Franz Pfeffer von Salomon

Who was Franz Pfeffer von Salomon?

Franz Pfeffer von Salomon, also known as Franz von Pfeffer, was the first commander of the SA upon its re-establishment in 1925, following its temporary abolition in 1923 after the abortive Beer Hall Putsch.

Pfeffer von Salomon was a Prussian Army veteran of the First World War and also a Freikorps member. He gained his reputation by organizing resistance groups to put an end to the French occupation of the Ruhr. He was Gauleiter in Upper Bavaria, and Heinrich Himmler was once his secretary. Adolf Hitler gave Pfeffer command of the SA after he swore unconditional loyalty to Hitler following the Bamberg Conference of 1926.

Pfeffer was dismissed from his command in 1930, following disagreements with Hitler about the role of the SA, and because he had failed to prevent his fellow SA leader Walter Stennes from briefly occupying the Nazi Party's offices in Berlin. After Pfeffer's dismissal, Hitler assumed personal supreme command of the SA but summoned Ernst Röhm to return to Germany from South America to run the SA as its Chief of Staff, since Hitler had no interest in running the SA himself.

Pfeffer survived the Second World War and died in 1968.