Question about the SA

[Oddball]

Can anyone give me a detailed history of how Himmler had the German SS destroy rival organization SA? Thanks.

[Laurence Strong]

Have you "googled" it? there are lots of answers to the question. Try "Ernst

Roehm" or "The Sturmabteilung".

[Guest Rick Research]

And my "parody" answer is:

By taking the most magnificent specimens of Aryan breeding stock OUT of the SA

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And PACKING the SS with virile super stormtroopers who looked

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exactly like himself!

[Ed_Haynes]

Have you "googled" it? there are lots of answers to the question. Try "Ernst

Roehm" or "The Sturmabteilung".

And there are always those exotic things called "books".

[Guest Rick Research]

Fortunately for the future wartime Allies, as it turned out. A mere shadow of its former self, the depleted and dispirited ranks of the once mighty SA dissipated into other organizations, like the Wehrmacht's "Ballet For The Troops" program

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The resulting collapse of discipline and morale in the armed forces

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led to an inevitable decline, and by war's end former Santa's Helpers were being called up

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as barrel bottom scrapings in the doomed effort to resuscitate the Twelve Year Reich.

And all because Himmler had sifted out the men who looked best in black (white tie optional)

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frittering away their time at the opera et cetera.

I hoped that has clarified things.

[Bob Hunter]

Ricardo, a white tie for gentlemen is NEVER optional.

[Guest Rick Research]

Himmler's mob weren't gentlemen. Gangstas also dressed like penguins in dem dayz.

[Robin Lumsden]

The SS also knew how to woo dem fraeuleins...........

[Robin Lumsden]

The SS didn't take the oddballs.......they left them to das Heer......

[Guest Rick Research]

Uh oh! Daffodils! Looks like onea ERNST'S boys slipped through the interview process!

And the REAL scary part about the Dynamic Duo? If you look at the guy on the left closely... he is NOT wearing a hat!!!!

[Robin Lumsden]

The SS knew the importance of sartorial elegance.......

[Robin Lumsden]

And their leader could cut a dash with the best-dressed of Munich society......

[Robin Lumsden]

The bottom line is......Himmler subdued the SA through sheer fear and terror.

Let's face it.

Who would argue with this guy........

[Robin Lumsden]

We had the Andrews Sisters..........or was it the Beverly Sisters.

They had the Himmler Brothers.

That Barber Shop singing just made these SA tuffies crumble.

[Bob Hunter]

...and everyone's favorite party boy---Ernie...

[Bob Hunter]

...and for want of a better term, an Ernie minion...

[Bob Hunter]

...but my all time favorite example of Aryan supremacy is...

[Bob Hunter]

...party on dudes...

[Bob Hunter]

...and they did.

[Erich]

Regarding your question, there is no answer because the SS didn't destroy the SA. The SA continued to exist as a large and active organization until the end of the war. The SS did arrest and murder a relatively small number of SA high leaders, as well as a number of innocent individuals against whom someone had a grudge, and of course R?hm himself. Soon after the event, the SS was made an independent organization, no longer under the auspices of the SA.

Erich

Can anyone give me a detailed history of how Himmler had the German SS destroy rival organization SA? Thanks.

Edited June 18, 2006 by Erich

[Harvey]

For an excellent book on the subject, try "The Night of Long Knives" by Max Gallo. It gives a blow-by-blow account of the events leading up to the arrest and execution of a number of high-ranking SA and Party leaders on 30 June, 1934.

Dave

[ccj]

For an excellent book on the subject, try "The Night of Long Knives" by Max Gallo. It gives a blow-by-blow account of the events leading up to the arrest and execution of a number of high-ranking SA and Party leaders on 30 June, 1934.

Dave

Dave,

Does this book deal with the real facts and the truth about these many deviants? It does look like the cover hints... to was known to play wasn't he?

[Erich]

A better book is the old Ballentine series' volume 'The Night of the Long Knives' by Nikolai Tolstoy. He goes into much more detail regarding the political and military situations and why R?hm had to be removed.

Erich

[Harvey]

A better book is the old Ballentine series' volume 'The Night of the Long Knives' by Nikolai Tolstoy. He goes into much more detail regarding the political and military situations and why R?hm had to be removed.

Erich

Haven't read the Tolstoy book, but the one by Gallo does go into great detail about the rise of the SA and the problems their organization (and esp. Roehm) posed for Hitler and his consolidation of power. The SA wanted control of the military, and weren't willing to suborn themselves to anyone else. I think Gallo gives a good explanation of the events prior to the bloody purge and explains the roles that Hitler, Himmler, Goebbels, etc. played in its execution.