During the years of its existence the rivalry between the warring organizations such as the
Sturmabteilung, the
Stahlhelm and the
Reichsbanner grew constantly and violence intensified. Since the strategy of the Sturmabteilung (SA) was especially designed to take the political fight to the streets and provoke rivals wherever they could, violent encounters between members of these two organizations soon became a part of everyday life. The SA purposely opened new haunts in working-class districts in which a large part of the population were ‘‘red’’, meaning they supported either the
Social Democratic Party of Germany ‘‘SPD’’ or the
Communist Party of Germany ‘‘KPD’’ but not the ‘‘brown’’
Nazi Party the Sturmabteilung (SA) stood for. For their rallies the Sturmabteilung almost exclusively chose locations within these districts, knowing that especially the RFB men were not willing to let these provocations go by quietly and many events from either side resulted in violent mass brawls. Attacks on a single member or smaller groups on the streets were often retaliated against with attacks by entire RFB units at known meeting points or favourite hangouts of the Sturmabteilung.
