- Röhm, Ernst
-
born Nov. 28, 1887, Munich, Ger.died July 1, 1934, Munich-StadelheimGerman leader of the SA.He rose to the rank of major in World War I. Soon thereafter, he helped found the Nazi Party. A supporter of Adolf Hitler, he offered Hitler the use of his private strong-arm force (later the SA). After brief imprisonment for his part in the Beer Hall Putsch (1923), Röhm went to Bolivia as a military instructor (1925–30), but he was recalled by Hitler to reorganize and command the SA. Röhm's ambition that the SA supplant or absorb the regular army came to be opposed by Hitler and his advisers. On the pretext that he and the SA were preparing to overthrow Hitler, Röhm was murdered during the Night of the Long Knives.
Röhm, 1933.Heinrich Hoffmann, Munich* * *
▪ German army officerRöhm also spelled Roehmborn November 28, 1887, Munich, Germanydied July 1, 1934, Munich-StadelheimGerman army officer and chief organizer of Adolf Hitler (Hitler, Adolf)'s storm troops (Sturmabteilung, or SA; Brownshirts). Feared as a rival by Hitler, he was murdered at the Führer's order.A soldier from 1906, Röhm was wounded three times in World War I, during which he attained the rank of major. After the war he helped to found, before Hitler, the Nazi Party. Röhm helped Hitler win the support of the army in Bavaria and made available to him his private strong-arm force, which, in October 1921, became the Sturmabteilung. For his part in the Beer Hall Putsch of November 8–9, 1923, in Munich, Röhm was briefly imprisoned.Röhm wanted the SA to absorb or supplant the Reichswehr (regular army) and to secure equality with the Nazi Party, contrary to Hitler's wishes. In 1925 Röhm went to Bolivia, returning late in 1930 at Hitler's request to reorganize the SA. After Hitler became chancellor in 1933, he temporized by including Röhm in his cabinet but then subordinated the SA to the party and the army. Persuaded by Hermann Göring (Göring, Hermann) and Heinrich Himmler (Himmler, Heinrich), Hitler finally decided to purge the SA chief. Röhm was taken by Hitler personally from a hotel near Munich on the pretext that he and the SA were preparing a putsch. Röhm was shot without trial the next day.* * *
Universalium. 2010.
