{"id":271,"date":"2024-09-18T15:01:27","date_gmt":"2024-09-18T19:01:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/holocaust-and-genocide-studies\/horst-wessel-song\/"},"modified":"2026-03-02T15:12:29","modified_gmt":"2026-03-02T20:12:29","slug":"horst-wessel-song","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/holocaust-and-genocide-studies\/post-cards\/horst-wessel-song\/","title":{"rendered":"Horst Wessel Song"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"font-weight: 400\"><strong>Accession Number:<\/strong> <span style=\"font-weight: 400\">2022.02.4.33 <\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400\"><strong>Historical background:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The Horst Wessel Song was the co-national anthem of the Nazi Party from 1930 to 1945. It was written in 1929 by Horst Ludwig Georg Erich Wessel, a <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"><em>Sturmf\u00fchrer<\/em> <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">for the <\/span><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Sturmabteilung<\/span><\/em><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> (SA, a Nazi Party paramilitary wing). Wessel wrote the song in 1929 as a demeaning imitation of music by the\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"><em>Kommunistische Partei Deutschlands<\/em> <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">(KPD, the Communist Party of Germany). The KPD was an opponent to the Nazi Party. The song was designed to provoke the KPD\u2019s militia, the <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"><em>Rotfront<\/em> <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">(Red Front), into picking fights with Nazis. This strategy worked, and the <\/span><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Rotfront\u2019s <\/span><\/em><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">slogan became &#8220;strike the fascists wherever you find them&#8221; (Reuth, 1993). Tensions rose as an era of streetfighting between the<\/span><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Rotfront<\/span><\/em><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> and the SA began (Reuth, 1993).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The Nazi Party outlawed the KPD the day after the German election of 1933 officiated the Nazi\u2019s accession to power. It maintained an underground presence, but suffered heavy losses between 1933 and 1939, with 30,000 communists executed and 150,000 sent to Nazi concentration camps (Mcdonough, 2006).<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/File:\u041f\u0435\u0441\u043d\u044f_\u0425\u043e\u0440\u0441\u0442\u0430_\u0412\u0435\u0441\u0441\u0435\u043b\u044f.ogg\">&#8220;The Horst Wessel Song&#8221;, performed by the choir of the Leipzig Church of St. Thomas in 1936.<\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">McDonough, F. (2006). <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Opposition and resistance in Nazi Germany<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> (5th print). Cambridge Univ. Press.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Reuth, R. G. (1993). <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Goebbels<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> (1st U.S. ed). Harcourt Brace.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Accession Number: 2022.02.4.33 Historical background: The Horst Wessel Song was the co-national anthem of the Nazi Party from 1930 to 1945. It was written in 1929 by Horst Ludwig Georg Erich Wessel, a Sturmf\u00fchrer for the Sturmabteilung (SA, a Nazi Party paramilitary wing). Wessel wrote the song in 1929 as a demeaning imitation of music [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":125,"featured_media":272,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"post-with-featured-image","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-271","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-post-cards"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.2 (Yoast SEO v27.4) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Horst Wessel Song | Strassler Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies | Clark University<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/holocaust-and-genocide-studies\/post-cards\/horst-wessel-song\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Horst Wessel Song\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Accession Number: 2022.02.4.33 Historical background: The Horst Wessel Song was the co-national anthem of the Nazi Party from 1930 to 1945. It was written in 1929 by Horst Ludwig Georg Erich Wessel, a Sturmf\u00fchrer for the Sturmabteilung (SA, a Nazi Party paramilitary wing). Wessel wrote the song in 1929 as a demeaning imitation of music [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/holocaust-and-genocide-studies\/post-cards\/horst-wessel-song\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Strassler Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ClarkUniversityWorcester\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-09-18T19:01:27+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-03-02T20:12:29+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/holocaust-and-genocide-studies\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/119\/Horst-Wessel-Song.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1168\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1814\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@clarkuniversity\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@clarkuniversity\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jemimah Tendo\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clarku.edu\\\/holocaust-and-genocide-studies\\\/post-cards\\\/horst-wessel-song\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clarku.edu\\\/holocaust-and-genocide-studies\\\/post-cards\\\/horst-wessel-song\\\/\"},\"headline\":\"Horst Wessel Song\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-09-18T19:01:27+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-03-02T20:12:29+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clarku.edu\\\/holocaust-and-genocide-studies\\\/post-cards\\\/horst-wessel-song\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":205,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clarku.edu\\\/holocaust-and-genocide-studies\\\/post-cards\\\/horst-wessel-song\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clarku.edu\\\/holocaust-and-genocide-studies\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/119\\\/Horst-Wessel-Song.avif\",\"articleSection\":[\"Post Cards\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clarku.edu\\\/holocaust-and-genocide-studies\\\/post-cards\\\/horst-wessel-song\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clarku.edu\\\/holocaust-and-genocide-studies\\\/post-cards\\\/horst-wessel-song\\\/\",\"name\":\"Horst Wessel Song | Strassler Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies | Clark University\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clarku.edu\\\/holocaust-and-genocide-studies\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clarku.edu\\\/holocaust-and-genocide-studies\\\/post-cards\\\/horst-wessel-song\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clarku.edu\\\/holocaust-and-genocide-studies\\\/post-cards\\\/horst-wessel-song\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clarku.edu\\\/holocaust-and-genocide-studies\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/119\\\/Horst-Wessel-Song.avif\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-09-18T19:01:27+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-03-02T20:12:29+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clarku.edu\\\/holocaust-and-genocide-studies\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/aa36d7a8379895f0f90bcf6df29e8169\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clarku.edu\\\/holocaust-and-genocide-studies\\\/post-cards\\\/horst-wessel-song\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clarku.edu\\\/holocaust-and-genocide-studies\\\/post-cards\\\/horst-wessel-song\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clarku.edu\\\/holocaust-and-genocide-studies\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/119\\\/Horst-Wessel-Song.avif\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clarku.edu\\\/holocaust-and-genocide-studies\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/119\\\/Horst-Wessel-Song.avif\",\"width\":1168,\"height\":1814},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clarku.edu\\\/holocaust-and-genocide-studies\\\/wp-json\\\/wp\\\/v2\\\/posts\\\/271#breadcrumbs\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":0,\"name\":\"ClarkU\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clarku.edu\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Strassler Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clarku.edu\\\/holocaust-and-genocide-studies\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clarku.edu\\\/holocaust-and-genocide-studies\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clarku.edu\\\/holocaust-and-genocide-studies\\\/\",\"name\":\"Strassler Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clarku.edu\\\/holocaust-and-genocide-studies\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Horst Wessel Song | Strassler Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies | Clark University","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/holocaust-and-genocide-studies\/post-cards\/horst-wessel-song\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Horst Wessel Song","og_description":"Accession Number: 2022.02.4.33 Historical background: The Horst Wessel Song was the co-national anthem of the Nazi Party from 1930 to 1945. It was written in 1929 by Horst Ludwig Georg Erich Wessel, a Sturmf\u00fchrer for the Sturmabteilung (SA, a Nazi Party paramilitary wing). Wessel wrote the song in 1929 as a demeaning imitation of music [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/holocaust-and-genocide-studies\/post-cards\/horst-wessel-song\/","og_site_name":"Strassler Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ClarkUniversityWorcester","article_published_time":"2024-09-18T19:01:27+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-03-02T20:12:29+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1168,"height":1814,"url":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/holocaust-and-genocide-studies\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/119\/Horst-Wessel-Song.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@clarkuniversity","twitter_site":"@clarkuniversity","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Jemimah Tendo","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/holocaust-and-genocide-studies\/post-cards\/horst-wessel-song\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/holocaust-and-genocide-studies\/post-cards\/horst-wessel-song\/"},"headline":"Horst Wessel Song","datePublished":"2024-09-18T19:01:27+00:00","dateModified":"2026-03-02T20:12:29+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/holocaust-and-genocide-studies\/post-cards\/horst-wessel-song\/"},"wordCount":205,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/holocaust-and-genocide-studies\/post-cards\/horst-wessel-song\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/holocaust-and-genocide-studies\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/119\/Horst-Wessel-Song.avif","articleSection":["Post Cards"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/holocaust-and-genocide-studies\/post-cards\/horst-wessel-song\/","url":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/holocaust-and-genocide-studies\/post-cards\/horst-wessel-song\/","name":"Horst Wessel Song | Strassler Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies | Clark University","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/holocaust-and-genocide-studies\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/holocaust-and-genocide-studies\/post-cards\/horst-wessel-song\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/holocaust-and-genocide-studies\/post-cards\/horst-wessel-song\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/holocaust-and-genocide-studies\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/119\/Horst-Wessel-Song.avif","datePublished":"2024-09-18T19:01:27+00:00","dateModified":"2026-03-02T20:12:29+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/holocaust-and-genocide-studies\/#\/schema\/person\/aa36d7a8379895f0f90bcf6df29e8169"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/holocaust-and-genocide-studies\/post-cards\/horst-wessel-song\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/holocaust-and-genocide-studies\/post-cards\/horst-wessel-song\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/holocaust-and-genocide-studies\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/119\/Horst-Wessel-Song.avif","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/holocaust-and-genocide-studies\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/119\/Horst-Wessel-Song.avif","width":1168,"height":1814},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/holocaust-and-genocide-studies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/271#breadcrumbs","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":0,"name":"ClarkU","item":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Strassler Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies","item":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/holocaust-and-genocide-studies"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/holocaust-and-genocide-studies\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/holocaust-and-genocide-studies\/","name":"Strassler Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/holocaust-and-genocide-studies\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"}]}},"fimg_url":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/holocaust-and-genocide-studies\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/119\/Horst-Wessel-Song-659x1024.avif","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/holocaust-and-genocide-studies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/271","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/holocaust-and-genocide-studies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/holocaust-and-genocide-studies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/holocaust-and-genocide-studies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/125"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/holocaust-and-genocide-studies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=271"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/holocaust-and-genocide-studies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/271\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":900,"href":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/holocaust-and-genocide-studies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/271\/revisions\/900"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/holocaust-and-genocide-studies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/272"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/holocaust-and-genocide-studies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=271"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/holocaust-and-genocide-studies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=271"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/holocaust-and-genocide-studies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=271"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}