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Ernst Röhm, Röhm also spelled Roehm, (born November 28, 1887, Munich, Germany—died July 1, 1934, Munich-Stadelheim), German army officer and chief organizer of Adolf Hitler’s Storm Troopers (Sturmabteilung, or SA; Brownshirts).

There were known gay men in the Nazi movement, most notably Ernst Röhm. Röhm used the word “ gleichgeschlechtlich ,” same-sex oriented, to describe himself. He was the leader of the SA ( Sturmabteilung , commonly called Stormtroopers) , a violent and radical Nazi paramilitary.

The case of Ernst Röhm, the highest-ranking gay Nazi, presents an interesting study in the construction and containment of masculinity by the right. Röhm was Hitler’s right-hand man as head of the Sturmabteilung (SA, the Brownshirts), the Nazi paramilitary wing.

The Röhm Purge was the murder of the leadership of the SA (Storm Troopers), the Nazi paramilitary formation led by Ernst Röhm. The murders took place between June 30 and July 2, 1934. The ruling elites and ultimately Hitler saw the SA as a threat to their hold on power.

Ernst Röhm, an early member of the Nazi party and close ally of Hitlers, was the Party's chief of staff and commander of the Sturmabteilung. Though he was a friend and ally, Hitler feared Röhm's military influence and so plotted to have him executed.

Captain Ernst Röhm of the Reichswehr served as the liaison with the Bavarian Freikorps. Röhm was given the nickname "The Machine Gun King of Bavaria" in the early 1920s, since he was responsible for storing and issuing illegal machine guns to the Bavarian Freikorps units. Röhm left the Reichswehr in 1923