Horst Wessel

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Paul K
Unregistered
(12/30/00 6:36:14 pm)
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Can someone here please help me with a short bio of Horst Wessel?

Andy J Hill
New Member
Posts: 1
(12/30/00 10:37:46 pm)
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Born in Bielefeld on October 9th 1907, the son of a Parson.

In the summer of 1922 he joined the nationalist "Bismarck Youth" (Bismarck-Jugend) and was a member of the para-military "Viking Union" (Vikingbund)from December 1923 until the Autumn of 1926. In the December of 1926 he fell under the spell of Adolf Hitler and joined the infant Berlin SA,formed in the March of 1926 from elements of Kurt Daluege's "Frontbann Nord"

On May 1st 1929 SA-Mann Wessel of SA-Sturm 1 of SA-Standarte IV took command of SA-Troop (Squad)34. When SA-Trupp 5 at Konigstor was disbanded on May 4th 1929, Horst Wessel's squad took over the lower number, thus becoming SA-Trupp 5. Ten day's before Wessel took over the squad it had numbered 37, but by May 15th it had risen to 83. Due to it's growth the troop was upgraded to SA-Sturm (Company)5 on May 19th 1929. Horst Wessel reached his ultimate rank, SA-Sturmfuhrer.

Wessel's death have had various slants, from heroic to seedy. One version state's that Wessel was surprised by Communist's at his home at Grosse Frankfurter Strasse 62 on January 14th 1930, at was shot in the mouth and died 9 days later. Whilst another version states that he was killed as a result of a brawl over a prostitute (He had a reputation as a procurer of prostitutes).

Upon his death Goebbels propoganda machine swung into action, turning him into a martyr, with streets,buildings etc being named after him, plus various SA units, plus a Luftwaffe unit-"Fliegergeschwader Horst Wessel". This squadron later became Zerstorergeschwader 142 and finally ZG26.

Hope this helps

Josef Terzian
New Member
Posts: 7
(12/31/00 8:37:37 am)
Reply Re: Horst Wessel
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Hi all,

Sorry for being picky Andy, but according to my source, Horst Wessel was born on September 9th rather than October. Moreover, he wrote the lyrics for the "Horst Wessel Lied".

Josef Terzian

Andy J Hill
New Member
Posts: 2
(12/31/00 12:12:48 pm)
Reply Re: Horst Wessel
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Hi Josef

The most famous song by Horst Wessel is "Die Fahne Hoch"-"Raise The Flag", which became the party anthem. Other songs he wrote(?) were "Edelweiss-Lied" & "Wir Tragen an unsermbraunen Klied2 a song dedicated to his own SA-Sturm 5.

The information fron the two posts comes from Bender & Taylors work on the SS Volume 4

Regards


Andy

Goggi
Member
Posts: 146
(12/31/00 7:41:14 pm)
Reply Horst Wessel
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The music squad of Horst Wessel's SA-Sturm was also using instruments which normally were used by the Communist " Rote Frontkaempferbund". This was a constant harassment, when Horst Wessel's SA-Sturm marched thru the red districts of Berlin luring the spectators to watch, because they expected some Communist demonstartion!
Goggi

Paul K
Visitor
(1/5/01 7:25:53 pm)
Reply Horst Wessel
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Thank you for the help