Police and SA Records on Surveillance, Discipline, Purges, and Training, 1921–1944 (Irving file T81-90)

This file is a composite intelligence and administrative dossier documenting the organization, activities, discipline, training, surveillance, and political control of the SA (Sturmabteilung) from the early Weimar period through the Second World War.

The material is not a single narrative file but an aggregated police and Party record, assembled postwar by US archival authorities from seized German documents. It includes:

1. Police Surveillance and Political Monitoring (1921–1932)

• Detailed police intelligence reports from the Polizeipräsidium Hagen and regional authorities on SA and NSDAP activities.
• Reports on SA offices searched by police in March 1932.
• Documentation of state suppression measures, including dissolution orders and bans prior to 1933.
• Correspondence concerning SA homes, uniforms, meetings, and public order concerns.

2. Early SA Organizational and Command Records (1923)

• Regimental orders of SA Regiment München covering April–November 1923.
• Correspondence between SA units and the Oberkommando der SA.
• Evidence of SA relations with other nationalist organizations and the Reichswehr.
• Material of exceptional value for understanding paramilitary coordination before the Beer Hall Putsch.

3. Discipline, Criminal Proceedings, and Internal Sanctions

• Formal exclusion orders from the SA, including the documented case of Rottenführer Walter Andree, expelled in 1935 following earlier criminal conviction and dismissal from the Reichsmarine.
• Requests to police to amend official lists following expulsions.
• Police and Gestapo filing procedures and index card creation.

4. SA–Police Cooperation and Control Mechanisms (1932–1937)

• Evidence of cooperation and tension between SA units and police authorities.
• Instructions regarding uniforms, insignia, and destruction of photographs and propaganda materials.
• Police instructions to confiscate and destroy SA imagery following political developments.

5. The Röhm Purge Documentation (1934)

• Lists of individuals killed during the 1934 purge, noting executions, alleged suicides, and discrepancies.
• Explicit notation that some names, including Communists, were added by special order of Hitler, with acknowledgement that lists are incomplete and partially inaccurate.
• Files on disarmament of the SA and surrender of weapons.

6. Training, Militarization, and Ideological Instruction (1939–1944)

• SA training manuals, examination papers, and grading sheets.
• Wehrabzeichen training booklets.
• Manuals on terrain reading, marching, shooting, camouflage, reconnaissance, and grenade throwing.
• Documentation of SA Wehrmannschaften and SD (Inland) surveillance of SA morale and reliability.

7. Wartime Propaganda and “Mouth Propaganda” (1944)

• Orders from SA Gruppe Kurpfalz on the Einsatz der SA für die Mundpropaganda.
• Coordination between SA units and Gau propaganda offices.
• Evidence of the SA’s attempted reactivation as a propaganda instrument late in the war.

Disclaimer

This document is presented as a historical primary source. It forms part of an official police, security, and administrative record relating to the Sturmabteilung (SA) and associated state authorities between 1921 and 1944.

The material contains references to political extremism, state violence, surveillance, disciplinary actions, and executions. Inclusion in this archive does not constitute endorsement of the individuals, organisations, ideologies, or actions described. The document is preserved and made accessible solely for purposes of historical research, documentation, and scholarly analysis.

Researchers should note that the file reflects the perspectives, language, and administrative practices of its originating authorities. Some information may be incomplete, inaccurate, or deliberately distorted, particularly in relation to politically sensitive events such as internal purges. Users are encouraged to corroborate the contents with additional primary sources.

Access to this material is provided in the interest of transparency, preservation, and the critical study of twentieth-century history.

Condition Note

This file survives as a black-and-white microfilm reproduction of original German paper records seized after the Second World War and subsequently filmed by the American Historical Association for the US National Archives. The originals are no longer extant within this collection.

Overall condition is fair to good for research use, with limitations typical of early microfilming. Image quality varies across frames. Many pages are legible but show soft focus, uneven exposure, frame edge loss, and occasional motion blur. Contrast fluctuates, particularly on pages with Gothic or carbon-copy text, and some handwritten annotations are faint or partially obscured.

Physical characteristics of the originals, such as torn edges, stamps, redactions, pencil markings, and ink bleed-through, are visible and form part of the evidentiary record. Some frames contain partial pages, misaligned captures, or cropped margins. There are occasional sequence disruptions where pages appear out of order or repeated.