Abstract
Ernst Röhm (1887–1934) was a former Reichswehr officer and had been a
member of the NSDAP since 1920. He had supported Hitler in the
Hitler-Ludendorff Putsch and was among the Führer’s closest friends. In
1924, Hitler put Röhm in charge of the SA
[Sturmabteilung or Storm Detachment,
also known as Brownshirts], which had been originally conceived solely
as a security service. But as SA chief of staff Röhm pursued his own
ambition of transforming the SA into a strong popular militia that would
eventually replace the Reichswehr. After the Nazi takeover, Röhm called
for a “second revolution” and for a socialist reconstruction of society;
these demands, together with his ambitions for the SA, brought him into
conflict with the party and the armed forces. Röhm and his organization
were quickly isolated within the party because high officials like
Göring and Himmler regarded the SA as a threat to their own spheres of
power. In April 1934, Göring ordered evidence to be collected against
Röhm, especially anything pertaining to the latter’s well-known
homosexuality. But Nazi leaders needed allegations that Röhm was
planning a putsch to get rid of him permanently. Hitler used the pretext
of a discussion to invite SA leaders to assemble on June 30 in Bad
Wiessee, where Röhm was “taking the cure.” Alarmed by the threat of an
alleged coup d’état, Göring, Himmler, and Reichswehr Minister Blomberg
had agreed to use Himmler’s SS against the SA, with the Reichswehr
providing logistical support. On the early morning of June 30, 1934,
Hitler finally gave the order for “Operation Hummingbird” to begin: Röhm
and subordinate SA leaders were taken by surprise, arrested, and brought
to Munich’s Stadelheim prison, where many of them were shot later the
same day. Röhm himself was murdered in Stadelheim on July 1. In this
photo he is seen at an SA meeting in 1934; behind him is SA
Gruppenführer Karl Ernst (1904–1934), who was also shot on June 30.