Preparing for the fascist takeover: a Nazi rally in Brunswick

[Braunschweig]. German photo album.

€ 950.00

Private photo album comprising images of the Brunswick rally on 17 and 18 October 1931, the largest paramilitary march during the Weimar Republic. This was a joint rally of SA and SS men put on to show both strength in strife-weary Germany and loyalty to their leader, Adolf Hitler. Captioned the "Day of the 100,000 brownshirts", these nine photographs include one image showing leading Nazi officials at the head of the parade, including Adolf Hitler, Ernst Röhm, and Viktor Lutze. Several tens of thousands of SA and SS men from all over Germany took part in the National Socialist demonstration of power. Some contemporary reports cite up to 104,000 participants. During the rally SA men would raid workers' quarters, seek out supporters of the German Communist Party and pick fights, killing two and injuring 61 civilians. The murders of two non-involved workers led to an uproar among the working class and caused the communist party to call strikes on 22 October.

Further themes of the album include two portraits of an NSDAP follower in uniform with the swastika arm band, the Graf Zeppelin dirigible above Hildesheim, and the August Vetter hardware store. Founded in 1884, Vetter was for decades the go-to address for crafts, household and leisure in Hildesheim, selling everything from screws to toys, home appliances and china. The Vetter building was destroyed in the 1945 bombing of Hildesheim.

Holiday pictures of a family trip to Bad Pyrmont in July 1931, a day trip to the heath, a motorcycle race, and the obituary of Rudolf Warnecke, a staff member of Vetter's and a friend of the collector, give the album a more personal touch.