Specific evidence of the activities of the SA during the early period of the Nazi Movement (1922-31) is to be found in a series of articles appearing in “Der SA-Mann” entitled, “SA Battle Experiences Which We Will Never Forget.” Each of these articles is an account of a street or meeting-hall battle waged by the SA against a group of political opponents in the early days of the Nazi struggle for power. These articles demonstrate that during this period it was the function of SA to employ physical violence in order to destroy all forms of thought and expression which might be considered hostile to Nazi aims or philosophy.
The titles of these articles are sufficiently descriptive to constitute evidence of SA activities. Some of these titles, together with the page and reference of “Der SA-Mann” upon which they appear, follow:
| Article entitled: | “We subdue the Red Terror,” 24 February, 1934: p. 4. |
| Article entitled: | “Nightly Street Battles on the Czech Border,” 8 September, 1934: p. 12. |
| Article entitled: | “Street Battle in Chemnitz,” 6 October, 1934: p. 5. |
| Article entitled: | “Victorious SA,” 20 October, 1934: p. 7. |
| Article entitled: | “SA Against Sub-Humanity,” 20 October, 1934: p. 7. |
| Article entitled: | “For the Superiority of the Street,” 10 November, 1934: p. 10. |
| Article entitled: | “The SA Conquers Rastenburg,” 26 January, 1936[[sic]]: p. 7. |
| Article entitled: | “Company 88 Receives its Baptism of Fire,” 23 February, 1935: p. 5. |
| Article entitled: | “Street Battles at Pforghein,” 23 February, 1935: p. 5. |
| Article entitled: | “The SA Breaks the Red Terror,” 1 June, 1935: p. 7. |
| Article entitled: | “The Blood Sunday of Berlin,” 10 August, 1935: p. 10. |
| Article entitled: | “West Prussian SA Breaks the Red Terror in Christburg,” 24 August, 1935: p. 15. |
| Portrait symbolizing the SA Man as the “Master of the Streets,” entitled, “Attention: Free the Streets,” 11 September, 1937: p. 1. | |
| Article entitled: | “9 November, 1923, in Nurnberg,” 30 October, 1937. |
As an example of the nature of these articles, the article appearing in the Franken Edition of “Der SA-Mann” for 30 October 1937, at page 3, is typical. It is entitled: “9 November 1923 in Nurnberg,” and reads in part as follows:
“We stayed overnight in the Coliseum. Then in the morning we found out what had happened in Munich. ‘Now a revolution will also be made in Nurnberg,’ we said. All of a sudden the Police came from the Maxtor Guard and told us that we should go home, that the Putsch in Munich failed. We did not believe that and we did not go home. Then came the State Police with fixed bayonets and drove us out of the hall. One of us then shouted ‘Let’s go to the Cafe Habsburg!’ By the time we arrived, however, the Police again had everything surrounded. Some shouted then: ‘The Jewish place will be stormed * * * Out with the Jews!’ Then the Police started to beat us up. Then we divided into small groups and roamed through town and wherever we caught a Red or a Jew we knew, a fist fight ensued.
“Then in the evening we marched, although the Police had forbidden it, to a meeting in Furth. During the promenade again the police attempted to stop us. It was all the same to us. Already in the next moment we attacked the police in our anger so that they were forced to flee. We marched on to the Geissmann Hall. There again they tried to stop us. But the Landsturm, which was also there, attacked the protection forces like persons possessed, and drove them from the streets. After the meeting we dissolved and went to the edge of town. From there we marched in close column back to Nurnberg. In the Wall Street near the Plaerrer the Police came again. We simply shoved them aside. They did not trust themselves to attack, for what would a blood bath have meant? We decided beforehand not to take anything from anyone. Also in Furth they had already noticed that we were up to no good. A large mass of people accompanied us on the march. We marched with unrolled flags and sang so that the streets resounded: Comrade reach me your hand; we want to stand together, even though they have false impressions, the spirit must not die, Swastika on the steel helmet, black—white—red armband, we are known as Storm Troop (SA) Hitler!”
Through such means the SA was chiefly responsible for destroying all political elements hostile to the Nazis, including liberalism and capitalism. This is shown by an article which appeared on 6 January, 1934, at page 1 of “Der SA-Mann,” entitled “The SA Man in the New State!”
“The New Germany would not have been without the SA man and the new Germany would not exist if the SA man would now, with the feeling of having fulfilled his duty, quietly and unselfishly and modestly step aside or if the new State would send him home much like the Moors who had done his obligations.
* * * * * *
“What has been accomplished up until now, the taking over of the power in the State and the ejection of those elements which are responsible for the pernicious developments of the post war years as bearers of Marxist liberalism, and capitalism are only the preliminaries, the spring-board for the real aims of National Socialism.