Storm Trooper: Pictorial History of the S.a. in Germany 1932

by Heinrich Hoffmann

Genres: History

Paperback

Published January 1, 1976

About the author

Note: There is more than one Heinrich Hoffman.

Heinrich Hoffmann was a German psychiatrist, who also wrote some short works including Der Struwwelpeter (German for either "slovenly Peter" or "shock-haired Peter"), an illustrated book portraying children misbehaving.

He wrote under the following names:

- Polykarpus Gastfenger (The given name is the German version of that of a Christian martyr; the surname sounds like "Gastfänger", which could be a common noun for "guest-catcher".)
- Heulalius von Heulenburg
- Heinrich Hoffmann
- Heinrich Hoffmann-Donner (The second half of the compound surname would mean "thunder" as a common noun, or a name for the Germanic thunder-god Thor.)
- Heinrich Kinderlieb (The surname means roughly "love of children")
- Reimerich Kinderlieb
- Peter Struwwel (This name reverses the order of the components of "Struwwelpeter".)
- Zwiebel (As a common noun, this would mean "onion")

In Frankfurt/Germany there is a Heinrich-Hoffmann-Museum Frankfurt.

Hoffmann studied medicine in Heidelberg. From 1851, he was director of the municipal psychiatry in Frankfurt.

He is the subject of the historical novel, 98 Reasons for Being.

Reviews

[Missy LeBlanc Ivey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Storm Troopers: Pictorial History of the S.A. in Germany by Heinrich Hoffman (1932 in German; 1st edition 1976 in English) 96 pages.

I was turned onto this little book by GR friend, Joe, who wrote up such an awesome review. I ended up paying a whopping $90.16 from eBay on 3/21/2026 for this very pristine, rare and elusive 1st U.S. English edition (1976). I will be giving to Carl’s grandson, Jack Trahan, who is crazy over everything World War II.

This little book documents the struggling S.A. (“Sturm Abteilung” - Storm Detachment) Nazi party prior to 1933…”the brawling, impoverished classes who flocked to Hitler’s colors…before it was “safe” to do so.” (Preface, p. 3). For me, because I don’t know enough about the history of Germany previous to World War II, I didn’t find this book informative enough. But, Jack will absolutely LOVE it.

Adolph Hitler, the Commander-in-Chief of the S.A., considered the Storm Troopers more as just “representatives of the will and ideas of the National Socialist German Revolution”. (p. 22). They were not a part of the German Army. They had no barracks. They were not paid. It was strictly voluntary in their extra time. But, they were organized enough to have military drills on a regular basis. Their goal was to bend the minds of individuals of Germany to a more National Socialist (racial hierarchy) mentality.

Their fight was against Communism and Marxism, and against the Bolshevization of Germany, which was trying to encroach upon all of Europe. The S.A. didn’t acquire guns until 1923 to begin fighting against the “reds” and winning over cities little by little. They were gaining ground. German dictators had ruled with such an iron thumb for so long, keeping the people in terror and under repression. On top of this, under the Treaty of Versailles, Germany was forced to disarm amongst all the surrounding countries who had arms. This may be why the new National Socialism Revolution looked promising and lured the Germans in by the millions. The Storm Troopers had a following of about 2,500,000 men.

After Hitler moved on to greater things, the S.A. declined in influence. This book is considered to be the most complete pictorial history of the early S.A. leading up to the coming Reich, and eventually, to World War II. All photos were taken by Heinrich Hoffman, dated from 1922 to 1932.

In 1933, German Minister Ernst Rohm Chief of Staff predicted that National Socialism (racial hierarchy) would become the political philosophy of the entire world.

Of interest to me, Captain Goering is pictured on page 10 of photos. If this is the same man, he was also mentioned in the book, “Spandau: The Secret Diaries” by Albert Speer, during the Nuremberg Trials:

MY NOTES: Herman Goring (1893 – 1946) (age 53) Someone smuggled in cyanide into his prison cell just hours before his hanging. He committed suicide.
He was second in succession behind Hitler and spent 2 years in a mental institute 1925-27. He became a life-long morphine addict. Goring directed the purge and elimination of Jews from the German economy. Before the trials, he preached to other prisoners that they had to stick together so Hitler would remain a symbol of Germany instead of a murderer. He truly believed he, himself, would go down as a saint.

Here, in this book, originally printed in German in 1932, Goering is described as “one of the bravest aces of the air force…a fighter from head to foot, valiant and loyal”. He was commander of an A.S. unit, when in 1923, they tried to “cut the German knot with a single stroke”…[whatever that means]…What will he be tomorrow, only God knows. An iron fist of the Leader: CAPTAIN GOERING”. (photos, p. 10)

[Joe Krakovsky · Rating 5 out of 5]

STORM TROOPER: PICTORIAL HISTORY OF THE S.A. IN GERMANY 1932 is an important work for those seriously studying the rise of Hitler and the Nazis in Germany. The original title in German was THE BROWN-CLAD ARMY and it was published in 1932. The photos were taken by Heinrich Hoffmann, the official photographer of the National-Socialist German Workers' (Nazi) Party. By the way, a young girl working for Heinrich, named Eva Braun, caught Hitler's eye and would eventually become his wife.

These photos are not the usual ones that show the later Nuremberg Rallies which were such choreographed spectacles. No, these were from the early days, before Hitler became chancellor of Germany. Even then he had to wait for President Hindenburg to pass away before he really became the Fuehrer of Germany. There is a photo from the autumn of 1921 which shows Hitler, Hess, some other early SA leaders and trucks with his stormtroopers in Bavaria. Another is of early Nazis posing after 'liberating' the town of Koburg (Coburg) from the 'red terror.' Something of note is that while the swastika flags are present in these photos, none of the fighters are in uniform. They are wearing their day to day work clothes, though their swastika armbands are evident.

I must mention a little background history here. Hitler's army of street fighters, the Sturmabteilung (SA), were also known as the 'stormtroopers' and 'brown shirts.' Hitler's stormtroopers took their name from special assault troops from World War I (WWI), not from the Star Wars movie. Their later uniforms consisted of brown shirts and hence the name. Most people associate the SA with beating up political opponents and the Jews, which indeed they did. The attack on Jewish businesses and synagogues, especially during the Kristallnacht (Night of the Broken Glass) was carried out largely by the SA. But that came later. Originally they were street fighters.

After WWI many Germans were miserable and, as is human nature, scapegoats were sought. Ernst Rohm, the head of the SA, blamed the countries' leaders, bankers, and businessmen for the war. To quote Rohm, "A political, social and economic system which succeeded in setting the whole world on fire, or at least was not able to prevent the conflagration, which compelled men who had no personal grudge against one another to slaughter each other by the million, which allowed millions of innocent women and children and old people to die of starvation, such a system, I say, can no longer regulate the relationships of individuals and nations after such an overwhelming demonstration of its futility." He claimed that a new political philosophy (Weltanschauung) will eventually be adapted for the entire world. There was another political philosophy whose adherents were also trying to take over the world, whose roots also lay in the waste and carnage of the First World War. That was Communism.

The end of WWI didn't bring peace to Germany. Among the political groups literally fighting for power were the Nazis, Communists, and the Social Democrats. In an age before modern social media, pamphlets, posters, speeches in public, (think the original meaning of speaking on one's soapbox) and those 'sandwich board' men was the way to 'get the word out.' The most violent of the two, the Nazis and the Communists, openly fought each other with fists, blackjacks, and the occasional handgun. Besides tearing down the posters, they tried to interrupt meetings and speeches. A sort of modern equivalent are those attacking people wearing MAGA red hats or driving Tesla cars. This bloodshed often resulted in deaths. To make a long story short, the Nazi fighters came out on top. Their ranks numbered in the millions.

As stated above, this book was published in 1932. Although Rohm claimed that the SA had no intention of replacing the German Army, there are photos of SA units in various paramilitary organizations with motorized vehicles, aircraft, and cavalry. It took a military type organization to assemble, equip and feed the thousands at rallies and on parade. There are photos of SA in church service and being married therein. All of this did not sit well with those in power, especially Hitler.

The army was leery of the SA. It was a political army that outnumbered the German Army. Those in finance and industry feared the SA who might seize their assets. These groups courted Hitler who turned on his own. Heinrich Himmler, who had formed a special bodyguard, the Schutzstaffel (SS) for Hitler, rounded up Rohm and the top SA leaders and killed them. One of the reasons given was that Rohm was a notorious homosexual. Even in this country he was always referred to as 'homosexual Rohm' as if that was part of his name until it became politically incorrect to do so. After Rohm's death the SA was overshadowed by something much worse, the SS.

This book therefore covers that time period from the earliest days to right before Rohm and the SA fell out of favor with Hitler. The book was then banned in Germany. My copy in the English language was printed in 1976.