Knowra Sturmabteilung Sturmabteilung The Sturmabteilung, or SA, was the Nazi Party’s paramilitary organization, founded in 1921. It used intimidation and street violence to advance Nazi power and was sidelined after the 1934 Night of the Long Knives.
Freikorps : Paramilitary formations of demobilized German soldiers that fought political opponents after World War I. Veterans and paramilitary culture helped shape the environment in which the SA developed.
German Revolution of 1918–1919 : The upheaval that ended the German Empire and established a republic after World War I. Its political instability and armed conflict preceded the rise of Nazi paramilitaries.
Nazi seizure of power : The process by which Hitler and the Nazi Party dismantled German democracy and established dictatorship in 1933. SA violence and intimidation helped weaken opponents before and during the transition to dictatorship.
Schutzstaffel : The SS was a Nazi organization that evolved into a central instrument of surveillance, repression, and genocide. The SS overtook the SA in power and controlled the regime’s security apparatus.
Beer Hall Putsch : An attempted coup in Munich in November 1923, led by Adolf Hitler and other Nazi leaders. SA members took part in the coup, whose failure temporarily disrupted the organization.
Weimar Republic : Germany’s republican government from 1918 to 1933, marked by political conflict and economic crises. The SA grew amid the republic’s street politics and worked to destroy its democratic institutions.
Nazi concentration camps : Detention sites established by the Nazi regime to imprison, exploit, and persecute people it targeted. SA members guarded and administered early camps before the SS took control.
Gestapo : The Gestapo was Nazi Germany’s secret state police, responsible for monitoring and terrorizing alleged opponents. Unlike the SA’s public street violence, the Gestapo operated through policing and secret surveillance.
Nazi Party : The National Socialist German Workers’ Party, which ruled Germany under Adolf Hitler from 1933 to 1945. The SA was the party’s paramilitary wing, rather than an independent political movement.
Adolf Hitler : The leader of the Nazi Party and dictator of Germany from 1933 to 1945. Hitler used the SA to build the party’s presence and intimidate political opponents.
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