[Hawthorn]

>> The number of ex-members of Hitler’s personal militia, the SA, was also surprisingly high . . . reaching a peak of 45 percent in 1961 <<

That statistic would seem to be a totally insignificant factoid, to wit:

After the Night of the Long Knives (1934), the SA lost its political importance and became virtually a nothing-burger. The really nasty and influential "storm troopers" were not the SA. No, they were the SS.

[sparklite2]

Yup. Hitler brought all the levers of power to himself.
His SS was created to eliminate a rival power center in the SA.

[Olog-hai]

That doesn’t mean they rejected their ideology utterly.