Stange was born in
Plaue in 1899, attended public
Volksschule in
Erfurt and began an insurance
apprenticeship. He then attended
non-commissioned officer preparatory schools, first in
Sigmaringen from April 1914 to January 1916, and then in
Treptow an der Rega (today,
Trzebiatów) from January 1916 to April 1918. At that point, he entered military service with the
Imperial German Army and participated in the
First World War as an
Unteroffizier with the 71st (3rd Thuringian) Infantry Regiment and the 467th Infantry Regiment, earning the
Iron Cross, 2nd class. Following the end of the war in November 1918, he served until 1919 in a
Freikorps unit, the
Freiwilligen Landesjägercorps, and took part in fighting in
Berlin and central Germany. In 1919, he became a member of
Der Stahlhelm, the German war veterans organization. Also in 1919, he joined the
security police at Erfurt and took part in fighting in
Gotha in 1920, as well as in
Eisleben and in the
Leuna area in 1921. He left after the end of the fighting that year and became a worker in the coal mines in Geiselthal (today,
Giżyn). Also in 1921, he joined the
Viking League, a
nationalist paramilitary organization. In November of the same year, he joined the
Thuringian police service but was removed in mid-1922 for political reasons. From 1922 to 1926, he was employed as a railway maintenance worker, gardener and office worker in Erfurt. In 1926, he became office manager at the Central German Craftsmen Association and managing director of the National Socialist Fighting League for the Commercial Middle Class in Erfurt. == Nazi Party career ==