Ernst Röhm

Following the Nazi seizure of power, Röhm became Minister without Portfolio and demanded continuation of the revolution and a people's army based on the SA. With several million members, the SA alarmed the Reichswehr, conservative elites and Nazi leaders such as Göring and Himmler.

State of the evidence

Well documented

Attribution

Political responsibility

Hitler had Röhm and the principal SA leaders arrested at Bad Wiessee. Röhm was imprisoned at Stadelheim and shot on 1 July on Hitler's orders. The regime subsequently presented the purge as suppression of a conspiracy, although the USHMM states that Röhm and his staff had not planned a takeover.

Attribution

Protagonist is the victim

Returning to operational leadership of the SA, Röhm expanded an organisation with several hundred thousand members before the Nazi seizure of power. SA members participated in street fighting, intimidation and attacks against political opponents, contributing to the NSDAP's rise.

State of the evidence

Documented

Röhm's private letters were published in the Social Democratic press, confirming his homosexuality, which was already known in certain Nazi circles. Nazi deputies subsequently assaulted journalist Helmuth Klotz in the Reichstag and were convicted.

State of the evidence

Documented

Role of the person profiled

Protagonist is the victim

After the war, Röhm joined Freikorps Epp to fight the Bavarian Soviet Republic. As an officer responsible for cataloguing demobilised weapons, he became a key figure in clandestine arms stockpiles used to supply paramilitary organisations despite restrictions imposed by the Treaty of Versailles.

State of the evidence

Documented

Attribution

Directly implicated