Sturm Cigarette Company

During the 1920s, many cigarette firms in Germany closed, and the market was increasingly dominated by a few large and highly automated manufacturers. By 1933, the Nazi party was attacking the tobacco industry for having foreign and Jewish connections. of 15–20 pfennig for every thousand cigarettes sold ( of sales price, given most cigarettes sold at 3 pfennig). The Zigarettenfirma Sturm was founded, and registered as the Cigarettenfabrik Dressler. ==Marketing==

advertisement from October 1932 showing an aircraft with SA-logo roundels and the word ("Storm" or "Military Assault"). The strapline reads "Valuable coupons · Sumptuous pictures of uniforms". The factory mainly produced four brands: (Drummer), , (Storm) and (New Front). "Neue Front" was the most expensive brand, at six pfennig; "Sturm" cost five, and "Alarm" four. "Trommler" was the cheapest at 3 pfennig and, given the economic crisis, by far the most popular. In 1932, 80% of cigarettes sold were "Trommler", rising to 95% by 1933. and promoted itself as a military training program. Adolf Hitler's opposition to smoking had limited effects on consumption and sales. While he ordered many localized smoking bans, they were widely ignored. The finance ministry appreciated the taxes tobacco brought in: Aside from taxes, advertising revenues, and Sturm royalties and dividends, Nazi organizations accepted millions of reichsmarks in donations and bribes from the cigarette industry. tens of billions of cigarettes were sold annually. Coercion There is evidence that coercion was used to promote the sale of these cigarettes. The SA agitated against and punished the use of other brands, especially the market leader Reemtsma. SA men attacked shops that sold rival brands, smashing windows and physically attacking the shopworkers. ==Profits==

Through this scheme, a typical SA unit earned hundreds of reichsmarks each month. A typical German smoker smoked around 15 cigarettes a day (similar to modern rates), so each SA unit continually received the income from just over a thousand smokers. At the time, an average-intensity "Trommler" smoker would spend around a tenth of his gross income on cigarettes. Many did not have a regular wage: this was the time of the Great Depression, and unemployment peaked at over 30% (see graph). The SA recruited particularly among the unemployed and underemployed. The firm first paid dividends to the SA in 1930. By 1932, it had a turnover of 36 million reichsmarks (equivalent to € million in ), and the SA made considerable profits; 1933 saw even higher returns. Money went to buy new buildings, factories, and advertising. , with the slogan (Choose [vote for] them once, be bound to them forever) ==Replacement==

In June 1932, Philipp Fürchtegott Reemtsma, head of the Reemtsma cigarette company, met with Adolf Hitler, Rudolf Hess, and Max Amann). Reemtsma's advertisements had been banned from Nazi party publications, but the publications lost money, and the party needed money for election campaigning. Hitler scolded Reemtsma for having Jewish partners, but they agreed to an initial deal of half a million marks of advertising. Shortly after the Nazis took power in 1933, Philipp Reemtsma asked Hermann Göring, then the highest official in Prussia, to do something about charges of corruption and SA attacks against the company. In early 1934, Göring called off the court case in exchange for three million marks; Reemtsma subsequently paid him a million more per year, as well as making substantial donations to the party. By July 1934, the Night of the Long Knives had removed the threat of the SA: its leaders, who had profited from the firm's royalties, and often owned shares in it, were dead or imprisoned. Reemtsma's Jewish partners had now emigrated, along with many Jewish employees, with help from Reemtsma. After Reemtsma made inquiries, the new SA leader, SA-Stabschef Viktor Lutze, cancelled their contract with Sturm Cigarettes and made a deal with Reemtsma in exchange for a fixed sum (in 1934, 250,000 reichsmarks), paid annually. Reemtsma would now produce the SA's cigarettes, and Sturm, left with unsellable cigarettes, filed for bankruptcy in 1935. ==See also==