Joseph Berchtold (6 March 1897 – 23 August 1962) was an early senior Nazi Party member and a co-founder of both the Sturmabteilung (SA) and Schutzstaffel (SS).

Berchtold served in World War I and upon Germany's defeat joined the German Workers' Party (DAP), a small extremist organization at the time.

After resigning as the SS leader, Berchtold spent much of his time writing for Nazi magazines and journals.

[1] In early 1920, he joined the small right-wing extremist group the German Workers' Party (DAP).

[3] Upon re-joining the party in 1922, Berchtold became a member of the Sturmabteilung ("Storm Detachment"; SA), a paramilitary wing formed to protect its speakers at rallies, and to police Nazi meetings.

The plan was to first take control of Munich, then Bavaria and then seize total power by marching on Berlin, much like how Mussolini and his Blackshirts had done in Italy.

He was tried in absentia in Munich before the special People's Court in 1924 for his role in the Beer Hall Putsch and sentenced to a prison term.

[3] When Hitler was released from prison on 20 December 1924, Berchtold was District Director of the Nazi Party in Carinthia, Austria and was leader of the SA there.

[3] On 15 April 1926, Berchtold became the successor to Schreck as chief of the Schutzstaffel ("Protection Squadron"; SS), a special elite branch of the party under the control of the SA.

The rules stated the unit was "...neither a military organisation nor a group of hangers-on, but a small squad of men that our movement and our Führer can rely on.