Ernst Julius Röhm (often written as Roehm in English) (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 storm troopers (the SA).

Early years

Röhm served as a career officer with the Bavarian Army during World War I. He held the rank of Oberleutnant with the Bavarian 10th Infantry Regiment and was severely wounded in the face in September of 1914 in Lorraine, France. He later was promoted to Hauptmann.

Following the end of the war in 1918, he joined the Franz Xaver Ritter von Epp's Freikorps, one of the many private militias that had formed in Munich as a reaction against the Weimar Republic. In 1920, he became a Nazi-party member and helped organize the Sturmabteilung (SA). In 1923, after the failed Beer Hall Putsch in Munich, Röhm spent 15 months in prison, during which time he became a close, personal friend of Adolf Hitler.

In 1924, after Röhm was released from prison, he worked with Hitler to rebuild the Nazi Party, but several intense differences developed between the two. Röhm resigned from the Nazi Party in 1925 and went to Bolivia to serve as a military advisor.

Röhm's homosexuality

In the 1960 chronicle The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, author William L. Shirer says that many of the early Nazis were homosexual including Ernst Röhm. Shirer further stated that Lieutenant Edmund Heines, whom Ernst Röhm had appointed first as his deputy and then later as leader of the Munich branch of the S.A., was not only a homosexual but a convicted murderer. Historian and University of Bremen professor Lothar Machtan says in his book The Hidden Hitler that after the failed 1923 Beer Hall Putsch in Munich, Ernst Röhm spent 15 months in prison, during which time he became a close, personal friend of Adolf Hitler. Machtans book states that former Freikorps men knew "a lot about Adolf Hitler's homosexuality from back in Munich," for instance, his liaison with young Edmund Heines whom he says was also one of Ernst Röhm's lovers whose response to Hitler's criticism of his lifestyle was as follows: "Adolf hasn't the slightest reason to open his trap so wide - one word from me, and he'll shut up for good!" (p.212)

Professor Machtan writes that the young painter Martin Schdtzl accompanied Ernst Röhm to Bolivia and in February of 1934 when Röhm assumed command of the SA, Schdtzl was appointed to his staff. Röhm established a sort of gay network within the S.A., assigning prominent posts to gay friends and lovers. William L. As well, Machtan wrote that another of Röhm's favorites was Karl Ernst, whom William L. Shirer described as a former ex-bouncer in a homosexual café, who was given the nickname "Frau Rohrbein" because of his relationship with Paul Rohrbein, the S.A. commander in Berlin. After meeting Ernst Röhm, Karl Ernst had a meteoric rise from a leadership position in the S.A. to a seat in the Reichstag.

In his book, Professor Machtan also wrote that Hitler initially protected Ernst Röhm and others but eventually ordered the deaths of several high-ranking Nazis to prevent the secret of his homosexuality from surfacing after reports of their homosexuality began to surface in the media in response to the Nazi party hardliners asserting Paragraph 175.

Röhm's return to Germany

In 1930, Hitler personally assumed command of the SA (storm troopers) as the new Oberster SA-Führer. Hitler sent a personal request to Röhm to return to Germany, offering him the position of Stabschef (Chief of Staff) of the entire Sturmabteilung. Röhm accepted the offer in 1931, introducing radical new ideas into the SA and staffing the senior SA leadership with his close friends and personal associates. Rumors also abounded that the SA leadership participated in homosexual activities, and Röhm's conduct as the SA Stabschef was soon under heavy criticism, particularly by the conservative German military hierarchy. Eventually, the closeted Röhm was outed by the leftist press.

The main function of the SA during the formative years of the Nazi Party had been that of a political army — namely, to supply the force to protect the party leadership and to attack and terrorize political opponents such as the Communist Red Front. Through violence and intimidation, the SA helped the Nazis become more powerful than the other political parties first in Munich and later throughout Germany.

Downfall

Following the Nazis' ascent to power in 1933, the left wing of the Nazi Party — led by Röhm — continued to believe in the socialism inherent in the party's name. This radical faction of the party insisted on nationalization of large firms, profit sharing for employees, and cuts in the interest rates — all measures that were anathema to the business community that had supported Hitler's rise to power in 1933. Röhm himself spoke of "the second revolution" and vowed to act against what he termed reactionaries, much as the Nazis had acted against the Communists during their consolidation of power earlier that year.

Hitler moved swiftly to reassure the German business community. In so doing, a breach was opened between Hitler and the SA. The storm troopers, whose ranks were largely composed of dispossessed members of the working class, were anticapitalist in tendency and hoped to gain from the "revolution" they had helped win by their fighting in the streets. Hitler was of the opinion that the storm troopers were a political force who, once the Nazi Party had gained power, were no longer needed. Röhm, on the other hand, believed the SA was destined to be the germ of a "revolutionary" army for Hitler. While Röhm showed contempt for the Prussian military leadership, Hitler was well aware that he could not have come to power without the support of the Army, nor could he remain in leadership were the Army to withdraw its backing. Furthermore, Hitler realized he needed the Army's support to succeed the 86-year-old Paul von Hindenburg as President and Commander in Chief when von Hindenburg died.

In 1934, as it became clear that the president was weakening and approaching death, many factions in Germany devised schemes to position their own favorite candidates as von Hindenburg's successor. According to William Shirer's The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, a group of conservatives — including many within the armed forces — sought the return of Crown Prince Wilhelm, the son of Kaiser Wilhelm II, to Germany either as President or as head of a re-established German monarchy.

Germany's military leadership was incensed by Röhm's proposal in February 1934 that Germany's armed forces (the Reichswehr) be absorbed into a single organization wherein the SA would have a clear numerical superiority and thereby become dominant. The Army viewed the SA as a brawling mob of undisciplined street fighters, and the tales of homosexuality and "corrupt morals" were well known by the Army; the officer corps unanimously rejected Röhm's proposal, citing the destruction of German military honor and discipline, were Röhm's brawling storm troopers to gain control of the armed forces.

Hitler was presented with the opportunity to meet with the leaders of Germany's armed services on April 11 on board the pocket battleship Deutschland while reviewing the military's spring maneuvers in East Prussia. In the company of Defense Minister von Blomberg, Hitler met with army commander in chief General von Fritsch and naval chief Admiral Raeder. Hitler advised the commanders of the deterioration of Hindenburg's health and proposed that the Reichswehr support Hitler's succession to the presidency. In exchange, Hitler offered to reduce the size of the SA, suppress Röhm's ambitions, and guaranteed the Reichswehr as Germany's sole bearer of arms. Shirer's account states that it was likely that Hitler also seduced the military leaders with a promise to expand both Army and Navy in exchange for their support.

The tension within the Nazi Party worsened after further calls from Röhm for the "second revolution" (this time against the conservative power structure) and after a showdown between Röhm and Hitler in early June.

Similarly, the conservative industrialists that had supported Hitler's rise to the chancellorship in 1933 continued to voice unease over the socialist leanings Röhm shared with the Strasser brothers, in particular their calls for the second revolution. Through their close relationship with President von Hindenburg, both conservative groups — the officer corps and the industrialists — made their displeasure known to the president.

In early June 1934, President von Hindenburg, though ailing, conveyed an ultimatum to Hitler that, unless the tension in Germany was put to an end, von Hindenburg was considering a declaration of martial law. Knowing that such a step would cause power to slip out of his hands — possibly forever — Hitler decided he could no longer forestall honoring his pact with the Reichswehr to suppress the SA and end its plans for the second revolution.

Death

In spite of the pressure applied on him, Hitler postponed his decision to do away with his long-time right-hand man to the very end. He appealed to Röhm not to press for the second revolution. Only when the differences appeared irreconcilable did Hitler finally make up his mind that Röhm had to go. Hesitating to the last, but spurred on by Göring and Himmler with what were likely highly colored accounts of "treason" by Röhm and the SA, Hitler was finally convinced to order Göring and Himmler to put down the "plot" by Röhm. Both Göring and Himmler had their own scores to settle and consolidated their own power by putting down the SA and its leader.

This led to Röhm being shot to death without trial during the purge of the SA — the so-called Night of the Long Knives. Following his arrest by Hitler himself at the resort of Bad Weissee on 30 June, Röhm was held at Stadelheim Prison in Munich. There, on 2 July, he was visited by SS-Brigadeführer Theodor Eicke (then Kommandant of Dachau) and SS-Sturmbannführer Michael Lippert, who shot Röhm at point-blank range after he had refused to commit suicide with a pistol given to him. Röhm may not have realized whom had ordered his execution as his last words were reported as "Mein Führer, mein Führer". The measures taken by Hitler's followers during that weekend were made legal after the fact by a decree in the Law Regarding Measures of State Self-Defense on 3 July. Ernst Röhm was buried in Westfriedhof (West Cemetery) in Munich.

See also

• Nazi Germany
• History of Germany

References

• The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich - William L. Shirer (1960) Simon & Schuster, Inc. ISBN 0671728695 (1990 30th Anniversary edition)
• The Hidden Hitler - Lothar Machtan (2002) ISBN 0465043089