When Commies Brawled With Nazis: 5 Things You Need To Know
1.) COMMUNISTS WERE THE NAZIS CHIEF RIVAL IN BERLIN
By 1926, the Nazi party had grown to 49,000 members across the country, but nowhere were they weaker than in the capital of Berlin, the "reddest city in Europe besides Moscow," according to then-regional party leader Joseph Goebbels, where they boasted of only a few hundred members.
When Goebbels arrived in Berlin in 1926, he had the impossible task of simultaneously growing the Nazi base, dethroning the communists, and placing their defectors under the Nazi umbrella. With the Berlin outfit already in disarray and an office that "consisted of a dark basement room that reeked of cigarette smoke, sweat and beer," according to Der Spiegel, Goebbels had his work cut out for him.
"Demoralize the enemy from within by surprise, terror, sabotage, assassination."
2.) NAZIS TAILORED THEIR RHETORIC TO COURT COMMUNIST DEFECTORS
Up until the stock market crash of 1929, the Nazi party enjoyed only moderate success, but the sudden upheaval of Germany's economy left 6 million people unemployed, and the prevailing power structures of capitalism and established political parties were viewed with heavy skepticism among the working class.
"Whoever can conquer the street will one day conquer the state."
3.) NAZIS USED COMMUNIST VIOLENCE AS PROPAGANDA
Every movement needs its "martyr," the poster-child to garner sympathy. Nazis would eventually have that in the person of Horst Wessel, who quickly rose through the ranks to become one of Berlin's chief propagandists. His gift for protelatariat-style rhetoric proved indispensable for recruiting communists, making him especially hated among their ranks. This culiminated into his eventual assassination by the hands of a communist pimp, Albrecht Höhler, in 1930. The Nazis had their poster-child.
His funeral illustrated how just out-of-control Berlin had become. Communists attacked the funeral procession and tried to seize the coffin. Before the funeral, they had painted the words 'A final Heil Hitler to the pimp Horst Wessel!' on the wall of the Nikolai Cemetery.
4.) COMMUNIST POWER ENDED WITH THE INFAMOUS REICHSTAG FIRE
5.) COMMUNIST LEADER WALTER ULBRICHT BECAME EAST GERMANY'S POST-WAR LEADER
1.) COMMUNISTS WERE THE NAZIS CHIEF RIVAL IN BERLIN
By 1926, the Nazi party had grown to 49,000 members across the country, but nowhere were they weaker than in the capital of Berlin, the "reddest city in Europe besides Moscow," according to then-regional party leader Joseph Goebbels, where they boasted of only a few hundred members.
When Goebbels arrived in Berlin in 1926, he had the impossible task of simultaneously growing the Nazi base, dethroning the communists, and placing their defectors under the Nazi umbrella. With the Berlin outfit already in disarray and an office that "consisted of a dark basement room that reeked of cigarette smoke, sweat and beer," according to Der Spiegel, Goebbels had his work cut out for him.
"Demoralize the enemy from within by surprise, terror, sabotage, assassination."
2.) NAZIS TAILORED THEIR RHETORIC TO COURT COMMUNIST DEFECTORS
Up until the stock market crash of 1929, the Nazi party enjoyed only moderate success, but the sudden upheaval of Germany's economy left 6 million people unemployed, and the prevailing power structures of capitalism and established political parties were viewed with heavy skepticism among the working class.
"Whoever can conquer the street will one day conquer the state."
3.) NAZIS USED COMMUNIST VIOLENCE AS PROPAGANDA
Every movement needs its "martyr," the poster-child to garner sympathy. Nazis would eventually have that in the person of Horst Wessel, who quickly rose through the ranks to become one of Berlin's chief propagandists. His gift for protelatariat-style rhetoric proved indispensable for recruiting communists, making him especially hated among their ranks. This culiminated into his eventual assassination by the hands of a communist pimp, Albrecht Höhler, in 1930. The Nazis had their poster-child.
His funeral illustrated how just out-of-control Berlin had become. Communists attacked the funeral procession and tried to seize the coffin. Before the funeral, they had painted the words 'A final Heil Hitler to the pimp Horst Wessel!' on the wall of the Nikolai Cemetery.
4.) COMMUNIST POWER ENDED WITH THE INFAMOUS REICHSTAG FIRE
5.) COMMUNIST LEADER WALTER ULBRICHT BECAME EAST GERMANY'S POST-WAR LEADER