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' 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 i ...

s' associations in

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG),, is a country in Central Europe. It is the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany lies between the Baltic and North Sea to the north and the Alps to the sou ...

based in Rüdesheim am Rhein. It owes its name to the Kyffhäuser Monument (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 mo ...

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 Unst ...

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 lar ...

in central Germany.

History

The Kyffhäuserbund's origins lie in a section of the

Deutscher Kriegerbund Deutscher Kriegerbund ( en, link=yes, German Warrior League) was a Veteran, war veterans' and reservists' association in Germany established in April 1873 in Weißenfels. Its origins lie in a Warrior Association established in 1786 by fusiliers ...

( 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 Kyffhäuserbund was instrumentalized against the growing

social democratic Social democracy is a Political philosophy, political, Social philosophy, social, and economic philosophy within socialism that supports Democracy, political and economic democracy. As a policy regime, it is described by academics as advocati ...

movement in Germany. The difficult circumstances of

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

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

Weimar Republic The German Reich, commonly referred to as the Weimar Republic,, was a historical period of Germany from 9 November 1918 to 23 March 1933, during which it was a constitutional federal republic for the first time in history; hence it is also r ...

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 ...

, 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 World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

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 political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that created and supported t ...

. 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 remo ...

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 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 Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some ...

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 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 airguns, in forms such ...

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 * F. K. Otto Dibelius * Martin Dibelius * Johannes Dieckmann * 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 August Franz Anton Hans Fritzsche (21 April 1900 – 27 September 1953) was the ''Ministerialdirektor'' at the Propagandaministerium (Reich Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda) of Nazi Germany. He was the preeminent German broadcaste ...

* Heinrich George * Hellmut von Gerlach *

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 Ar ...

Helmut Hasse Helmut Hasse (; 25 August 1898 – 26 December 1979) was a German mathematician working in algebraic number theory, known for fundamental contributions to class field theory, the application of ''p''-adic numbers to local class field theory a ...

* Richard Heinze * Rudolf Heinze * Otto Hoetzsch * Hubertus, Prince of Löwenstein-Wertheim-Freudenberg * Gerhard Kittel *

Werner Kollath Werner Georg Kollath (11 June 1892 – 19 November 1970) was a German bacteriologist, hygienist and food scientist. He is considered a pioneer of whole foods. Biography Werner Kollath was born on 11 June 1892 in Gollnow, the son of the practic ...

* Wilhelm Kube *

Hanfried Lenz Hanfried Lenz (22 April 1916 in Munich1 June 2013 in Berlin) was a German mathematician, who is mainly known for his work in geometry and combinatorics. Hanfried Lenz was the eldest son of Fritz Lenz an influential German geneticist, who ...

* Max Maurenbrecher * Joachim Mrugowsky * Ludwig Müller * Friedrich Naumann *

Karl Ernst Osthaus Karl Ernst Osthaus (15 April 1874, in Hagen – 25 March 1921, in Merano) was an important German patron of avant-garde art and architecture. Life Osthaus was born to a wealthy banking family, who also owned several businesses in the textile ...

* Otto Peltzer * Kurt Scharf * Gustav Adolf Scheel * Percy Ernst Schramm * <