Stahlhelm, Bund der Frontsoldaten
| Stahlhelm, Bund der Frontsoldaten |
|
|
|
| Formation | 1918 |
|---|---|
| Founder | Franz Seldte |
| Extinction | 1935 |
| Type | Veterans' organization |
|
Membership (1930)
|
500,000 |
| Publication |
Der Stahlhelm, Die Standarte |
| Subsidiaries | Jungstahlhelm |
The Stahlhelm, Bund der Frontsoldaten ("Steel Helmet, League of Front Soldiers", also known in short form as Der Stahlhelm) was one of the many paramilitary organizations that arose after the German defeat of World War I. It was part of the "Black Reichswehr" and in the late days of the Weimar Republic operated as the armed branch of the national conservative German National People's Party (DNVP), placed at party gatherings in the position of armed security guards (Saalschutz).
The Stahlhelm was founded in December 1918 by the industrialist and former German Army reserve officer Franz Seldte in the Prussian city of Magdeburg. After the armistice of 11 November, the Imperial Army had been split up and the newly established German Reichswehr army according to the 1919 Treaty of Versailles was to be confined to no more than 100,000 troops. Similar to the numerous Freikorps, which upon the Revolution of 1918–1919 were temporarily backed by the Council of the People's Deputies under Chancellor Friedrich Ebert (Ebert–Groener pact), the paramilitary organization was meant to form an unofficial reserve force.
The league was a rallying point for revanchist and nationalistic forces from the beginning. Within the organization a worldview oriented toward the prior Imperial regime and the Hohenzollern monarchy predominated, many of its members promoting the Dolchstosslegende ("Stab-in-the-back legend") and the "November Criminals" bias against the Weimar Coalition government. Its journal, Der Stahlhelm, was edited by Count Hans-Jürgen von Blumenthal, later hanged for his part in the July 20 plot. Financing was provided by the Deutscher Herrenklub, an association of German industrialists and business magnates with elements of the East Elbian landed gentry (Junker). Jewish veterans were denied admission and formed a separate Reichsbund jüdischer Frontsoldaten.
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