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Roter Frontkämpferbund
The Roter Frontkämpferbund (German: [ˈʁoːtɐ ˈfʁɔntˌkɛmpfɐbʊnt], translated as "Alliance of Red Front-Fighters" or "Red Front Fighters' League"), usually called the Rotfrontkämpferbund (RFB), was a far-left paramilitary organization affiliated with the Communist Party of Germany (KPD) during the Weimar Republic. A legally registered association, the RFB was banned in 1929 after violent clashes during May Day demonstrations in Berlin, but continued its work illegally.
The first local branches of the RFB were established in July 1924. The group's inaugural nationwide meeting was held in February 1925 in Berlin, where Ernst Thälmann was elected to lead the federal committee. Die Rote Front ('The Red Front') was the newspaper of the RFB. The greeting of "Rot Front!" (English: Red Front!) while giving a clenched fist salute gave rise to the expression Rotfront, often used among friends and foes to refer to the organization instead of its full title. The clenched fist "protecting the friend, fighting off the enemy" (German: "schützend den Freund, abwehrend den Feind") was the symbol of the RFB, used on all its insignia, and its registered trademark from 1 March 1926. In May 1926, during a flag parade, activists used it as a sign of rallying to the movement and as an oath to defend the Soviet Union.[citation needed]
The KPD depended on the Proletarian Hundreds (German: Proletarische Hundertschaften) to protect their meetings and demonstrations, but this organization was banned in 1923. This left the KPD's political activities exposed to attacks from the police and right-wing paramilitary organizations such as the nationalist Der Stahlhelm and the Nazi Sturmabteilung (SA). The ninth national conference of the KPD in April 1924 decided to form a new defense organization. It was given the name Roter Frontkämpfer-Bund, with the intent of attracting non-Communist workers as well.
Then in Halle on 11 May 1924, police fired on a demonstration; eight workers were killed and 16 seriously wounded. The KPD announced the formation of the RFB to all its local branches, and soon the first local RFB groups were formed. Most of these first RFB units were located in industrial cities, seaports, and other traditional strongholds of the working class.
Over the years the RFB engaged more and more in violent street fights with the police, the SA, and other political rivals. In 1929, the RFB participated in bloody protests after International Workers' Day was banned in Berlin during what became known as Blutmai (Bloody May). More than 30 people were shot and killed by the police. The RFB was banned and all its assets confiscated by the government. At the time of the ban, the RFB had close to 130,000 members. Many of them continued their activities illegally or in local successor organizations such as the Kampfbund gegen den Faschismus. (English: Fighting-Alliance Against Fascism) Others retired from the political scene.
After the Nazi takeover in 1933, former RFB members were among the first arrested and incarcerated in Nazi concentration camps. The Nazis sought revenge on their former rivals and many of the RFB died in the Nazi prisons.
Of those who survived or avoided arrest, many followed the call of the Second Spanish Republic during the Spanish Civil War (1936–39). They joined the Centuria Thälmann of the International Brigades to fight against the Nationalist rebels. During World War II former Red Front fighters fought in the Soviet Red Army against Nazi Germany.
After World War II, former RFB members such as Erich Honecker and Erich Mielke were actively involved in the creation of the first police and military units of the German Democratic Republic (GDR; East Germany). The Arbeiterkampfgruppen (English: Combat Groups of the Working Class) and the Nationale Volksarmee (English: National People's Army) claimed to carry on the traditions of the RFB, while the Federal Republic of Germany in West Germany enforced the ban of 1929 and prosecuted former Red Front fighters who admitted to their RFB activities.[citation needed]
Roter Frontkämpferbund
The Roter Frontkämpferbund (German: [ˈʁoːtɐ ˈfʁɔntˌkɛmpfɐbʊnt], translated as "Alliance of Red Front-Fighters" or "Red Front Fighters' League"), usually called the Rotfrontkämpferbund (RFB), was a far-left paramilitary organization affiliated with the Communist Party of Germany (KPD) during the Weimar Republic. A legally registered association, the RFB was banned in 1929 after violent clashes during May Day demonstrations in Berlin, but continued its work illegally.
The first local branches of the RFB were established in July 1924. The group's inaugural nationwide meeting was held in February 1925 in Berlin, where Ernst Thälmann was elected to lead the federal committee. Die Rote Front ('The Red Front') was the newspaper of the RFB. The greeting of "Rot Front!" (English: Red Front!) while giving a clenched fist salute gave rise to the expression Rotfront, often used among friends and foes to refer to the organization instead of its full title. The clenched fist "protecting the friend, fighting off the enemy" (German: "schützend den Freund, abwehrend den Feind") was the symbol of the RFB, used on all its insignia, and its registered trademark from 1 March 1926. In May 1926, during a flag parade, activists used it as a sign of rallying to the movement and as an oath to defend the Soviet Union.[citation needed]
The KPD depended on the Proletarian Hundreds (German: Proletarische Hundertschaften) to protect their meetings and demonstrations, but this organization was banned in 1923. This left the KPD's political activities exposed to attacks from the police and right-wing paramilitary organizations such as the nationalist Der Stahlhelm and the Nazi Sturmabteilung (SA). The ninth national conference of the KPD in April 1924 decided to form a new defense organization. It was given the name Roter Frontkämpfer-Bund, with the intent of attracting non-Communist workers as well.
Then in Halle on 11 May 1924, police fired on a demonstration; eight workers were killed and 16 seriously wounded. The KPD announced the formation of the RFB to all its local branches, and soon the first local RFB groups were formed. Most of these first RFB units were located in industrial cities, seaports, and other traditional strongholds of the working class.
Over the years the RFB engaged more and more in violent street fights with the police, the SA, and other political rivals. In 1929, the RFB participated in bloody protests after International Workers' Day was banned in Berlin during what became known as Blutmai (Bloody May). More than 30 people were shot and killed by the police. The RFB was banned and all its assets confiscated by the government. At the time of the ban, the RFB had close to 130,000 members. Many of them continued their activities illegally or in local successor organizations such as the Kampfbund gegen den Faschismus. (English: Fighting-Alliance Against Fascism) Others retired from the political scene.
After the Nazi takeover in 1933, former RFB members were among the first arrested and incarcerated in Nazi concentration camps. The Nazis sought revenge on their former rivals and many of the RFB died in the Nazi prisons.
Of those who survived or avoided arrest, many followed the call of the Second Spanish Republic during the Spanish Civil War (1936–39). They joined the Centuria Thälmann of the International Brigades to fight against the Nationalist rebels. During World War II former Red Front fighters fought in the Soviet Red Army against Nazi Germany.
After World War II, former RFB members such as Erich Honecker and Erich Mielke were actively involved in the creation of the first police and military units of the German Democratic Republic (GDR; East Germany). The Arbeiterkampfgruppen (English: Combat Groups of the Working Class) and the Nationale Volksarmee (English: National People's Army) claimed to carry on the traditions of the RFB, while the Federal Republic of Germany in West Germany enforced the ban of 1929 and prosecuted former Red Front fighters who admitted to their RFB activities.[citation needed]