Uniforms and insignia of the Sturmabteilung
The uniforms and insignia of the Sturmabteilung (SA) were Nazi Party paramilitary ranks and uniforms used by SA stormtroopers from 1921 until the fall of Nazi Germany in 1945. The titles and phrases used by the SA were the basis for paramilitary titles used by several other Nazi paramilitary groups, among them the Schutzstaffel (SS). Early SS ranks were identical to the SA, since the SS was originally considered a sub-organisation of the Sturmabteilung.
SA guards at Oranienburg concentration camp, 1933
The original pip system used by the SA in the 1920s
A German poster showing uniforms and insignia of Sturmabteilung (to the left) and Schutzstaffel (SS, to the right), two paramilitary branches of the Nazi Party, published in English by the Chicago Sunday Tribune 1933. The caption reads: Putting masculine Germany into uniforms of types portrayed above is only one aspect of complete regimentation of the German people – a regimentation which includes reshaping of thought in the Nazi mold, suppression of rights, and
Ernst Röhm's special rank insignia as SA Chief of Staff, used between 1933 and 1934. It was abolished after the Night of the Long Knives.
The Sturmabteilung was the original paramilitary wing of the Nazi Party. It played a significant role in Adolf Hitler's rise to power in the 1920s and early 1930s. Its primary purposes were providing protection for Nazi rallies and assemblies, disrupting the meetings of opposing parties, fighting against the paramilitary units of the opposing parties, especially the Roter Frontkämpferbund of the Communist Party of Germany (KPD) and the Reichsbanner Schwarz-Rot-Gold of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD), and intimidating Romani, trade unionists, and especially Jews.
Hitler and Hermann Göring with SA stormtroopers in front of Frauenkirche, Nuremberg in 1928
The SA unit in Nuremberg, 1929
Marketing for the SA's Sturm Cigarette Company also promoted military service.
The SA unit in Berlin in 1932
