The violent rise and bloody fall of Ernst Röhm in Nazi Germany

During his early life in Munich, Ernst Röhm pursued a military path which clearly showed his firm commitment to disciplined structure and to service of the nation.

In 1906, he joined the Royal Bavarian 10th Infantry Regiment "König Ludwig" as an officer cadet and received his commission the following year.

Once the First World War began, Röhm served as a front-line officer and endured some of the most intense conditions of trench warfare.

He received multiple wounds, including a bullet to the face, and earned the Iron Cross First Class for bravery, and as a result, his scars were both physical and political, which contributed to his belief that Germany had been betrayed by weak politicians and civilian rule.

After the war ended, Röhm stayed active in nationalist military circles and joined the Freikorps, where he fought against socialist uprisings and revolutionaries across post-war Bavaria.

At the time, many ex-soldiers found meaning in paramilitary activity, and Röhm became a prominent organiser who maintained close ties to the German Army.

In 1919, he met Adolf Hitler during the early stages of the Nazi Party’s formation and soon recognised Hitler’s rhetorical skill and political focus.

Röhm provided weapons, recruits, and protection, and in return, Hitler offered him some influence and trust within the inner circle. 

By 1921, Röhm had formally joined the Nazi Party and helped create the Sturmabteilung (SA), which served as a street combat unit that defended Nazi meetings and attacked opponents.

During the failed Beer Hall Putsch in November 1923, Röhm led armed groups in an attempted coup against the Bavarian government.

Although he was arrested and convicted of high treason, his sentence was light, and his loyalty to Hitler never wavered.

After a short period in South America, where he had served as a military adviser in Bolivia, he returned to Germany in September 1930 at Hitler’s personal request.

In January 1931, Hitler appointed him Chief of Staff of the SA and tasked him with rebuilding the organisation.

Once he had been appointed as Chief of Staff of the SA, Röhm moved quickly to rebuild it into a force that aligned with his plan for a militant, revolutionary movement.

He expanded recruitment, introduced stricter discipline, and organised the SA along military lines.

By 1932, the organisation had reached over 400,000 members. By mid-1934, Nazi sources claimed it had grown to more than three million, though independent estimates suggest the actual number may have been closer to 2.5 million.

As a result, it gave Röhm control over the most visible and violent wing of the Nazi movement. 

At street level, the SA became a tool of political intimidation which frequently disrupted public meetings, harassed opposition groups, and made clear that violence was an acceptable way to gain power.

Röhm believed that the Nazi revolution had to sweep aside the traditional power structures of the old order, including the Reichswehr and the officer class, together with officials who were drawn from the civil service.

For that reason, he encouraged many of his men to see themselves as the future of Germany, rather than a temporary bodyguard unit. 

By contrast, Hitler largely relied on conservative elites and business leaders and requested the backing of the army to secure political power.

Röhm’s continued calls for a second revolution put him at odds with this strategy, since he wanted social upheaval, while Hitler wanted stability.

Röhm remained loyal but demanded that the Nazi victory result in permanent change to Germany’s institutions.

His refusal to compromise ultimately put him on a path to conflict with the very regime he had helped to build. 

As Röhm gained influence, he made it clear that he saw the SA as the replacement for the traditional German army.

He publicly called for a “people’s army” that would incorporate the Reichswehr and elevate SA leaders to positions of command.

That plan was widely seen as a threat to the army’s independence. High-ranking officers warned Hitler that any move to restructure the military under Röhm’s direction would lead to crisis.

In one of his most extreme remarks, Röhm stated that "a revolution is not finished until the last bourgeois is hanged from the entrails of the last priest," which increased fears among the traditional elite. 

At the same time, Heinrich Himmler, who headed the SS, and Reinhard Heydrich, who served as chief of the SS Security Service, both began to act against Röhm.

Both men viewed him as a rival, and they systematically worked to weaken his authority.

Over several months, they had gathered information, made false reports, and told Hitler that Röhm planned to launch a coup.

They had presented intercepted letters, exaggerated reports of SA unrest, and publicly portrayed Röhm as unstable and dangerous.

Heydrich even reportedly compiled an "A List" of individuals targeted for elimination.

By early 1934, Hitler had increasingly faced pressure from many sides as army generals demanded that the SA be restrained.

Conservative ministers warned that Röhm’s influence threatened the stability of the government.

Leading Nazis, including Hermann Göring and Himmler, insisted that action must be taken.

Röhm’s open homosexuality, which had long been known to Hitler, readily became another source of attack.

Although Röhm never concealed his private life, his enemies now used it as ammunition to question his moral fitness.

The atmosphere shifted, and Hitler soon began to prepare for a purge.

On 30 June 1934, Hitler arrived at the Hotel Hanselbauer in Bad Wiessee, where Röhm and senior SA officers had gathered for a retreat.

At dawn, Hitler entered Röhm’s room, ordered his arrest, and left the resort in the hands of the SS.

At the same time, coordinated operations began across Germany. SA leaders were promptly arrested or shot, and dozens of others, including political opponents, were executed without trial. 

Over the next two days, the killings continued. Official reports listed 85 dead, but the actual number may have reached over 150.

Of those, nearly half were not members of the SA. Among those eliminated were several prominent figures, including Gregor Strasser, General Kurt von Schleicher, Schleicher's wife Elisabeth, and other figures whom Hitler had come to distrust.

Röhm was imprisoned in Munich’s Stadelheim Prison and reportedly received a pistol and the option to take his own life, and, because he refused, SS officers Theodor Eicke and Michel Lippert entered his cell and shot him. 

Soon after, Hitler addressed the nation. On 13 July 1934, he gave a speech to the Reichstag in which he publicly defended the killings as necessary acts of self-preservation.

This came after the Reichstag had passed the 'Law Regarding Measures of State Self-Defense' on 3 July, which made the purge legal as a response to a national emergency.

He claimed that he had been forced to act to prevent a conspiracy and that the SA leadership had betrayed the revolution.

To legalise the purge, the Reichstag passed the "Law Regarding Measures of State Self-Defense," which retroactively justified the killings as responses to a national emergency.

Army commanders appeared satisfied that Röhm was gone and pledged loyalty to Hitler.

In return, Hitler assured them that the SA would never interfere in military affairs. 

The SS quickly became the new paramilitary leaders, loyal directly to Hitler and separate from the chaos that had defined the SA.

Röhm’s death brought an end to the revolutionary side of the Nazi movement and cleared the path for a more centralised dictatorship.

Afterward, the SA was demoted to a training and support organisation and was largely stripped of political influence.

In the end, Röhm had built an organisation that had helped make Hitler’s rise possible, yet his refusal to abandon its radical ideas ultimately became the reason for his destruction.