Erhard Heiden
| Erhard Heiden | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Reichsführer-SS | |
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In office 1 March 1927 – 6 January 1929 |
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| Leader | Adolf Hitler |
| Preceded by | Joseph Berchtold |
| Succeeded by | Heinrich Himmler |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 23 February 1901 Weiler-Simmerberg, Germany |
| Died | c. April 1933 Germany |
| Political party | National Socialist German Workers' Party (NSDAP) |
Erhard Heiden (23 February 1901 – c. April 1933) was an early member of the Nazi Party and the third commander of the paramilitary wing of Schutzstaffel (SS), the Sturmabteilung ("Storm Detachment; SA"). He was appointed head of the SS, an elite subsection of the SA in 1927. At that time the SS numbered less than a thousand men and found it difficult to cope under the much larger SA. Heiden was not a success in the post, and SS membership dropped significantly under his leadership. He was dismissed from his post in 1929, officially for "family reasons". He was arrested after the Nazis came to power in 1933 and is believed to have been executed in April, but not buried until September that same year.
Erhard Heiden was born on 23 February 1901 in Weiler-Simmerberg, a city in Bavaria. In 1917, he attended the NCO school in Fürstenfeldbruck. Little is known about his early life.
Following Germany's defeat in World War I, hyperinflation, mass unemployment, poverty, crime and civil unrest plagued the country. During that time, Heiden served in a Freikorps unit. Also in 1919, a small right-wing political party known as the German Workers' Party (DAP) was created and seated in Munich. In 1920, it changed its name to the National Socialist German Workers' Party (Nazi Party; NSDAP). It rejected the terms of the Treaty of Versailles and advocated antisemitism and anti-Bolshevism.
In 1920, Adolf Hitler, leader of the party, instructed Ernst Röhm, a war veteran and early associate, to organize an assault section to protect Nazi officials at rallies and disrupt those of their opponents. This was the Sturmabteilung ("Storm Detachment"; SA). Röhm took advantage of the high rate of unemployed young males and quickly expanded the organization into a paramilitary force. Heiden became an early member of the Nazi Party and the SA. In 1923, Heiden joined a small bodyguard unit for Adolf Hitler named Stoßtrupp-Hitler ("Shock Troop-Hitler").
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