Life and death of Ernst Röhm, the facts
Early life and First World War
Ernst Julius Günther Röhm was born on 28 November 1887 in Munich, Bavaria. He pursued a military career from an early age and joined the Bavarian Army as an officer cadet. During the First World War, Röhm served with distinction on the Western Front and was wounded several times, including a serious facial injury that left him permanently scarred.
For his service, he was awarded the Iron Cross 2nd Class in 1914 and the Iron Cross 1st Class in 1916. By the end of the war, Röhm held the rank of captain and had gained a reputation as a capable and experienced front-line officer.
Personal life
Ernst Röhm never married and lived a largely private personal life. Unlike many other senior figures in Nazi Germany, he did not cultivate a public family image. Röhm was openly homosexual within certain circles, a fact known to Adolf Hitler and other leading members of the Nazi Party, although it was not publicly acknowledged at the time.
His personal life later became politically significant, as it was used against him during internal power struggles within the Nazi regime.
Rise within the Nazi Party
After the First World War, Röhm became involved in nationalist and paramilitary politics. He joined the early Nazi movement and became a close associate of Adolf Hitler. Röhm played a key role in organizing and expanding the party’s paramilitary wing, the Sturmabteilung (SA), also known as the Brownshirts.
During the failed Beer Hall Putsch in November 1923, Röhm participated in the attempted coup against the Weimar government. Although the putsch failed, Röhm’s loyalty to Hitler strengthened his position within the movement. He later received the Blood Order for his participation. Following a period of semi-exile and military advisory work abroad, Röhm returned to Germany in 1930 at Hitler’s request and resumed leadership of the SA.
Röhm’s unique bond with Hitler
A defining characteristic of Röhm’s relationship with Adolf Hitler was his status as one of the very few, and certainly the most prominent, high-ranking officials permitted to address the Führer using the informal German 'du'. While a handful of early 'Old Fighters' shared this intimacy, Röhm’s insistent use of it symbolized a personal bond that Hitler eventually found threatening to his image as a distant, absolute leader.
Power in Nazi Germany
Under Röhm’s leadership, the SA grew rapidly, reaching several million members by the early 1930s. The organization played a crucial role in intimidating political opponents and helping the Nazi Party rise to power.
After Hitler became Chancellor in 1933, Röhm became one of the most powerful figures in Nazi Germany as Chief of Staff of the SA. He sought to transform the SA into a “people’s army” that would replace or absorb the traditional German military, the Reichswehr.
This ambition brought him into direct conflict with the German Army leadership, as well as with other senior Nazi figures such as Hermann Göring and Heinrich Himmler, who viewed Röhm as a threat to their own power.
Conflict within the Nazi leadership
By 1934, tensions between Röhm and other leaders of the Nazi regime had reached a critical point. The Reichswehr leadership feared the growing power of the SA, while Hitler depended on the army’s support to consolidate his control.
Röhm’s demands for a second revolution and his vision of restructuring the military alarmed both the army and conservative elites. At the same time, his personal independence and the size of the SA made him increasingly difficult for Hitler to control.
The Night of the Long Knives
The conflict came to a head in late June 1934 during the purge known as the Night of the Long Knives. Between 30 June and 2 July 1934, Hitler ordered a crackdown on the SA leadership and other perceived political opponents.
Röhm was arrested on 30 June 1934 at Bad Wiessee along with other senior SA leaders. He was imprisoned in Stadelheim Prison in Munich. On 1 July 1934, Röhm was given the opportunity to commit suicide but refused. He was subsequently executed by SS officers on Hitler’s orders.
Historical significance
Ernst Röhm played a central role in the rise of the Nazi Party and the establishment of its power in Germany. As leader of the SA, he helped build the movement’s paramilitary strength and contributed to the destabilization of the Weimar Republic. His death during the Night of the Long Knives marked a turning point in Nazi Germany, consolidating Hitler’s control, strengthening the position of the SS, and securing the loyalty of the German Army.
Röhm’s career illustrates the internal power struggles within the Nazi regime and the extent to which political violence was used to maintain control.
