Editing Weimar paramilitary groups (section)

==Groups affiliated with political parties==
=== Right-wing ===
[[File:Bundesarchiv B 145 Bild-P046284, Berlin, Reichspräsidentenwahl, Werbung "Stahlhelm".jpg|thumb|266x266px|''Der Stahlhelm'' propaganda car in Berlin promoting [[DNVP]] nominee [[Theodor Duesterberg]] for president of Germany in the [[1932 German presidential election|1932 election]]. The message on the truck reads: "Whoever wants a true people's community votes for Duesterberg, the German man".]]
* ''[[Der Stahlhelm, Bund der Frontsoldaten]]'' (The Steel Helmet, League of Front-Line Soldiers), was officially a veterans' organization with about 500,000 members. Led by [[Franz Seldte]] and with ties at the leadership level to the ''Reichswehr'', it was opposed to the Weimar Republic and politically close to the [[German National People's Party]] (DNVP) and other conservative groups. In 1931 it formed part of the [[Harzburg Front]], an anti-democratic political alliance that included the [[Nazi Party]]. In 1934 it was integrated into the SA and dissolved in 1935.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Asmuss |first=Burkhard |date=14 September 2014 |title=Der Stahlhelm, Bund der Frontsoldaten |trans-title=The Steel Helmet, League of Front-Line Soldiers |url=https://www.dhm.de/lemo/kapitel/weimarer-republik/innenpolitik/stahlhelm-bund-der-frontsoldaten.html |access-date=22 July 2024 |website=Deutsches Historisches Museum |language=de}}</ref>
* ''[[Deutschvölkischer Schutz- und Trutzbund]]'' (German Nationalist Protection and Defiance Federation) was an antisemitic [[Völkisch movement|''völkisch'']] group led by [[Alfred Roth (politician)|Alfred Roth]]. Its membership peaked at about 200,000 when it was banned by the German government in 1922. It was notable for its revisionist propaganda regarding Germany's defeat in World War I and for attacking Jews, [[Social Democratic Party of Germany|Social Democrats]] and middle-class supporters of the Republic.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Leicht |first=Johannes |date=25 June 2015 |title=Der Deutschvölkische Schutz- und Trutzbund |trans-title=German Nationalist Protection and Defiance Federation |url=https://www.dhm.de/lemo/kapitel/weimarer-republik/antisemitismus/der-deutschvoelkische-schutz-und-trutzbund.html |access-date=22 July 2024 |website=Deutsches Historisches Museum |language=de}}</ref>
* ''[[Sturmabteilung]]'' (SA; English "Storm Division") was formed by [[Adolf Hitler]] in 1921, with most of its members coming from the ''Freikorps''. As part of the Nazi Party, it protected its meetings, marched in its rallies and was often involved in street violence against members of the political left. Led by [[Ernst Röhm]] beginning in 1931, it had an estimated 2,000,000 members when Hitler became German chancellor.<ref>{{Cite web |date=14 May 2024 |title=SA |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/SA-Nazi-organization |access-date=22 July 2024 |website=Encyclopedia Britannica}}</ref>
* ''[[Kampfbund]]'' (Battle League) was a Bavarian umbrella group involving the SA, the [[Freikorps Oberland]] and the ''[[Bund Reichskriegsflagge]]'' (Imperial War Flag Society). It was created on 1 September 1923 to consolidate and streamline their agendas after the government in Berlin called off passive resistance to the French and Belgian [[occupation of the Ruhr]]. It planned and conducted the [[Beer Hall Putsch]] and disbanded after it failed.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Zelnhefer |first=Siegfried |date=8 September 2021 |title=Deutscher Kampfbund, 1923 |url=https://www.historisches-lexikon-bayerns.de/Lexikon/Deutscher_Kampfbund,_1923 |access-date=23 July 2024 |website=Historisches Lexikon Bayerns |language=de}}</ref>

=== Center to center-left ===
* ''[[Reichsbanner Schwarz-Rot-Gold]]'' (Reich Banner Black-Red-Gold) was devoted to the defense of the Weimar Republic. It was founded by former front-line soldiers of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (who made up the majority of the group), the [[German Democratic Party]] and the Catholic [[Centre Party (Germany)|Centre Party]]. Organized militarily, its main opponents were the Nazi SA and the [[Communist Party of Germany]]'s ''[[Roter Frontkämpferbund]]''. The ''Reichsbanner'' claimed more than three million members at its peak and was banned by the Nazis in 1933.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Reichsbanner Schwarz-Rot-Gold at a Mass Rally in Potsdam (October 26, 1924) |url=https://ghdi.ghi-dc.org/sub_image.cfm?image_id=4030 |access-date=23 July 2024 |website=German History in Documents and Images (GHDI)}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=26 May 2024 |title=Reichsbanner Schwarz-Rot-Gold |url=https://www.spd-geschichtswerkstatt.de/wiki/Reichsbanner_Schwarz-Rot-Gold |access-date=23 July 2024 |website=Geschichtswerkstatt in der SPD Schleswig-Holstein |language=de}}</ref>
* [[Iron Front|''Eiserne Front'']] (Iron Front) brought together the ''Reichsbanner'', free labor unions and workers' gymnastics and sports associations in 1931 in response to the far right's [[Harzburg Front]]. Not itself organized as a paramilitary, the Iron Front's central goal was to strengthen the Social Democrats in the [[July 1932 German federal election|1932 Reichstag election]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Elsbach |first=Sebastian |date=2 April 2019 |title=Die Eiserne Front |trans-title=The Iron Front |url=https://www.dhm.de/lemo/kapitel/weimarer-republik/innenpolitik/die-eiserne-front.html |access-date=23 July 2023 |website=Deutsches Historisches Museum |language=de}}</ref>
* ''[[Jungdeutscher Orden]]'' (Young German Order) was a nationalist and antisemitic association founded by [[Artur Mahraun]]. Initially a paramilitary, it changed into a more politically oriented group with the goal of recreating the camaraderie experienced by soldiers at the front during [[World War I]] in order to overcome class and social differences in German society. In 1930, its political arm merged with the liberal [[German Democratic Party]] to form the short-lived [[German State Party]]. The Young German Order was banned by the Nazis in 1933.<ref>{{Cite web |date=27 January 2023 |title=Jungdeutscher Orden, Bruderschaften Leer und Rheiderland |trans-title=Young German Order, Leer and Rheiderland Brotherhoods |url=https://www.archivportal-d.de/item/SB5EQLYDPJ5WXAODHRL2XRKQJPXYYO3R |access-date=25 July 2024 |website=Archivportal-D |language=de}}</ref>

=== Left-wing ===
[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 102-05976, Berlin, Pfingstreffen der Rot-Front-Kämpfer.jpg|thumb|288x288px|Assembly of the Communist Party's ''[[Roter Frontkämpferbund]]'' at the [[Berlin Cathedral]] in 1928]]
* ''[[Roter Frontkämpferbund]]'' (Red Front Fighters' League) was founded by the [[Communist Party of Germany]] (KPD) in 1924 and attained a peak membership of 110,000. It was banned across Germany in 1929 after the ''[[Blutmai]]'' demonstrations in Berlin that left 33 dead. Despite the ban, it engaged in frequent street battles with the Nazi SA until Hitler came to power in 1933.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Asmuss |first=Burkhard |date=8 June 2011 |title=Der Rote Frontkämpferbund |trans-title=The Red Front Fighters' League |url=https://www.dhm.de/lemo/kapitel/weimarer-republik/innenpolitik/roter-frontkaempferbund.html |access-date=23 July 2024 |website=Deutsches Historisches Museum |language=de}}</ref>
* ''Antifaschistische Junge Garde'' (Young Antifascist Guard) was the youth wing of the [[Communist Party of Germany|KPD]]<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kater |first=Michael H. |title=Hitler Youth |publisher=Harvard University Press |year=2004 |location=Cambridge, MA |page=7 |chapter=Make Way, You Old Ones!}}</ref> and was banned in 1933.
* {{ill|Kampfbund gegen den Faschismus|de}} (Fighting League against Fascism) was the successor to the ''Roter Frontkämpferbund'' after it was banned in 1929. The ''Kampfbund'' itself was banned in 1933.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Mühldorfer |first=Friedbert |date=27 April 1922 |title=Kampfbund gegen den Faschismus, 1930–1933 |url=https://www.historisches-lexikon-bayerns.de/Lexikon/Kampfbund_gegen_den_Faschismus,_1930-1933 |access-date=24 July 2024 |website=Historisches Lexikon Bayerns |language=de}}</ref>
* ''[[Antifaschistische Aktion]]'' (Antifascist Action) was founded in 1932 and affiliated with the [[Communist Party of Germany|KPD]]. Its primary activity was to boost the KPD campaign during the [[July 1932 German federal election|July 1932]] and [[November 1932 German federal election]]s. It was banned in 1933.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Pieroth |first=Stephan |title=Parteien und Presse in Rheinland-Pfalz 1945–1971: ein Beitrag zur Mediengeschichte unter besonderer Berücksichtigung der Mainzer SPD-Zeitung 'Die Freiheit' |publisher=v. Hase & Koehler Verlag |year=1994 |isbn=978-3-775-81326-6 |location=Mainz |page=96 |language=de |trans-title=Political Party and Press in Rhineland-Palatinate 1945–1971: A Contribution to Media History with Special Consideration of the Mainz SPD Newspaper 'Die Freiheit'}}</ref>
* [[Rote Ruhrarmee]] (Ruhr Red Army) was an army of approximately 50,000 workers that formed in the industrialized [[Ruhr district]] during the [[Kapp Putsch]] with the goal of establishing a council republic. Not a true paramilitary in structure, it was suppressed with considerable loss of life by government troops and ''Freikorps'' units in what was known as the [[Ruhr uprising]] (13 March – 12 April 1920).<ref>{{Cite web |title=Kämpfe der "Roten Ruhrarmee" |trans-title=Battles of the "Ruhr Red Army" |url=https://weimar.bundesarchiv.de/WEIMAR/DE/Content/Dokumente-zur-Zeitgeschichte/1920-03-15_Rote_Ruhrarmee.html |access-date=24 July 2024 |website=Bundesarchiv |language=de}}</ref>
* ''[[Schwarze Scharen]]'' (Black Band) were resistance groups of anarchist and [[anarcho-syndicalist]] youth affiliated with the [[Free Workers' Union of Germany]] (FAUD). The Black Band was banned in 1933.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Rübner |first=Hartmut |title=Freiheit und Brot. 11. Der Anarchosyndikalismus als soziokulturelle Bewegung abseits gewerkschaftlicher Zusammenhänge |trans-title=Freedom and Bread. 11. Anarcho-syndicalism as a Socio-cultural Movement outside of Trade Union Context |url=http://ur.dadaweb.de/ask51116.htm |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=Datenbank des deutschsprachigen Anarchismus |language=de}}</ref>

Similar organisations existed in the [[First Austrian Republic]], most notably the [[Republikanischer Schutzbund|''Schutzbund'']] and the [[Heimwehr]].