Ernst Röhm
A ruthless paramilitary commander whose ambition and private army became a fatal threat to Hitler's consolidation of power.
1887–1934 (age 47)·German Nazi and military officer·Birthday: November 28·The Lost Generation
Biography
Ernst Röhm was a soldier's soldier, a man whose world was defined by the trenches of the First World War and the chaotic streets of post-war Munich. Disgusted by the Weimar Republic, he found his purpose in the violent fringe politics of the Nazi movement, becoming one of Adolf Hitler's earliest and most indispensable allies. Röhm's true legacy was building the Sturmabteilung (SA), the Brownshirts, from a ragtag band of brawlers into a massive, fearsome militia that terrorized political opponents and helped smash the path to the chancellery. But his vision of a permanent 'second revolution' led by his street fighters clashed fatally with Hitler's need for mainstream military and industrial support. In 1934, Hitler turned on his old comrade, ordering the SS to murder Röhm and dozens of SA leaders in the Night of the Long Knives, eliminating the very force that had once secured his rise.
The Lost Generation
1883–1900
Came of age during World War I. Disillusioned by the carnage, they rejected the certainties of the Victorian era and built modernism from the wreckage — in art, literature, and politics.
Ernst was born in 1887, placing them squarely in The Lost Generation. The events that shaped this generation — world wars, depression, and rapid industrialization — shaped the world they entered and the choices available to them.
#1 When Ernst Was Born
The biggest hits of 1887
Ernst's Life & Times
The world at every milestone
1887Born
President: Grover Cleveland
1892Started school
President: Benjamin Harrison
1900Became a teenager
Boxer Rebellion in China
President: William McKinley
1903Could drive
Wright brothers achieve first powered flight
President: Theodore Roosevelt
1905Could vote
Einstein publishes the theory of special relativity
President: Theodore Roosevelt
1908Turned 21
Ford Model T goes into production
President: Theodore Roosevelt
1917Turned 30
Russian Revolution overthrows the tsar; US enters WWI
President: Woodrow Wilson
1927Turned 40
Lindbergh flies solo across the Atlantic; The Jazz Singer premieres
President: Calvin Coolidge"My Blue Heaven" — Gene Austin
1934Died at 47
Gas: $0.19/galPresident: Franklin D. Roosevelt"Stars Fell on Alabama" — Jack TeagardenBest Picture: It Happened One Night
Key Achievements
- Co-founded and built the Nazi Party's Sturmabteilung (SA) into a paramilitary force of over 3 million men.
- Played a decisive role in Hitler's rise to power through the SA's campaign of street violence and intimidation.
- Served as a Reichsleiter, the highest political rank in the Nazi Party, reflecting his early influence.
- His assassination during the Night of the Long Knives marked the final consolidation of Hitler's absolute control.
Did You Know?
He was openly homosexual, an unusual and tolerated fact within the early Nazi circles despite the party's later policies.
Röhm was a captain in the Imperial German Army and was seriously wounded in the face during World War I, leaving a prominent scar.
He held a post as a military advisor in Bolivia in the late 1920s before returning to Germany to rebuild the SA.
The pistol used to execute him in his prison cell is displayed in the Bavarian Army Museum.
“Since I am an immature and wicked man, war and unrest appeal to me more than good bourgeois order.”
