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This is the finest original blue hardcover 1933 edition of the book Wehr in Ehr, die Geschichte eines Hochverräters (Honorable Service - the History of a Man Guilty of High Treason) by Ernst Röhm we have ever seen. It was published by the Nazi Party Publishing House Verlag Franz Eher Nachfolger, GmbH of München in 1933 as the expanded 4th edition Volksausgabe with 16 pages of photos that were not present in the earlier editions.

Following the failed Beer Hall Putsch of 9 November 1923, Ernst Röhm, Adolf Hitler, General Erich Ludendorff,  Wilhelm Frick and six others were tried for high treason in February 1924 (see photo at the top of this USMBOOKS web page). Röhm spent time in Stadelheim Prison in Munich after that trial and resigned from the Reichswehr. He stayed in contact with his close friend Adolf Hitler during his stay in Landsberg Prison, and after he later went back into politics.

Röhm wrote Wehr in Ehr - Die Geschichte eines Hochverräters in 1928 and dedicated it to "German Frontline Soldiers". The title roughly translates as "Honorable Service - the History of a Man Guilty of High Treason", the last portion of the title clearly referring to his conviction of treason after the failed 1923 Hitlerputsch.

In the introduction Röhm states he had spent his life as a soldier and that he approached everything in life through the eyes of a soldier. Soldatentum was in his blood, from childhood on. Chapters cover his military service in World War I (including the incident in which he was seriously wounded at Verdun and his subsequent recuperation), the early days of the Nazi Movement in Munich ("from Portepee to Swastika"), the November 1923 Beer Hall Putsch and subsequent imprisonment at Stadelheim Prison in Munich, his early days as a member of the German Reichstag (Parliament) and the creation of the Frontbann as a legal alternative to the then-outlawed SA.

The last 16 pages of this edition of Wehr in Ehr are rare photographs showing Ernst Röhm in his World War I uniform, with his co-defendants at the 1924 Hitler Trial, in his Bolivian uniform, and with General Ludendorff and Adolf Hitler during early Nazi rallies, including the rare photo of good friends Hitler and Röhm having a good laugh, above.

This very early edition of Ernst Röhm’s book has a rubber stamp on the title page at the bottom beneath the publisher’s name and address that says “Printed in Germany” because this edition did not have that information on the copyright page, and was exported to the United States. We purchased it almost nine decades later from heirs of the original American owner!

Hermann Hoffstetter created the artwork on the front cover of this 5-½ x 7-½ inch, 384 page blue cloth hardcover book with white blocking. It is fully indexed.

Röhm was the main target of the 30 June 1934 Night of the Long Knives and died in Stadelheim Prison in Munich on 1 July 1934, about a year after this book was published. As a result, the majority of citizens of Nazi Germany who owned Röhm’s autobiography threw their copies away. This example of Wehr in Ehr, die Geschichte eines Hochverräters is in very fine original condition, no odor. A very rare book and a perfect accompaniment to a Röhm SA dagger!