Ernst Röhm
Ernst Röhm (1887-1934) - was a friend of Adolf Hitler and an early member of the Nazi Party and became Supreme Commander of the SA Brownshirts. He was also one of the many homosexuals who made up the higher echelons of the Nazis.[1]
Röhm had been in the military since 1906. After World War I he was a member of the Socalist terror organization known as the Iron Fist. From this group he would move into the Nationalsozialistche Deutsche Arbeiterpartei, The National Socialist German Worker's Party - the Nazis.[2] Many of the first party meetings took place in a tavern that catered to homosexuals, the Bratwurstgloeckl, since so many of the Nazis were homosexual as Röhm was. In 1927 German Communists leaked some of his letters which revealed his sexuality to the public and caused some loss of popularity for the Nazis.[3]
In 1934 Hitler had Röhm killed during the so called Knight of the Long Knives for fear that he would be a rival in the future.[4]
Sources
- ↑ The Pink Swastika: Homosexuality in the Nazi Party, Scott Lively & Kevin Abrams, 4th Edition.
- ↑ The Pink Swastika: Homosexuality in the Nazi Party, Scott Lively & Kevin Abrams, 4th Edition.
- ↑ The Pink Swastika: Homosexuality in the Nazi Party, Scott Lively & Kevin Abrams, 4th Edition.
- ↑ The Pink Swastika: Homosexuality in the Nazi Party, Scott Lively & Kevin Abrams, 4th Edition.