Activity 3: No Freedom of Expression
Even before the Nazis came to power in 1933, their SA (storm troopers) used violence and intimidation to break up the meetings of other political groups.
The Munchner Neueste Nachrichten newspaper described a meeting of the federalist Bavarian League on 14 September 1921, which was disrupted by the Nazi Storm Troopers. Read this passage.
| “The meeting, which was well attended, came to a premature end owing to an attack systematically planned by the National Socialists. National Socialist youths had earlier on taken the seats near the speakers’ platform, and numerous National Socialists were distributed as well throughout the hall. When Hitler, the leader of the National Socialists, appeared in the hall, he was greeted by his followers with demonstrative applause. His arrival gave the cue for the violence that followed… Hitler’s followers, bent on making it a National Socialist meeting…occupied the platform…The uproar grew even worse when someone tried to prevent the fight which was feared by switching off the electricity…A [plain-clothes] detective declared the meeting dissolved. A fairly strong group of state police then cleared the hall…” |
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Why do you think the Nazis wanted to break up meetings of other political groups?
