Sturmabteilung

The Sturmabteilung (listen ; often shortened to SA or Storm Division) was the Nazi Party's paramilitary group (its militia). They were nicknamed "Brownshirts" for their uniforms. The SA was formed in 1920 and had several leaders, including Ernst Röhm.The SA helped Adolf Hitler rise to power in the 1930s.^[1] The Nazi Schutzstaffel (SS) replaced the SA in 1934 after the Night of the Long Knives (where Röhm was killed).

Sturmabteilung

SA insignia
Adolf Hitler and Ernst Röhm inspecting the SA in Nuremberg in 1933
Agency overview
Formed	1920
Dissolved	May 8, 1945
Superseding agency	Schutzstaffel (c. 1934 onwards)
Type	Paramilitary
Jurisdiction	Weimar Republic Nazi Germany
Headquarters	SA High Command, Barerstraße, Munich 48°8′37.53″N 11°34′6.76″E
Ministers responsible	Emil Maurice (1920–1921), Oberster SA-Führer Hans Ulrich Klintzsch (1921–1923), Oberster SA-Führer Hermann Göring (1923), Oberster SA-Führer Franz Pfeffer von Salomon (1926–1930), Oberster SA-Führer Adolf Hitler (1930–1945), Oberster SA-Führer
Agency executives	Otto Wagener (1929–1931), Stabschef-SA Ernst Röhm (1931–1934), Stabschef-SA Viktor Lutze (1934–1943), Stabschef-SA Wilhelm Schepmann (1943–1945), Stabschef-SA
Parent agency	Nazi Party (NSDAP)
Child agency	Schutzstaffel (until c. July 1934)

Purpose

The SA's biggest purposes were to:^[1][2][3]

• Help the Nazis rise to power
• Protect Nazi rallies and gatherings
• Intimidate Jews, Roma people, and trade unionists
• Disrupt the meetings of other political parties
• Fight the paramilitary units of these other parties, especially the Communist Party of Germany and the Social Democratic Party of Germany

The SA have been called "the gangsters of the early days of Nazi terrorism".^[2]

The SS replaces the SA

Main article: The Night of the Long Knives

The SS began as a small part of the SA but later replaced it.The Army^[3] and other conservatives disliked the SA. In 1934 Adolf Hitler launched the Night of the Long Knives, a purge that lasted from June 30 to July 2. In the purge, the SS arrested and killed the SA's leaders. Then the SS replaced the SA as the Nazi Party's paramilitary wing.^[1][3]

Names

The word Sturmabteilung was used even before the Nazi Party was founded in 1919.^[2]

Literally, it means “assault detachment” or “assault section”. The word "assault" here means "military attack." Sturmabteilung originally described Germany's specialized assault troops in World War I, who used Hutier infiltration tactics. The name is often translated to English as "Storm Troopers" or "Storm Division".^[1]

During their time, the SA were often called the Braunhemden (Brownshirts) because they wore brown uniforms.^[1] (Similarly, Mussolini's paramilitary wing were nicknamed the Camicia Nera - the "Blackshirts" - because of their black uniforms.^[3])

Related pages

• Nazi Germany
• Nazi Party
• Night of the Long Knives
• Ernst Röhm
• Paramilitary