Sturmabteilung (SA)
돌격대 (SA)
The original paramilitary militia of the Nazi Party, called the Brownshirts after the colour of its uniform shirts. It guarded Nazi rallies, broke up opponents’ meetings, fought the paramilitary units of the KPD and SPD and intimidated Jews and trade unionists, playing a major role in Hitler’s rise to power.
In depth
Growing out of the party’s meeting guard in 1921 and filled with former Freikorps men, it formed the core of the Beer Hall Putsch of 1923. Its numbers swelled after Ernst Röhm became chief of staff in 1931, and right after the seizure of power in 1933 it served as auxiliary police, arresting Communists and Social Democrats and raiding trade union offices. When Röhm demanded a “second revolution” and an army built around the SA, the generals and Hitler grew wary; after Röhm and its leadership were killed by the SS in the Night of the Long Knives of 30 June to 2 July 1934, the SA’s political weight passed to the SS. The brown shirts came from a shipment of “Lettow shirts” made for the East African colonial troops but never delivered.