Horst Wessel facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Horst Wessel
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Wessel in 1929
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| Born |
Horst Ludwig Georg Erich Wessel
9 October 1907 |
| Died | 23 February 1930 (aged 22) |
| Cause of death | Blood poisoning contracted during treatment for a gunshot wound |
| Occupation | Nazi streetfighter |
| Organization | Sturmabteilung (SA) |
| Political party | Nazi Party (1926–30) |
Horst Ludwig Georg Erich Wessel (9 October 1907 – 23 February 1930) was a member of the Sturmabteilung (SA), the paramilitary wing of the Nazi Party, who became a propaganda symbol in Nazi Germany following his murder in 1930 by two members of the Communist Party of Germany (KPD). After his death Joseph Goebbels turned him into a martyr for the Nazi Party.
Wessel first joined a number of youth groups and extreme right-wing paramilitary groups, but later resigned from them and joined the SA, the brownshirted street-fighting stormtroopers of the Nazi Party. He rose to command several SA squads and districts. On 14 January 1930, he killed by two Communists. Albrecht "Ali" Höhler was arrested and charged with his murder. Höhler was initially sentenced to six years in prison but was later killed by the SA after the Nazis came to power.
Wessel's funeral was given wide attention in Berlin, with many of the Nazi elite in attendance. After his death, he became a propaganda symbol in Nazi Germany. A march for which he had written the lyrics was renamed the "Horst-Wessel-Lied" ("Horst Wessel Song"), and became the official anthem of the Nazi Party. After Adolf Hitler came to national power in 1933, the song became the co-national anthem of Germany, along with the first verse of the previous "Deutschlandlied", also known as "Deutschland über alles".
After World War II, Wessel's memorial was vandalized and his remains were destroyed.
See also
In Spanish: Horst Wessel para niños
