R & A No. 3113.7 / Principal Nazi Organizations Involved in the ...

" 193 ~ SECRET
discharged from active service to enter so-called flfehrnannschaften
(Defense Units) and to affiliate (anzugliedern) V7ith the S&„
Organization and training of those units was carried out in co­
operation tfith the Wehrmacht,, 1
These Wehrmann3chaften apparently formed the nuclei for the
full-fledged revival of the SA which took place during the years
1943-1944«> after thn appointment of V7ilhelm Schepmann as successor
to Lutze« The W^jMrnfi^oachaftep wez-e called up throughout the terri­
tory of the Greater German Reich and were made, together with the
numerous auxiliary Nazi police organizations, the chief instruments
2
for maintaining the morale of the home front, and the core of the
Nazi Mkgsturp, 3
2o Membership and Strength» Membership in the SA was voluntary
until 19 January 1939., "Membership in the SA is voluntary."^ The
SA constitutes the "voluntary political soldlerdom n of "ttie Nazi
movement. The voluntary character of SA service is greatly emphasized 5
by official Nazi sources. Thus, the Organisationsbuch der NSDaP says»
"Service in the SA is and remins voluntary. Propaganda (Werbung)
for entrance into the SA shalJ neither promise advantages nor
exercise pressure of any kind. The SA man shall have the possibility
to leave the SA if he no longer feels in agreement with
the line of the SA, or if he is no longer capable of discharging
fully the duties imposed upon him, through his membership in the Sa."
1. Ibid.
2. See for example ftieler Zeitung 29/30 May 1943; Marburger Zeitung
21 June 1943; Essener National Leitung 8 December 1943.
3. See 3, cp below,»
4. Organisationsbuch der NSDftP, Jsg. c^t., p. 358? 365*
5. log., p. 367.
SECRET