The SA had done its part for supporting Hitler and became too big mean time. So Hitler had to take measures so that it would not threaten his position-Maybe Röhm already had the same kind of Ideas? Heil Röhm?
It is also thought that Himmler was behind this telling Hitler lies on Röhm so that Himmler could get more power himself.
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In early June, 1934 Ernst Roehm (chief of staff of Germany's Sturmabteilung) had a confrontation with Hitler which reportedly lasted for nearly 5 hours. Hitler had been under the impression that forces within the SA were preparing a Bolshevist action he felt would bring only trouble for Germany. Hitler stated that Roehm left him with assurances that he would do everything possible to put things right. Hitler later felt that Roehm's real intentions were to begin preparations to eliminate him personally.
A day or two later Hitler told the SA to go on leave for the entire month of July. During this time they were not to wear uniforms or engage in parades or exercises.
On June 7 Roehm announced he was going on sick leave. Before leaving, however, he issued a warning. "If the enemies of the S.A. hope that the S.A. will not be recalled, or will be recalled only in part after its leave, we may permit them to enjoy this brief hope. They will receive their answer at such time and in such form as appears necessary. The S.A. is and remains the destiny of Germany." This statement did nothing to calm Hitler's fears
Hitler was hesitent, because he owed much of his career to the support of S.A. leaders. Goering and Himmler had scores they wanted to settle, however. They convinced Hitler that Roehm wanted to start a putsch. Hitler ordered Himmler to suppress the action in Bavaria, and Goering was to handle Berlin.
One June 28 Roehm was expelled from the German Officers League. That evening Goebbels reported "threatening intelligence". This set off a chain of events that led Hitler to believe only drastic intervention would stifle the impending revolt.
On the morning of June 30, 1934 Hitler and Goebbels arrived at the hotel in Wiesse where Roehm and his lieutenants were staying in preparation for the planned meeting with Hitler. Roehm's people were dragged out of bed, taken outside the hotel, and shot. Roehm was stripped to the waist and shot point blank by S.A. officers.
Meanwhile, approximately 150 S.A. leaders were rounded up in Berlin and shot by Himmler's S.S.
The total number of people killed in this purge varies from account to account. Shortly after the incident Hitler announced that 61 persons were shot,13 died resisting arrest and 3 committed suicide. At the Munich trial in 1957 a figure of more then 1000 was given.
Although Hitler was convinced that Roehm and the S.A. were plotting against him, there is no evidence that this was actually the case
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On June 30 1934, Ernst Röhm, the head of the SA, was arrested during the "Night of the Long Knives," the infamous purging of all the top officers of the SA. Röhm was taken to Stadelheim prison near Munich, where he was shot at high noon the next day by Theodor Eicke, an SS-Obergruppenführer und General der Waffen-SS, who was then the Commandant of the Dachau concentration camp. As his reward, Eicke was promoted to inspector of all the concentration camps and head of the SS Totenkopfverbände (Death's Head unit)
http://www.scrapbookpages.com/Dachau...SSHistory.html
