Original German Rare WWII SA Reserve Cotton Armband – Sturmabteilung Original Items

Original Item: Only One Available. This is a very good condition rare high quality SA cotton armband, with the gray border stripes indicating that this was for a member of the SA-Reserve, for members over 45 years of age. This division occurred in 1939, after the various SA organizations were amalgamated. As the activities of the SA often involved physical work and/or fighting, the older members were held in reserve, and usually functioned more in organizational roles.

This example is in very good condition, and is of multi-piece cotton construction. Featuring a white circle and black swas patch that was stitched onto the cotton backing. It also has two very nice gray bands on the edge, made of moire material. Overall measures approximately 16″ x 4 5/8″. There is a bit of age toning in the white circle, and there appears to be some glue stuck on part of the back, but otherwise it’s ready to display!

The Sturmabteilung, literally Storm Detachment, was the NSDAP Party’s original paramilitary. It played a significant role in Adolf AH’s rise to power in the 1920s and 1930s. Its primary purposes were providing protection for NSDAP rallies and assemblies, disrupting the meetings of opposing parties, fighting against the paramilitary units of the opposing parties, especially the Red Front Fighters League (Rotfrontkämpferbund) of the Communist Party of Germany (KPD), and intimidating Romani, trade unionists, and, especially, Jews – for instance, during the NSDAP boycott of Jewish businesses.

The SA were also called the “Brownshirts” (Braunhemden) from the color of their uniform shirts, similar to Benito Mussolini’s blackshirts. The SA developed pseudo-military titles for its members, with ranks that were later adopted by several other NSDAP Party groups, chief amongst them the Schutzstaffel (SS), which originated as a branch of the SA before being separated. Brown-colored shirts were chosen as the SA uniform because a large number of them were cheaply available after World War I, having originally been ordered during the war for colonial troops posted to Germany’s former African colonies.

The SA became disempowered after Adolf AH ordered the “blood purge” of 1934. This event became known as the Night of the Long Knives (die Nacht der langen Messer). The SA continued to exist, but was effectively superseded by the SS, although it was not formally dissolved until after NSDAP Germany’s final capitulation to the Allies in 1945.