Stahlhelm, Bund der Frontsoldaten
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The Stahlhelm, Bund der Frontsoldaten (German: "Steel Helmet, League of Frontline Soldiers") was one of the many paramilitary Freikorps organizations that arose after the defeat of World War I in the Weimar Republic.
The Stahlhelm was founded at the end of 1918 partly by Franz Seldte in the city of Magdeburg. Its journal, Stahlhelm, was edited by Count Hans-Jürgen von Blumenthal, later hanged for his part in the July Plot. The organization was an accumulation point for nationalistic and anti-Weimar elements. With 500,000 members in 1930, the Stahlhelm was the largest Freikorps organization.
In 1929 the Stahlhelm joined the Volksentscheid gegen den Young-Plan to demonstrate against the Young Plan. The Stahlhelm joined the DNVP, NSDAP and Alldeutscher Verband to form the Harzburger Front, which was a united right-wing front against the Weimar Republic.
The Stahlhelm was integrated into the Sturmabteilung in 1934 and in 1935 was dissolved by the Nazis, who feared its fundamentally monarchist character.