Ernst Röhm

Ernst Röhm (or Roehm) (November 28, 1887, Munich; July 1, 1934, Munich-Stadelheim prison, murdered) was a German military officer and commander and co-founder of the Nazi Sturmabteilung or "stormtroopers".

Denunciation and death

The main function of the SA was to protect the party leadership and to attack political opponents such as their nemesis organization, the Communist Red Front. Through violence and intimidation, the SA helped the Nazis become more powerful than the other political parties in Munich. However, when Hitler began to campaign for the chancellorship of Germany, he began to marginalize the SA in order to improve his image and in response to criticisms by establishment conservatives.

Related Topics:
Communist - Red Front - Munich - Chancellorship - Conservative

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While Hitler had been personally rather fond of Röhm, he came under pressure to reduce Röhm's influence. German military leaders were unhappy with Röhm's proposal that the German army be absorbed into the larger SA, and the industrialists that supported Hitler were concerned over Röhm's socialist leanings (shared with the Strasser brothers, and the socialist tendancies in the SA).

Related Topics:
Army - Industrialist - Socialist - Strasser brothers

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In spite of the pressure applied on him, Hitler postponed his decision to do away with his favourite right-hand man to the very end. He appealed desperately to Röhm not to press for a socialist 'revolution' that would lead to an upheaval of Germany at all levels. Only when the differences were irreconcilable did Hitler finally make up his mind that Röhm had to go.

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The final straw came in 1934, just before President Hindenburg's death. As the president lay dying, many groups began to plot in order to place their own respective candidates in the presidential seat. According to William Shirer's Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, a strong group of conservatives wanted the return of Crown Prince Wilhelm, the son of Kaiser Wilhelm II, to Germany as President. Hitler, wanting to avoid this, met with the main military chiefs on the "Pocket Battleship" Deutschland and promised to begin rearming Germany in exchange for their support of his candidacy as president. As a bonus, he also promised them to get rid of Röhm. This led to Röhm's execution without trial during the purge of the SA (the so-called Night of the Long Knives (30 June-1 July, 1934)), which execution was legalized after the fact in the Law Regarding Measures of State Self-Defense on 13 July.

Related Topics:
1934 - President - Hindenburg - William Shirer - Crown Prince - Wilhelm - Kaiser - Wilhelm II - President - ''Deutschland'' - Execution - Trial - Night of the Long Knives - 30 June - 1 July - Law Regarding Measures of State Self-Defense - 13 July

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One of Röhm's famous quotations is "All revolutions devour their own children".

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