Ask me about the Third Reich, National Socialism, Hitler & the Holocaust

[rocala]

May I ask what your view of the Rohm/Hitler relationship was? This will tell me what I need to focus on, because there are a lot of myths surrounding it.

I have to be somewhat vague here, as all relevant reading was a long time ago. I see it as a rather troublesome but deep comradely relationship. They were close but Hitler always had at least one eye on the game. Not an ability that Rohm shared I feel. I suspect the he had Hitler on something of a pedestal, therefore not only feeling safe with him but believing that nobody else was strong enough to change that. I read once that homosexuals can be over vulnerable when coming out. That is due to being over trusting on people who continue to accept them.

Rohm moved in a fairly closed world (as I understand it) war veterans, fellow street fighters, shared political views and of course the homosexuality that is allegedly the norm in the higher levels of the S.A. All of this shared over regular beer sessions. Hitler however must have been moving in ever wider and more exalted circles, some distancing must have occurred and was probably noticable.

I don't deny that Rohm suspected he could be heading for career glitch, but a night of the long knives?

 

[Nietzsche]

I have to be somewhat vague here, as all relevant reading was a long time ago. I see it as a rather troublesome but deep comradely relationship. They were close but Hitler always had at least one eye on the game. Not an ability that Rohm shared I feel. I suspect the he had Hitler on something of a pedestal, therefore not only feeling safe with him but believing that nobody else was strong enough to change that. I read once that homosexuals can be over vulnerable when coming out. That is due to being over trusting on people who continue to accept them.

Herein lies the first problem. There was no particularly deep sense of "comradrie" between the two. They fought together when it was convenient. However, for the majority of their relationship, Rohm was the one with the power. He was during the troubled times of the Weimar Republic known as the "Machinegun King". He was the go-between the Reichswehr and various right-wing paramilitary groups that sprung up,

Rohm moved in a fairly closed world (as I understand it) war veterans, fellow street fighters, shared political views

No quibbles here.

and of course the homosexuality that is allegedly the norm in the higher levels of the S.A. All of this shared over regular beer sessions.

Eh. I have found that while homosexuality was undoubtedly more accepted in the SA, it was a very much "not in public" sort of situation.

Hitler however must have been moving in ever wider and more exalted circles, some distancing must have occurred and was probably noticeable.

I don't deny that Rohm suspected he could be heading for career glitch, but a night of the long knives?

The Reichswehr didn't like Rohm. Rohm wanted to turn the German army, basically, into the "Volkstrumm" with his SA forming the nucleus, and you'd eventually see something simiklar as the Reich came crashing down around Hitler and his cronies. That is what led to the Night. Rohm had to go, and Hitler shed no tears for it.