Central Europe Germany Italy Spain (Spanish Civil War) Albania Austria Baltic states Belgium Bulgaria Burma China Czechia Denmark France Germany Greece Italy Japan Jewish Luxembourg Netherlands Norway Poland Romania Slovakia Spain Soviet Union Yugoslavia Germany Italy Netherlands Portugal Spain Sweden Switzerland United Kingdom United States The Arbeiter-Schutzbund ('Workers Defense Union') was an anti-fascist paramilitary organization in the Free City of Danzig in the early 1930s, being the paramilitary wing of the Social Democratic Party of the Free City of Danzig.
[2] Around the time of the 1930 Free City of Danzig parliamentary election, the Social Democratic Party decided to form a new paramilitary force on the basis of the old Reichsbanner unit, to defend themselves from attacks from the National Socialist movement.
[6] Clashes usually took place between smaller groups of militants, but there were also organized attacks on party offices, bookstores and individuals from either side, and sometimes firearms were used.
[2][6] From mid-January to late April 1931 some 80 violent political clashes involving the National Socialists were registered in Danzig, with some 120 people wounded and four killed.
[2] Confrontations would eventually spread outside Danzig proper to places such as Tiegenhof, Käsemark, Stuhm, Praust, Ober Kahlbude and Meisterswalde.
[2] However the attackers were intercepted by a larger contingent of Arbeiter-Schutzbund militants from Orunia, and Horst Hoffmann, 16-year-old SA member, was killed in the clash.
Whilst the Reichsbanner Council had called on the Iron Front to be functional across the Weimar Republic by February 21, 1932, it only took shape in the Free City by September 10, 1932.