Ernst Rohm
1887 – 1934 German Chief of the SA (Sturmabteilung)
Founder-commander of the SA, murdered by Hitler in the Night of the Long Knives.
- Religion
- Catholic background; largely irreligious and indifferent to the movement's spiritual claims, focused on paramilitary revolution.
- Affiliations
- Nazi Party; commander of the SA storm troopers. No occult ties; a soldier and street-fighting organizer.
Rohm built the SA into a mass paramilitary force that brought the Nazis to power through street violence. His push for the SA to supplant the regular army, and his personal power, made him a threat. Hitler had him and other SA leaders shot in the 1934 Night of the Long Knives.
Connections
- associate of Adolf Hitler — Early ally later killed on Hitler's order in 1934.
- rival of Heinrich Himmler — Himmler's SS carried out the purge that destroyed him.
- rival of Heinrich Himmler — The SS he led broke free of Rohm's SA in the 1934 purge.
- rival of Hermann Goring — Coordinated with Himmler against Rohm in the purge.