The Beer Hall Putsch

By early November 1923, Hitler was convinced that the Weimar Republic was on the verge of collapse, and he declared that the Nazi Party was to lead a "march on Berlin" to overthrow Germany's government of "Jewish-Marxist traitors". The first stage of the Nazi revolution would take place in Munich, where Hitler and the SA planned to depose the Bavarian state government and win over local army units to their cause. After a rabble-rousing speech in a beer hall from their leader, Hitler's supporters spread out through the city with the intention of seizing key buildings. This resulted in the coup d'etat attempt being dubbed the Beer Hall Putsch. The small Stosstrupp Adolf Hitler was given the task of ransacking the offices of the social-democratic Munich Post newspaper, as Hitler and the main column of Nazis headed for the Bavarian War Ministry building. Unfortunately for Hitler, he had misjudged the mood of the country, which was now starting to recover from the post-war chaos. The army soldiers outside the ministry stood their ground and opened fire on the Nazi plotters. Some 16 Nazis were killed in the confusion, and Hitler dislocated his shoulder as he dived for cover. The putsch ended in fiasco. Hitler and several other plotters were arrested.

During the 13 months he spent in Landsberg prison (he was convicted of conspiracy to commit treason and given a five-year sentence), Hitler's bodyguard was disbanded. The period of imprisonment did nothing to dampen Hitler's quest for power; rather, he emerged from jail with a long-term plan to achieve his aims. Germany was now a more prosperous and stable place, so Hitler's apocalyptic vision of future struggles had to be tempered. He now talked about using legal methods to gain power, and tried to portray himself as a "normal" constitutional politician.

The birth of the SS

Hitler was still convinced that his opponents, both within and outside the Nazi Party, would try to kill him if they had the opportunity. On his release from prison he moved quickly to re-establish his bodyguard. In April 1925 only eight men were in the group that was soon renamed the Schutz Staffel, or Protection Squad. This title was quickly abbreviated to SS, creating the infamous name and, because of their distinctive black uniforms, they were soon nicknamed the Black Guard or Black Order. Their uniforms were adorned with the letters SS, stylized as distinctive Nordic runes.

For the next four years the SS was a small, élite group of bodyguards that travelled with Hitler wherever he went. They were initially volunteers who did their security work in the evenings or at weekends. Only a small number of the 300 or so SS men were full-time on the Nazi Party payroll. As Hitler moved to establish the Nazi Party as a national body outside of his Bavarian power base, the SS was expanded and small detachments were set up in every major German city to protect local leaders and party meetings. The SS was deliberately kept small so its total loyalty to Hitler could be assured. Already, Hitler was growing suspicious of Röhm and the SA because their "hot-headed" behaviour was threatening his attempts to re-brand the Nazi Party as a "respectable" political force (Röhm saw the SA as the nucleus of a revolutionary army).

prev | next