Who was Horst Ludwig Wessel?

Horst was a German political activist killed in 1930. He was only twenty-three years old at the time.  30,000 people attended his funeral and a high government official gave a stirring eulogy.

Horst was the son of a Lutheran minister and was known for his patriotism. Horst’s father wanted Horst to go into the ministry but the young Horst choose political activism instead. He wanted to make a difference to his country.

Horst had aspirations to be a lawyer and was enrolled in a University in 1926. It was said he was an intense and passionate student.

In his spare time he played a shalmei. A shalmei is a type of horn that falls into the double reed family of musical instruments. It took considerable talent to master this unusual instrument.

Horst was also a bit of song writer and achieved some fame writing…