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

»ore former Free Corps members,.
- 137 SSS3S&
With the ascent of -the Nasi government to power, the terroristic-
activity of the SA was partly legalized through the incorporation of
SA. men into the auxiliary polios force. 2 It was after this, between
February 1933 and June 1934-, that the terroristic activity of the SA
achieved its most brutal and broad expression •»- the pursuit, arre3t,
torture, and internment of political, racial, and religious opponents,
the "liquidation" of uncounted aati«>Nazis, the seizure of property,
the occupation of trade union and labor buildings» The boycott and
the pogroms against the Jews, too,. were in most cases instigated,
carried out, and supervised by the SA. During the same period, the
SA •» as mentioned above — was in charge of such concentration camps
as had been established. It thus shares responsibility for the crimes
committed in these camps.
b « y?3fr«1939o During this period, beginning with the Roto
purge, the SA receded into the background. The purge and its after­
math eliminated the "radical" elements in the SA, which had been
characteristic of the first "revolutionary" period of the movement.
It is not surprising that the 8A,organized on a mass basis and recruited
chiefly from the lower strata of the city population, v.hich had been
severely hit by the postwar crises, included manv elwm*-*-»- ** •
1. This part of SA activity is discussed in "The jfttltuo» of i,he,i gi
Party Toward Political Terror," HfeA Report No. 31U.1.
2. See tho Decree Qouoted above , section 1»
3. Much of the material is collected in the JJEgyn, Boofc on^the^.jlt. r
Terror. London 1934»
4. Seethe.Criminal Conspiracy Against the Jews." R&A Report. No, 3114,3.
Numerous tjhotos have been published in the German ana other' for9J-gn
press shaving the participation of the SA in anti-Jewish activiti.es.
asm