Pfeffer von Salomon, Franz

(1888-1968)

   Freikorps* leader; head of the SA.* Born in Düsseldorf, he apparently dropped the last part of his name (von Salomon) out of sensitivity to anti-Semitic* opinion (he irregularly used "von"). Holding the army rank of captain at the end of World War I, he created the Westphalian Freikorps* (also known as the Pfeffer Freikorps) and was active in the Baltic* and Upper Silesian* campaigns. The leader of a sab-otage group in the Ruhr, he was also a member of Organisation Consul.*

   Pfeffer served in the Westphalian SA as an Oberführer before commanding the entire organization from November 1926 until August 1930. Under his lead-ership the SA grew from a disparate group of 6,000 men to a disciplined force of over 60,000. As a former officer with sound managerial talents, he instituted a new organizational structure during 1926-1927 that settled the SA's character until the fall of the Republic. Devised in harmony with Hitler,* the structure ensured that the SA served as a vital, if subordinate, tool of the NSDAP. Pfeffer established several auxiliary organizations—for example, SA reserves, naval forces, and intelligence teams—that increased the SA's overall cohesiveness while presaging later developments. But growing resentment over Hitler's le-gal" pursuit of power led to his bitter resignation as Supreme Leader of the SA (OSAF) during the 1930 election campaign. Despite his aversion to parliamen-tary politics, he joined the Reichstag's* NSDAP faction in November 1932. Arrested by the Gestapo in 1940 and 1944, he survived World War II and spent his final years in Munich.

   REFERENCES:Diehl, Paramilitary Politics; Max Schwarz, MdR; Waite, Vanguard of Nazism.