German Leadership

Song in his heart ...

Son of a minister of religion and law school dropout Horst Wessel in SA kit, 1928-'29. Wessel appears to have been an intelligent young man, but a fanatical National Socialist and recognized protégé of Berlin NSDAP Gauleiter, Joseph Goebbels. A very promising Nazi career came to an end on 23 February, 1930, when he has mortally wounded in an attack by an acquaintance of his landlady, resulting (most probably) from a dispute over unpaid rent. His assailant happened to be a Communist Party member, a friend of the landlady's deceased Communist husband. Wessel's prominence in the Goebbels/Goering-controlled Berlin SA, the (probably coincidental) fact that his killer was a Communist, and his authorship of the lyrics to a SA marching song that became known as "Die Fahne Hoch" (Raise high the Flag) or simply "The Horst Wessel Song", made the dead Wessel an ideal subject for propaganda for his former patron, Goebbels. Wessel was given a martyr's funeral by the Berlin NSDAP and SA, with Goebbels and (perhaps a little surprisingly) Goering in attendance. The Nazi propaganda machine, supervised by Goebbels, elevated Wessel to the status of NSDAP sainthood - even to that of demi-god. He was promoted as the exemplar of the Brownshirt activist, loyal even unto death. This image may have come as something of a surprise to many of the SA and Berlin NSDAP activists who attended his funeral - but the Great Lie almost immediately covered over any doubts. The "Horst Wessel Song" quickly became the anthem of the SA and of the Party; its distinctive air is mingled with the airs of Wagner in the opening scene of Leni Reifenstahl's masterpiece, "Triumph of the Will". "I made the Iliad from such a local row; Gods make their own importance" ("Epic", Patrick Kavanagh). Best regards, JR.