Reichsbanner Schwarz-Rot-Gold

The Reichsbanner Schwarz-Rot-Gold (, "Black, Red, [and] Gold Banner of the Reich") was an organization in Germany during the Weimar Republic with the goal to defend German parliamentary democracy against internal subversion and extremism from the left and right and to compel the population to respect and honor the new Republic's flag and constitution. It was formed by members of the left-wing Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD), the centre-right to right-wing German Centre Party, and the centrist German Democratic Party in February 1924.

Organized militarily, the members wanted to ensure non-violent protection from the enemies of democracy. They refused to arm themselves, but were partly made up of veterans.

Its name is derived from the Flag of Germany adopted in 1919, the colors of which were associated with the Weimar Republic and liberal German nationalism, and incidentally, were also the traditional party colours of its three founding parties: the Centre Party (black), the Social Democratic Party (red), and the Democratic Party (gold).

While the Reichsbanner was set up as a multiparty organization, it came to be strongly associated with the Social Democratic Party. The headquarters of the Reichsbanner was located in Magdeburg, but it had branches elsewhere.

As a pro-democracy paramilitary organization, Reichsbanner's main opponents were the Communist Party of Germany and their Rotfrontkämpferbund on the far-left, and the Nazi Party and their Sturmabteilung (SA) on the far-right. Alongside these two primary opponents, they also combatted various reactionary nationalist paramilitary organizations. Following the Nazi takeover, Reichsbanner members played a role in the anti-Nazi resistance.

The Reichsbanner was reestablished in 1953, as Reichsbanner Schwarz-Rot-Gold, Bund aktiver Demokraten e.V. as an association for political education. The post war club is no longer a paramilitary organization but organizes remembrance and educational activities such as seminars and panels. Congruent with its historical makeup, it is officially open for members of all democratic parties but is closely associated with the SPD. It has connections with the Memorial to the German Resistance, the armed forces, and the police.

Formation and early developments (1924-1930)
At the time of Reichsbanner's formation, armed groups like the nationalist Der Stahlhelm, the Nazi Sturmabteilung, and the Communist Roter Frontkämpferbund continued to radicalize and intensify the armed struggle in Germany. The Reichsbanner was initially formed in reaction to the Nazis' Beer Hall Putsch and Communist's Hamburg rebellion, both failed coups, which had taken place at the end of 1923. On 22 February 1924 members of the SPD, the German Centre Party, the German Democratic Party and trade unionists in Magdeburg established the Reichsbanner. While the composition of the Reichsbanner was diverse, Social Democrats comprised roughly 90 percent of the organization's members.

In the fall of 1927, the Reichsbanner expelled all members belonging to the Old Social Democratic Party, accusing the party of seeking alliances with the Fascists.

Reichsbanner was a veterans' organization, in which former soldiers of the First World War enlisted their military experience in the service of the Republic. Its main goal was the defense of the Weimar Republic against usurpations of democracy from the National Socialist, Monarchist, and Communist camps. Social Democratic politician Otto Hörsing described Reichsbanner as a 'non-partisan protection organization of the Republic and democracy in the fight against the Swastika and the Soviet star'. Members saw themselves as guardians of the continuation of Germany's democratic traditions such as the Revolutions of 1848 and their namesake constitutional national colors of black, red and gold.

End of Weimar democracy (1930-1933)
Following substantial Nazi electoral successes in 1930, the Reichsbanner in September sought to strengthen itself against intensified street violence by Sturmabteilung units with a restructuring of the operational organization. Active members were divided into master formations (Stafo) and the elite units into protection formations (Schufo). In spring 1931, 250,000 men belonged to the Schufos. The "Young Banners" were also formed.

On 16 December 1931, the Reichsbanner, the Workers' Gymnastic and Sporting Federation (ATSB), the General German Trade Union Federation (ADGB), and the Social Democratic Party formed the Iron Front. Within the Front, defensive operations were the responsibility of the Reichsbanner, which became increasingly important as violence from the Communist Rotfrontkämpferbund and Nazi Sturmabteilung.

The last federal general assembly of the Reichsbanner met on the 17th and 18 February 1933 in Berlin. In March, Reichsbanner and the Iron Front were banned throughout the Reich. Political components of the Reichsbanner, including the Centre Party, subsequently voted for the Nazi Enabling Act and played a role in bringing them to absolute power, with 73 voting in favor and one abstaining.

Following the banning of the Reichsbanner, some members joined Der Stahlhelm, which led to an incident where a mass registration in Braunschweig was raided by the Nazis, who called it the Stahlhelm Putsch.

Reichsbanner members in the Resistance (1933-1945)
Following its ban, some of the organization's membership, in particular the elite Schufos, took part in the Social Democratic Resistance. Resistance circles of former Reichsbanner members formed around individuals like Theodor Haubach.

Reichsbanner in post-Nazi Germany
The Reichsbanner was re-formed in 1953 as an association for political and historical education.

After its reestablishment, the Reichsbanner continued its historical practice of publishing magazines. In its modern form, the publication informs members and the public of current social issues and often contains interviews with high-ranking German politicians.

Historical structure and organisation


In the original Reichsbanner, two organizational structures existed in parallel: a registered political association and an organized fighting force.

The political organization was headed by the Federal Administration comprising a first and second chairman, three deputies, the federal treasurer, federal cashier, secretary, technical manager, federal youth leader, the sitting representatives and 15 assessors. The Federal Chairman was Otto Hörsing from the 3rd of June 1932. His deputy and later successor was Karl Höltermann. The executive committees of all organizational levels were elected from the membership of the all republican parties in the coalition.

Parallel to it, the operational organization was modeled as a military structure. The smallest unit was the group, with a group leader and eight men. Two to five groups formed a platoon (Zug), two to three platoons formed a company (Kameradschaft), two to five companies constituted a department (Abteilung), and two to five departments made up a district. At least two districts formed a circle. At the Gau and Federal levels, operational and political level structures overlapped so that the Federal Chairman was concurrently the Federal Commander, while each of the 32 Gau chairmen were all Gauführer. The command personnel of the military organisation were recognized by badges of rank. The Federal Commander, for example, wore on his lower sleeve the federal eagle (black on a red field, with golden circular border) and two black-red-golden stripes over all.

According to the organization's own records, membership in 1932 was gauged at three million.