Horst Wessel

A Berlin ‘tough-guy’ and petty criminal... his star rose rapidly in the SA (Sturmabteilung) and he became well-known to the Police, fellow comrades of the SA and, of course, to his enemies, the Communists. In February 1930 his enemies caught up with him and he was shot by two left wing assassins. After his death he was promoted by Josef Goebbels, Berlin’s Gauleiter, as a ‘martyr’ to the Nazi cause and celebrated in words and music by a specially composed song “The Horst Wessel Lied” which during the Nazi years became almost a second National Anthem to “Deutschland Uber Allies” (Germany Above All). Here, Wessel strides confidently forward, right hand adopting the ‘half-Hitler’ salute favoured by some Nazi Leaders and their acolytes.