Franz Pfeffer von Salomon (19 February 1888 – 12 April 1968) during the Nazi regime known as Franz von Pfeffer, was the first Supreme Leader of the Sturmabteilung (SA) after its re-establishment in 1925. Pfeffer resigned from his SA command in 1930 and was expelled from the Nazi Party in 1941. He died in 1968.
Early years
Pfeffer was born the son of a Prussian bureaucrat, the oldest of seven children. He was from a noble family of the Lower Rhine. After graduating from the gymnasium he studied law at the University of Heidelberg. He worked briefly as a law clerk prior to starting a military career. He attended military school for two years and entered military service in October 1910. He became a Fahnenjunker (officer candidate) and served in Infantry Regiment No. 13 (1st Westphalian) throughout the First World War on the Western Front in both combat and staff positions, earning the Iron Cross 1st and 2nd Class. Discharged with the rank of Hauptmann at the war’s end in November 1918, he became active in the Freikorps. He formed and led the Westphalian “Freikorps von Pfeffer” in the Baltic states, the Ruhr and Upper Silesia until March 1920. He then participated in the failed Kapp Putsch and was detained for a time, but granted an amnesty in 1921. He was very active in organizing resistance groups to put an end to the French occupation of the Ruhr (1923–25). He began to be involved in right wing politics, joining the Völkisch-Social Bloc in 1924 and becoming the Chairman of its Landesverband (State Association) in the Province of Westphalia from May 1924 to March 1925.
Nazi Party and SA career
Pfeffer joined the Nazi Party in March 1925 (membership number 16,101) shortly after the ban on it in the aftermath of the Beer Hall Putsch was lifted. He was named Gauleiter of Westphalia on 27 March 1925. In September 1925, he became a member of the National Socialist Working Association, a short-lived group of northern and western German Gauleiters, organized and led by Gregor Strasser, which unsuccessfully sought to amend the Party program. It was dissolved in 1926 following the Bamberg Conference.
Pfeffer remained Gauleiter in Westphalia until 7 March 1926 when his Gau was merged with Gau North Rhineland to form Großgau Ruhr. He then ran the large new Gau in a triumvirate of sorts with Gauleiters Joseph Goebbels and Karl Kaufmann. Pfeffer was simultaneously the Gau SA-Führer. However, disputes and jealousies between them led to a reorganization ordered by Adolf Hitler on 20 June 1926 with Kaufmann remaining as the sole Gauleiter.
In August 1926, Pfeffer was charged by Hitler with the leadership of the entire SA. This was formalized on 1 November, when he was granted the title Oberster SA-Führer (Supreme SA Leader). He was the first SA commander upon its re-establishment in 1925, following its temporary abolition in 1923 in the wake of the abortive Beer Hall Putsch. Heinrich Himmler became Pfeffer's secretary in Munich.
Pfeffer set about strengthening and reorganizing the SA. He established seven new regional level SA-Oberführer commands in March 1928. In February 1929, their title was changed to OSAF-Stellvertreter (Deputy Supreme SA Leader). During his tenure, the SA expanded from around 30,000 to over 60,000. On 1 April 1930, Pfeffer was made Korpsführer of the newly established National Socialist Automobile Corps, the forerunner of the National Socialist Motor Corps (NSKK).
