Hitler, the SA and the Nazis in Weimar

[B0LSHEVIK]

I really just have a set of questions that hopefully, a comrade can answer.

1) As I understand it, Hitler and the SA went way back, how then did Himmler and the SS become the premier force? I've heard it was internal rivalries, but was it?

2) What happened to the SA and its rank-and-file foot soldiers after Rohm? Were they just absorbed by the SS?

3) Also, Rohm was homosexual, did the other Nazi know this? Was Hitler in on the plot against Rohm? Or, was he completely unaware of the conspirators?

Thanks in advance!!!

[Susurrus]

All the answers lie in this article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Night_of_the_Long_Knives

[B0LSHEVIK]

I have nothing against Wiki, but I was hoping for something more substantive, but, thanks!

[Susurrus]

I have nothing against Wiki, but I was hoping for something more substantive, but, thanks!

Well, it answers the questions. Basically, Hitler used the SA when he was coming into power, then purged them and various other leaders that might have challenged him.

[Tommy4ever]

I really just have a set of questions that hopefully, a comrade can answer.

1) As I understand it, Hitler and the SA went way back, how then did Himmler and the SS become the premier force? I've heard it was internal rivalries, but was it?

2) What happened to the SA and its rank-and-file foot soldiers after Rohm? Were they just absorbed by the SS?

3) Also, Rohm was homosexual, did the other Nazi know this? Was Hitler in on the plot against Rohm? Or, was he completely unaware of the conspirators?

Thanks in advance!!!

1) Its kinda complicated and rooted deeply in politics of the Nazi Party. At the siezure of power we have 3 main contenders for the role the SS would later fufill:

Goering's Prussian Police and the Gestapo (a part of the Prussian Police)

Himmler's SS - intended to be Hitler's bodyguard an elite a force to protect high ranking Nazis.

Rohm's SA - a mass organisations of Nazi thugs.

To put it simply Himmler was by far the best politician and had created a force that was both elite, unquestionably loyal to the party and seperate from both the Army and police force - and thus pre-Nazi elites.

2) The SA were the pre-takeover paramilitaries of the Nazi Party. Essentially they were a bunch of thugs, they became a rather embrassing force after the Nazis actually took power. They needed them to fight battles on the streets and terrorise opponents before taking power, afterwards they had the police force to do that. IIRC the SA was basically just disbanded, although I'd imagine many of the former members would have joined the army. The SS was more of an elite force so they probably wouldn't have been allowed in in large numbers.

3) I believe that it was well known amongst the high ranking Nazis that Rohm was a homosexual. Famously, on the Night of the Long Knives he was arrested whilst in bed with a younger man. Elements of the SA were actually growing a reputation for largescale homosexuality - another source of embrassment for the government. Hitler and most Nazis also despised homosexuality - it probably played some part in motivating the purge.

[Iron Felix]

When Hitler took power in 1933, the SA numbered at 400,000. The Germany Army numbered at 100,000. They were of use to the Nazis before they took power, but afterwards Hitler had no use for them. Hitler never discouraged the SA from thinking that after the Nazis took power, they would simply replace the regular army(He's been promising a German General Army since the Munich Putsch days, the SA thought they'd be that army after the Nazi take power). But Hitler realized that these street-thugs wouldn't be able to resemble a disciplined fighting force, they were only good at murdering communists and Jews in street fights(the KPD's paramilitary wing, the Red Front League, was frequently attacked by the SA on the streets, leading to dozens of deaths per month due to these clashes) the thus the purge. A big number of SA members were simply absorbed into the regular army in the drafts when Hitler began remilitarisation, but the SA never disbanded officially, it just remained irrelevant.

Rohm's homosexuality was known by Hitler for years, it was just emphasized on to further justify the purge.

[Babeufist]

Homosexuality of Roehm and many others SA-leaders (e.g. Heines) was commonly known in Weimar Germany. SPD press published these revelations. And - though it is strange - homosexuality was acceptable by some factions of the German extreme right. Such man as Hans Blueher (theoretician of the pre-Nazi Wandervogel movement) or Stefan George (mystic nationalist poet) created the ideology of superior masculinity and any vision of the state based on Mannerbunds (men communities).
On the fate of the SA I suggest to read very interesting book "Weimar Radicals: Nazis and Communists Between Authenticity and Performance" by Timothy S. Brown (you can find it in Google Books).

[Sasha]

The SA was purged to pacify the army generals who felt threatend and who hitler needed to consolidate power..