ban and permanently disarm the right-wing national and ultra-conservative Stahlhelm, Bund der Frontsoldaten ("Stahlhelm") , in the city and country of Braunschweig . The event, “one of the greatest orgies of violence that ever took place in Braunschweig” , immediately attracted nationwide attention through appropriately launched and tendentious reports in the National Socialist press , whereby the resistance of the Braunschweig Stahlhelm is to be regarded as an extraordinary incident in the entire German Reich .

Through massive political influence and press censorship on the part of the Nazi regime, Interior Minister Klagges succeeded in manipulating public opinion so that large sections of the population actually believed that the events were an attempted coup against the Stahlhelm-Bund , which is seen as political competition the incumbent Reich government under Adolf Hitler was acting. The press controlled by the National Socialists spread this representation. Nevertheless, it quickly became clear that it was not a “coup d'état” in the true sense of the word. On March 30th, just three days after the events in Braunschweig, Victor Klemperer wrote in his diary: “[…] The feeling prevails (especially since the Stahlhelm riot in Braunschweig was played and immediately covered up) that this reign of terror will hardly last long , but will bury us in a fall [...]. "

prehistory

Reich banner ban

In the weeks following the seizure of power on January 30, 1933, the National Socialists gradually increased the pressure on their political opponents, for example by arbitrarily or deliberately covering their clubs and political associations with all kinds of reprisals . On March 9, 1933, the SPD- dominated alliance Reichsbanner Schwarz-Rot-Gold  - or "Reichsbanner" for short - was banned. In the run-up to this ban, members of the Reichsbanner had already been systematically persecuted, deported to concentration camps and tortured. Many Reichsbanner members were therefore looking for a way to escape persecution by the Nazi regime, and since many of them - due to their membership in the Reichsbanner - were unemployed, they hoped to get new work by joining the Stahlhelm .

Matthias Theisen , a functionary in the Braunschweig SPD, was only beaten up by SS members on March 25, 1933 in such a way that he succumbed to his injuries on April 10, 1933, but not without first advising the Gau youth leader of the Reichsbanner, Hans Hedermann , to look for a "way out" for Reichsbanner members. In Braunschweig, switching to the steel helmet seemed to be the lesser evil for many and thus offered this way out - namely to avoid being forced into Nazi organizations.

Rivalry between Stahlhelm and Nazi organizations in Braunschweig

At the beginning of 1933 the Braunschweiger Stahlhelm had around 400 members, while around 3,000 people belonged to Nazi organizations. The tensions between the two “parties” had grown steadily, as some of the Stahlhelm members saw their political position and independence endangered by the SA and other Nazi organizations. An attempt was therefore made to increase the number of members of the Stahlhelm in order to alleviate the considerable imbalance in numbers.

Agreement between Reichsbanner and Stahlhelm

Between leading members of the banned Reichsbanner and leading members of the Stahlhelm, among them Werner Schrader , senior teacher in Wolfenbüttel and since 1927 Stahlhelm Landesführer in the Free State of Braunschweig, it was agreed to grant former Reichsbanner members the opportunity to enter the Braunschweiger Stahlhelm, including the Gau leader of the Stahlhelm Braunschweig-Stadt Nowack was there. Hedermann counted on around 180 willing to change. In order to avoid that the National Socialists could see the action as a "provocation" , it was agreed between the Reichsbanner and Stahlhelm leadership that those wishing to join should be registered individually and subjected to an individual examination. Braunschweig's deputy police chief Schneider was informed of the project by phone on March 27th.

Schrader's letter to Duesterberg

Werner Schrader wanted to accept the Reichsbanner people from March 27, 1933 in the AOK premises at Fallersleber Tor. The Stahlhelm had procured the building for itself as "barracks" by simply occupying it and driving out the health insurance employees. On March 20, before the Enabling Act was passed (Reichsgesetzblatt of March 24, 1933), Schrader wrote a corresponding letter to Theodor , bypassing Franz Seldte , the first federal leader of the steel helmet , whom he considered too compliant and willing to compromise with the regime Duesterberg , the second federal leader, in which he called for a more determined attitude towards them in view of the fact that the most important political offices were already occupied by National Socialists, in order not to be caught off guard and to prevent the steel helmet from becoming politically would be further weakened. Schrader wrote, among other things, that he would “put pressure on the National Socialists” in order to “prevent the black-white-red battle front from being overrun by the National Socialists ... The NSDAP only helps with extreme cheek.” He was already in contact for this purpose as Minister President of Brunswick and at the same time Minister of Finance and Justice Werner Küchenthal ( DNVP ) to assure him of the (paramilitary) support from the Stahlhelm to the NSDAP. He also wrote: “My deepest concern is that we will be crushed and overrun by the NSDAP in the near future, and that in and of itself would be completely indifferent to me if I knew that the NSDAP alone would be able to do this to save the fatherland. But I know that the NSDAP is incapable of doing this. If the steel helmet fails now, then the favorable future is seriously in question. "

The "coup"

Around 3,000 to 4,000 people, according to other sources between 500 and around 1,300, including Communists, Social Democrats, trade unionists and others, met on the evening of March 27 at around 8:15 p.m. at Fallersleber Tor to meet in the AOK building there to register new Stahlhelm members. Numerous men were accompanied by their wives. However, the plan became known to the Brunswick Nazi leadership under Interior Minister Klagges, whereupon the latter, together with SS leader Friedrich Alpers and the commander of the Brunswick police, Lieutenant Colonel Herbert Selle , attacked the AOK building and the AOK building there people present. Klagges allegedly assumed that the national conservative armed steel helmet auxiliary police threatened to be infiltrated by hundreds of former left Reichsbanner members, which would have "considerable dangers for the success of the national uprising" .

In view of the much larger number of people than expected and after around 1000 people had already registered, the on-site steel helmet guide gave the order that all people had to leave the AOK building. Even before the order could be carried out, armed SA and SS units, accompanied by regular police, who had been dispatched because of the “threat of a coup” , marched on and attacked both the people and the building with batons and firearms with numerous injuries. The SS and police drove the people out of the building, while the SA auxiliary police in front of the AOK building again drove them back into the building by using baton and shooting, which caused a panic. In contrast to the old Stahlhelm members, whose World War II medals were torn down, but who otherwise remained largely unmolested, the former Reichsbanner members were severely mistreated by the SS and SA for up to 30 hours, so that the hospitals were soon overcrowded. A total of around 1,400 people were arrested, most of whom were held under adverse conditions (large rooms, densely occupied, without daylight, little food), including in the basement of the AOK building now occupied by the SA. Many of the so-called “ protective prisoners ” were severely mistreated by the SA.

Political and legal aftermath

The Braunschweigische Landeszeitung, controlled by the National Socialists, declared the events on its front page on the following day as a “counter-revolutionary attack” by the Stahlhelm . Interior Minister Klagges justified the procedure by accusing the Stahlhelm of an attempted coup against the government - a version that was picked up and circulated by the Nazi-controlled German press. On March 28, Klagges dissolved the Stahlhelm in the Free State of Braunschweig and had all the officials, including Werner Schrader, imprisoned in Wolfenbüttel prison. In addition, he had the Stahlhelm auxiliary police disarmed throughout the Free State, revoked their status as auxiliary police and handed the AOK building over to the SA auxiliary police, which used it as headquarters and protective custody prison. In addition, Klagges subsequently banned the steel helmet from being moved several times .

On the part of the Braunschweiger Stahlhelm members, the events led to an intensified opposition to the Nazi regime and its representatives. While the first Stahlhelm groups in the German Reich disbanded in the summer of 1933, things were different in the city and in the Free State of Braunschweig - for example, SA members were boycotted by Stahlhelm . Tensions also grew on the part of the SA: In May, for example, an SA man shot and killed a Stahlhelm member in the street while moving. Klagges assessed the act as having been committed in “boyish recklessness” and had the shooter detained for a few days, only to be released again without further punishment.

Conversation between Seldte and Klagges

Hugenberg (left), von Stephani (center) and Seldte (right) at a rally on the occasion of the referendum against the acceptance of the Young Plan in 1929 in the Berlin Sports Palace

The news of the events in Braunschweig hit the rest of the Reich like a bomb and sparked hectic activity in Berlin. Stahlhelm leader Franz Seldte, who was also Reich Minister of Labor , demanded immediate intervention by Hitler, who was in Munich at the time. After consulting Hermann Göring , Seldte and Franz von Stephani , the Berlin steel helmet guide and confidante of Göring, immediately set off by plane to Braunschweig to discuss the situation with Klagges.

The meeting on the afternoon of March 28, 1933 led to the following results: The Stahlhelm-Bundesführung initiated disciplinary measures against the state leadership in the Free State with immediate effect; the measures taken by the state government on the part of the Reich government were recognized as legitimate; Klagges' earlier ban on the steel helmet on April 1 was lifted again, and the Stahlhelm leaders arrested on March 27 were released - although the last ones, including Schrader, were not released from custody until April 19 . A rearmament of the steel helmet or its rehabilitation were not the subject of the discussions. From then on, only those who had been admitted to the association before March 6, 1933 were considered Stahlhelm members. The morning after the “coup” , the Reich government also dealt with the incidents in a cabinet meeting and declared them to be over in view of the communiqué jointly drafted by Seldte and Klagges . Seldte and DNVP chairman Alfred Hugenberg distanced themselves from the events. Seldte accused the Braunschweiger Stahlhelm leaders of incorrect and questionable behavior. Seldte's behavior in the matter and his entry into the NSDAP, which took place only a little later in April 1933, ultimately led to a break with Duesterberg.

Conversation Duesterberg - Hitler

Hugenberg (left) and Duesterberg (right) in March 1932 at an election rally of the DNVP in the Sports Palace on the occasion of the presidential election

Duesterberg, to whom Schrader's letter was addressed, met Hitler shortly afterwards at a reception with Franz von Papen in the Reich President's Palace and spoke to him about the events in Braunschweig, whereby - as Duesterberg reports in his memoir "Der Stahlhelm und Hitler" published in 1949 - Klagges' (brutal) approach is said to have criticized with the words: “Klagges is pushing things too far in Braunschweig!” To which Hitler is said to have replied “full of hatred” : “You first gave your Führer Schrader the order for a putsch. So you are to blame. "

Consequences for the Stahlhelm in Braunschweig and in the Reich

The federal steel helmet leadership exchanged the state leadership of the Braunschweig steel helmet . First, the Braunschweig regional association was subordinated to the Hanover regional leader, Lieutenant General von Henning . Negotiations took place between the Brunswick state government and the Reich government, for which purpose a separate secretariat was set up at the Stahlhelm chaired by Stephani , the Berlin leader . A few days later, the federal leadership appointed General von Hammerstein as the new Brunswick regional leader. However, to the surprise of Seldte and the NSDAP in Braunschweig, the latter issued a declaration of honor for Schrader and the Braunschweig Stahlhelm as a whole, saying that they were “completely innocent in the matter” , which in turn led to further tensions between the Stahlhelm and the NSDAP.

Proceedings were initiated against Werner Schrader, who had meanwhile been deprived of his teaching license, and a number of other executives involved in the Braunschweig Special Court : The responsible public prosecutor claimed that the defendants had the aim of overthrowing Klagges and replacing them with Schrader. However, the proceedings were discontinued on June 20, 1933 on the basis of a law of June 12, 1933: "For the purpose of further promoting the establishment of the national community, impunity is granted with regard to such criminal offenses that occurred on the occasion of the events in the Braunschweig local health insurance fund from March 27, 1933 .1933 committed. "

In view of the Braunschweig incidents, Seldte asked Duesterberg to resign in a letter dated March 31, but withdrew both the letter and the claim it contained on the following day. In 1934 the steel helmet was "voluntarily" brought into line and in 1935 its official dissolution.

First documentation of the events

" Terror in Braunschweig ", published shortly after the events in 1933

Hans Reinowski , who worked for the Braunschweig SPD as district secretary until he fled Germany in 1933, wrote the report “Terror in Braunschweig. From the first quarter of Hitler's rule ” . This presentation, which was published simultaneously in German, English and French, is one of the earliest documentations of Nazi atrocities in Braunschweig. In the 30-page brochure, Reinowski describes the reprisals of the Nazi regime against politically dissenters in the city and country of Braunschweig. His documentation contains, among other things, initial information about the “Stahlhelm Putsch” , the murder of the SPD politician Matthias Theisen , the occupation of the Volksfreund-Haus and the Rieseberg murders of eleven KPD members, which were committed shortly before the brochure went to press .

See also

  • Röhm Putsch , end of June / beginning of July 1934, effects on National Socialist propaganda

literature

  • Reinhard Bein : Resistance in National Socialism - Braunschweig 1930 to 1945. Braunschweig 1985.
  • Reinhard Bein: Time signals. City and State of Braunschweig 1930–1945. 2nd edition, Braunschweig 2006.
  • Braunschweiger Zeitung (Ed.): Braunschweiger Zeitung Special: How Hitler became German. No. 1 (2007), Braunschweig 2007.
  • Hans-Ulrich Ludewig and Dietrich Kuessner : "So everyone should be warned" - The Braunschweig Special Court 1933–1945. In: Sources and research on the Braunschweig national history. Volume 36, self-published by the Braunschweigischer Geschichtsverein, Langenhagen 2000.
  • Hans Reinowski : Terror in Braunschweig . From the first quarter of Hitler's rule. Report issued by the Commission investigating the situation of political prisoners. Publishing House Socialist Workers International, Zurich 1933.
  • Ernst-August Roloff : Bourgeoisie and National Socialism 1930–1933. Braunschweig's way into the Third Reich. Hanover 1961.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ "This is how one of the greatest orgies of violence that ever took place in Braunschweig ended and found its way into history under the name 'Stahlhelmputsch'." Quoted from: Bernhard Kiekenap : SS-Junkerschule. SA and SS in Braunschweig. Braunschweig 2008, p. 33.
  2. ↑ a b c d Reinhard Bein: Zeitzeichen. City and State of Braunschweig 1930–1945. 2nd edition, Braunschweig 2006, p. 42.
  3. ↑ a b c d Hans-Ulrich Ludewig and Dietrich Kuessner: "Let everyone be warned" - The Braunschweig Special Court 1933–1945. P. 63.
  4. ↑ a b Bernhard Kiekenap: SS Junk School. SA and SS in Braunschweig. Braunschweig 2008, p. 33.
  5. ↑ Reinhard Bein: Resistance in National Socialism - Braunschweig 1930 to 1945. P. 59 f.
  6. ↑ a b Braunschweiger Zeitung (ed.): Braunschweiger Zeitung Special: How Hitler became German. No. 1 (2007), p. 32.
  7. ↑ a b front page of the Braunschweigische Landeszeitung from March 28, 1933
  8. ↑ quoted from: Ernst-August Roloff: “Rebellion of the conscience” or rebellion of the disappointed? Motives of the national-conservative resistance against National Socialism using the example of Wolfenbüttel senior teacher Werner Schrader. In: Scientific journal of the Braunschweigisches Landesmuseum. No. 4, Braunschweig 1997, p. 128
  9. ↑ a b c d Reinhard Bein: Zeitzeichen. City and State of Braunschweig 1930–1945. 2nd edition, Braunschweig 2006, p. 52.
  10. ↑ a b Reinhard Bein: Resistance in National Socialism - Braunschweig 1930 to 1945. P. 58.
  11. ^ A b c Ernst-August Roloff: Bourgeoisie and National Socialism 1930–1933. Braunschweig's way into the Third Reich. Hanover 1961, p. 148.
  12. ^ A b c Hans Reinowski: Terror in Braunschweig. From the first quarter of Hitler's rule. Report issued by the Commission investigating the situation of political prisoners. P. 22f.
  13. ↑ Ernst-August Roloff: “Revolt of the Conscience” or Rebellion of the Disappointed? Motives of the national-conservative resistance against National Socialism using the example of Wolfenbüttel senior teacher Werner Schrader. In: Scientific journal of the Braunschweigisches Landesmuseum. No. 4, Braunschweig 1997, p. 129.
  14. ↑ a b c d e f Reinhard Bein: Resistance in National Socialism - Braunschweig 1930 to 1945. P. 59.
  15. ↑ a b c Hans-Ulrich Ludewig and Dietrich Kuessner: "So everyone should be warned" - The Braunschweig Special Court 1933–1945. P. 64
  16. ↑ Reinhard Bein: Zeitzeichen. City and State of Braunschweig 1930–1945. 2nd edition, Braunschweig 2006, p. 53 f.
  17. ^ Hans Reinowski: Terror in Braunschweig. From the first quarter of Hitler's rule. Report issued by the Commission investigating the situation of political prisoners. P. 24.
  18. ↑ a b c d Ernst-August Roloff: Bourgeoisie and National Socialism 1930–1933. Braunschweig's way into the Third Reich. Hanover 1961, p. 150.
  19. ^ Theodor Duesterberg: The steel helmet and Hitler. Wolfenbüttel and Hannover 1949, p. 51.
  20. ^ Theodor Duesterberg: The steel helmet and Hitler. Wolfenbüttel and Hannover 1949, p. 46.
  21. ^ Ernst-August Roloff: Bourgeoisie and National Socialism 1930–1933. Braunschweig's way into the Third Reich. Hanover 1961, p. 152.
  22. ^ Ernst-August Roloff: Bourgeoisie and National Socialism 1930–1933. Braunschweig's way into the Third Reich. Hanover 1961, p. 151.

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