Talk:Stahlhelm, Bund der Frontsoldaten
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looks like this page works..
Ok - question: AFAIK Stahlhelm was primarily an (infulential conservative) veteran's organization. I keep seeing it called it a paramilitary org - did they actually have military units ?
- They had. In fact, they could be called the paramilitary wing of the German National People's Party (DNVP), although they weren't offically a part of the DNVP. However, Stahlhelm was not a Freikorps. The Freikorps were militia associations of ex-soldiers that were led against rebellious leftists and workers, while Stahlhelm was a paramilitary and - despite of its claim of being nonpartial - far-right political organisation. The Freikorps were actually used by the Weimar government to fight down anti-Weimar leftist rebellions. Although their members were by and large anti-democratic, they weren't really political organisations. Third Reich resistance fighters like Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Martin Niemöller and Paul Schneider were Freikorps members or received military training by them. Stahlhelm, on the other hand, played an active role in the overthrow of the Weimar system. Of course, many Freikorps fighters later became Stahlhelm members, as the right-wing anti-Weimar political movement largely consisted of ex-soldiers who found themselves unable to reintegrate into civilian life after WW I was lost. See the article about Weimar paramilitary groups. 87.169.33.176 02:13, 28 November 2006 (UTC)
