On 14 January 1930, a brawl in a run‑down Friedrichshain tenement turned deadly when Albrecht Hohler, a Communist paramilitary member, shot 21‑year‑old Horst Wessel in the stomach. Wessel, a Nazi stormtrooper, was later hospitalized and died of sepsis on 23 February.
Joseph Goebbels, then party boss in Berlin, seized the incident as a propaganda opportunity. He fabricated a heroic biography for Wessel, portraying him as a self‑less martyr and a victim of a “subhuman Communist.” Daily reports in the newspaper Der Angriff claimed the death was a murder and a terrorist act, while Goebbels staged a funeral that he claimed drew 30,000 mourners, though the actual attendance was closer to 3,000.
Goebbels’ propaganda extended beyond the funeral. He published fabricated stories of Wessel’s charitable work, interviewed his mother, and presented Wessel and his former partner Erna Jaenichen as a romantic couple. The Horst Wessel Song, later adopted as the Nazi anthem, was printed on the front page of Der Angriff, further cementing his mythic status.
Foreign diplomats, including British Ambassador Sir Horace Rumbold, noted the growing concern over Germany’s political climate, citing the rise of fascism and the economic hardships that fueled support for parties like the NSDAP.