Captain Rohm was one of the men who played an
indispensable part in building up the Nazi movement from the start. When the S.A. (Sturmabteilung) were 'first formed in 1921, it was announced that their organiza- tion was intended above all else to " implant an un- restricted will to action in the hearts of our young followers, and to hammer and burn it into their minds that it is not history which makes men but men who make history, and that the man who defencelessly submits himself to slavery deserves to be a slave." Captain Rohm's idea was that it should be an army in the completest sense of the term, and not an army of " toy soldiers " parading in the streets at the behest of the political leaders. On this point he quarrelled with Hitler at an early date in the history of the movement, and the conflict of views between the two broke out again and again. But Hitler " forgave " him in 1931, and, being then himself Commander-in-Chief, made Rohm his Chief of Staff.
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