The organization that would become the so called Frontkriegerbund, or Front Fighters Association was formed in the wake of the First World War, similar to Der Stahlhelm and Verband Nationalgesinnter Soldaten. Just like many other veteran organizations, it was formed by nationalist minded officers and soldiers and took part in meetings and political brawls in the turbulent early years in the 1920s. In 1924 it joined the forces behind the völkisch opposition, hardly loyal to Adolf Hitler, but more so to general Ludendorff.
After the ugly fallout between Hitler and Ludendorff which started to brew after the failed putsch, the latter would go on to form his own prestige project, the so called Tannenbergbund in August 1925. The organization was unlike the NSDAP, not a political party in the way one would think. It called itself a Wehrorganization, a defence organization. In simple words it was an umbrella of fringe and misfit völkisch paramilitary organizations that indulged themselves in massive militaristic parades in Ludendorffs honor. The Ludendorff cult was, so to speak, an integral part of the Tannenbergbund. Named after his victory in the battle of Tannenberg during the war. At this point, not many, probably not even the members of the Tannenbergbund knew what the whole thing was all about. As the organization did not participate in any elections. Meanwhile the outspoken goal of the Tannenbergbund was to challenge the NSDAP.…
