The Kyffhäuserbund ( en, link=yes, Kyffhäuser League) is an

umbrella organization An umbrella organization is an association of (often related, industry-specific) institutions who work together formally to coordinate activities and/or pool resources. In business, political, and other environments, it provides resources and ofte ...

for

war veterans A veteran () is a person who has significant experience (and is usually adept and esteemed) and expertise in a particular occupation or field. A military veteran is a person who is no longer serving in a military. A military veteran that h ...

' and

reservist A reservist is a person who is a member of a military reserve force. They are otherwise civilians, and in peacetime have careers outside the military. Reservists usually go for training on an annual basis to refresh their skills. This person is ...

s' associations in

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

based in

Rüdesheim am Rhein Rüdesheim am Rhein is a German winemaking town in the Rhine Gorge, and part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site in this region. It lies in the Rheingau-Taunus-Kreis district in the ''Regierungsbezirk'' of Darmstadt, Hessen. Known as Rüdesheim, it ...

. It owes its name to the

Kyffhäuser Monument The Kyffhäuser (,''Duden - Das Aussprachewörterbuch, 7. Auflage (German)'', Dudenverlag, sometimes also referred to as ''Kyffhäusergebirge'', is a hill range in Central Germany, shared by Thuringia and Saxony-Anhalt, southeast of the Harz mo ...

(german: Kyffhäuserdenkmal), a memorial built on the summit of the 473 m high

Kyffhäuser The Kyffhäuser (,''Duden - Das Aussprachewörterbuch, 7. Auflage (German)'', Dudenverlag, sometimes also referred to as ''Kyffhäusergebirge'', is a hill range in Central Germany, shared by Thuringia and Saxony-Anhalt, southeast of the Harz mou ...

mountain near

Bad Frankenhausen Bad Frankenhausen (officially: Bad Frankenhausen/Kyffhäuser) is a spa town in the German state of Thuringia. It is located at the southern slope of the Kyffhäuser mountain range, on an artificial arm of the Wipper river, a tributary of the Uns ...

in the state of

Thuringia Thuringia (; german: Thüringen ), officially the Free State of Thuringia ( ), is a state of central Germany, covering , the sixth smallest of the sixteen German states. It has a population of about 2.1 million. Erfurt is the capital and larg ...

in central Germany.

History

The Kyffhäuserbund's origins lie in a section of the Deutscher Kriegerbund ( en, link=yes, German Warrior League) that established a league in 1900 that would unite the formerly scattered German war veterans' associations. Some of these organizations had been already administrating the maintenance of the memorial together. The league was initially named Kyffhäuser League of the German Countries' Warriors Associations (german: Kyffhäuserbund der deutschen Landeskriegerverbände), a name that became later abbreviated to Kyffhäuserbund. By 1913, this umbrella organization had already 2.8 million war veterans as its members and it had become one of the largest societies in Germany. During the time of the

German Empire The German Empire (),Herbert Tuttle wrote in September 1881 that the term "Reich" does not literally connote an empire as has been commonly assumed by English-speaking people. The term literally denotes an empire – particularly a hereditary ...

, the Kyffhäuserbund was instrumentalized against the growing

social democratic Social democracy is a political, social, and economic philosophy within socialism that supports political and economic democracy. As a policy regime, it is described by academics as advocating economic and social interventions to promote soci ...

movement in Germany. The difficult circumstances of

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

's postwar years led to a significant shrinking of the veterans' associations and their role. During the

Weimar Republic The Weimar Republic (german: link=no, Weimarer Republik ), officially named the German Reich, was the government of Germany from 1918 to 1933, during which it was a constitutional federal republic for the first time in history; hence it is al ...

in 1921, this organization shed its federal structure and centralized itself under a common leadership. Following this step, it changed its name to German Warriors Association Kyffhäuser (german: Deutscher Reichskriegerbund Kyffhäuser e.V.). In the name of

Gleichschaltung The Nazi term () or "coordination" was the process of Nazification by which Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party successively established a system of totalitarian control and coordination over all aspects of German society and societies occupied b ...

, the Kyffhäuserbund was nazified after the Nazi takeover of power in 1933. Five years later, its name was altered to Nationalsocialist Reich Warriors Association Kyffhäuser (german: NS-Reichskriegerbund Kyffhäuser e.V.), becoming the sole and exclusive organization representing the veterans' interests in the

Third Reich Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

. The Kyffhäuserbund was swiftly and unceremoniously disbanded during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

in March 1943 by

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...

himself. Apparently, the reason was the German defeat in the

Battle of Stalingrad The Battle of Stalingrad (23 August 19422 February 1943) was a major battle on the Eastern Front of World War II where Nazi Germany and its allies unsuccessfully fought the Soviet Union for control of the city of Stalingrad (later re ...

. Its assets in the whole Reich were transferred to the

Nazi Party The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party (german: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP), was a far-right politics, far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that crea ...

. All its surviving local associations, which in the last phase of the war effort became the breeding ground for

Volkssturm The (; "people's storm") was a levée en masse national militia established by Nazi Germany during the last months of World War II. It was not set up by the German Army, the ground component of the combined German ''Wehrmacht'' armed forces, ...

units, were also placed under the direct orders of the Nazi Party. After

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

's defeat in World War II, the Allied military governments issued a special law, Kontrollratsgesetz Nr. 2, for the disbandment and liquidation of the Nazi organizations (Auflösung und Liquidierung der Naziorganisationen) on 10 October 1945. This

denazification Denazification (german: link=yes, Entnazifizierung) was an Allied initiative to rid German and Austrian society, culture, press, economy, judiciary, and politics of the Nazi ideology following the Second World War. It was carried out by remov ...

decree outlawed the Nazi Party and all of its branches, effectively disbanding the Kyffhäuserbund's avatar that had been established during the Third Reich. The disbandment of the Kyffhäuserbund meant that it had to be established anew during the

postwar reconstruction The Marshall Plan (officially the European Recovery Program, ERP) was an American initiative enacted in 1948 to provide foreign aid to Western Europe. The United States transferred over $13 billion (equivalent of about $ in ) in economic re ...

of both

West West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sunset, Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic languages, German ...

and

East Germany East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...

. The reestablishment of the Kyffhäuser organization with federal state branches began in 1952 in West Germany. The present-day Kyffhäuserbund emphasizes its role as a

shooting sports Shooting sports is a group of competitive sport, competitive and recreational sporting activities involving proficiency tests of accuracy, precision and speed in shooting — the art of using ranged weapons, mainly small arms (firearms and airgun ...

association.

Uniforms and Insignia

Like with many other nazi paramilitary organizations they to had ranks and uniforms.http://forum.uniforminsignia.org/viewtopic.php

Notable Kyffhäuserverband members

Ludwig Bergsträsser Ludwig Bergsträsser (23 February 1883, Altkirch, Alsace-Lorraine – 23 March 1960, Darmstadt) was a German politician, representative of the Social Democratic Party. See also *List of Social Democratic Party of Germany politicians A list of ...

F. K. Otto Dibelius Friedrich Karl Otto Dibelius (15 May 1880 – 31 January 1967) was a German bishop of the Evangelical Church in Berlin-Brandenburg, a self-described anti-Semite who up to 1934 a conservative who became a staunch opponent of Nazism and commu ...

Martin Dibelius Martin Franz Dibelius (September 14, 1883 – November 11, 1947) was a German academic theologian and New Testament professor at the University of Heidelberg. Dibelius was born in Dresden, Germany, in 1883. Along with Rudolf Bultmann he hel ...

Johannes Dieckmann Johannes Dieckmann (19 January 1893 – 22 February 1969) was a German journalist and politician who served as the 1st acting president of the parliament of East Germany from 1949 to 1969. Early life Dieckmann was born in Fischerhude in the Pru ...

* Hermann Ehlers *

Ferdinand Friedensburg Ferdinand Friedensburg (17 November 1886 in Schweidnitz (present-day Świdnica) – 11 March 1972) was the interim Mayor of Berlin due to the illness of mayor Louise Schroeder during the Berlin Blockade in 1948. Biography The son of a judge gr ...

* Hans Fritzsche *

Heinrich George Georg August Friedrich Hermann Schulz (9 October 1893 – 25 September 1946), better known as Heinrich George (), was a German stage and film actor. Career Weimar Republic George is noted for having spooked the young Bertolt Brecht in his first ...

Hellmut von Gerlach Hellmut Georg von Gerlach (2 February 1866 – 1 August 1935) was a German journalist and politician. Life Hellmut von Gerlach, the son of landowner Max von Gerlach, was born in Mönchmotschelnitz in Silesia. He studied law at the universiti ...

Leo Geyr von Schweppenburg Leo Dietrich Franz Reichsfreiherr Geyr von Schweppenburg (2 March 1886 – 27 January 1974), was a German general during World War II, noted for his pioneering stance and expertise in the field of armoured warfare. He commanded the 5th Panzer Arm ...

* Helmut Hasse *

Richard Heinze Richard Heinze (1867 – 1929) was a German classical philologist. He was a younger brother to politician Rudolf Heinze (1865–1928). Heinze was born on 11 August 1867 in Naumburg, Province of Saxony, Kingdom of Prussia. He studied classical ph ...

Rudolf Heinze Karl Rudolf Heinze (22 July 1865 – 26 May 1928) was a German jurist and politician. During the Weimar Republic, as a member of the right-of-centre German People's Party (DVP) he was vice-chancellor of Germany and minister of Justice in 1920/21 ...

Otto Hoetzsch Otto Hoetzsch (14 February 1876 – 27 August 1946), was a German academic and politician. Son of a plumber, he studied history, economics and history of art in Leipzig, starting in 1895. In 1899 he obtained a PhD, worked for several newspapers and ...

Hubertus, Prince of Löwenstein-Wertheim-Freudenberg Prince Hubertus zu Loewenstein-Wertheim-Freudenberg (October 14, 1906 – November 28, 1984) was a German historian and political figure who was an early opponent of Adolf Hitler. He fled Germany and helped to promote anti-Nazism in the Uni ...

Gerhard Kittel Gerhard Kittel (23 September 1888 – 11 July 1948) was a German Lutheran theologian and lexicographer of biblical languages. He was an enthusiastic supporter of the Nazis and an open antisemite. He is known in the field of biblical studies for hi ...

* Werner Kollath *

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* Max Maurenbrecher *

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Otto Peltzer Otto Paul Eberhard Peltzer (8 March 1900 – 11 August 1970) was a German middle distance runner who set world records in the 1920s. Over the 800 m Peltzer improved Ted Meredith's long-standing record by 0.3 seconds to 1:51.6 min in London in ...

Kurt Scharf Kurt Scharf (October 21, 1902 – March 28, 1990) was a German clergyman and bishop of the Evangelical Church in Berlin-Brandenburg. Life Kurt Scharf was born in Landsberg an der Warthe in the Prussian Province of Brandenburg (now Gorz� ...

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* Ernst Wahle *

Kuno von Westarp Count Kuno Friedrich Viktor von Westarp (12 August 1864 – 30 July 1945) was a conservative politician in Germany. Life and career Westarp was born in Ludom (present-day Ludomy, Poland) in the Prussian Province of Posen, the son of a senior f ...

Notes and references

Kyffhäuserbund e.V.

Kyffhäuser-Bund der Deutschen Landeskriegerverbände e.V.
(Historisches Lexikon Bayerns). * Dieter Fricke et al.: ''Kyffhäuser-Bund der Deutschen Landeskriegerverbände (KB) 1900-1943.'' In: Dieter Fricke (Hrsg.): ''Die bürgerlichen Parteien in Deutschland''. Berlin 1968, S.296–312. * Karl Saul: ''Der "Deutsche Kriegerbund". Zur innenpolitischen Funktion eines nationalen Verbandes im kaiserlichen Deutschland.'' In: ''Militärgeschichtliche Mitteilungen (MGM).'' 2/1969. S.95–159. * Karl Führer: ''Der "Deutsche Reichskriegerbund Kyffhäuser" 1930-1934. Politik, Ideologie und Funktion eines "unpolitischen" Verbandes.'' In: ''Militärgeschichtliche Mitteilungen (MGM).'' 2/1984. S.57–76. * Heinz Kleene Das Kriegervereinswesen im Emsland zur Zeit des Kaiserreiches In: Jahrbuch des Emsländ. Heimatbundes Sögel 2005. S.137–159. {{DEFAULTSORT:Kyffhauserbund German veterans' organisations Kyffhäuser Non-profit organisations based in Hesse Shooting sports organizations