Is this Röhm?

[taube]

Gents,

got this WW1 era photo signed "Ernst Röhm" on the reverse.
I am leaning towards this not being THE Röhm.
What do you think?

My photo on the left.
Post WW1 photo of Ernst Röhm on the right for comparison.

Thanks in advance,
taube.

[Mil-Archive]

That is not him, the ears, eyes, nostrils, mouth all look different between pictures imo.

[goofy]

2 completely different persons....
Michal

[kaiserwilhelm2]

No

[Totenschmiss]

Nope.

[Br. James]

I agree with all of the opinions below: it is not Ernst Röhm.

Br. James

[byterock]

His Dueling scars where acquired well before the war and the first pic has none of them so

[Br. James]

An interesting comment, Byterock. According to the biographical material on Röhm to be found on the internet, the consensus is as follows:

"At the outbreak of war in August 1914, [Röhm] was adjutant of the 1st Battalion, 10th Infantry Regiment König. The following month, he was seriously wounded in the face at Chanot Wood in Lorraine, and carried the scars for the rest of his life."

There seems to be no reference that I could find relating his facial injuries to dueling scars received during his pre-military youth. In checking the most recent biography I have in my library -- "Ernst Röhm: Hitler's SA Chief of Staff" by Eleanor Hancock, Palgrave Macmillan Publishers, 2008 -- the author provides quite a bit of detail on his facial wounds and the medical efforts to correct them, as well as the circumstances during which he received them, all of which corroborate the quote above. I would be quite interested in knowing the details which do not support the idea that his face was disfigured during WWI. With all good wishes,

Br. James

[Ch.Wirth]

Agreed Br. James.
Röhm had a fake nose, and a scarred face..
Mvh Søren.

[taube]

Just to round it up, here is the reverse of the post card.
There is/was another Röhm family in Reichenhall as I found out meanwhile.
The person in question is of that other branch then.
Thanks anyway for your opinions.

@Br.James:
You do not happen to have a pic of the unmutilated Röhm, do you?
Would be interesting to see his natural face apart from the discussion above.

[Br. James]

Hi Taube,

No, sorry to say, I don't recall any photos of Röhm as a young man prior to his military career in WWI. The earliest photo in the Hancock book is of him "as a captain in the Reichswehr," taken post-WWI, and the quality of that photo is not sharp. The few other pix of him in that book are the standards of him with the other defendants at the Putsch Trial, and then later into the 1930s. The early photo does show him before he put on the weight that he sported in 1923 and later, and his thinner face does not seem to call attention to the scars and the rebuilt nose that were so prominent later on. But as you said, it would be good to see him as he looked prior to the damage he sustained during the war. Perhaps others may have early pix to share?

Br. James

[byterock]

An interesting comment, Byterock. According to the biographical material on Röhm to be found on the internet, the consensus is as follows:

"At the outbreak of war in August 1914, [Röhm] was adjutant of the 1st Battalion, 10th Infantry Regiment König. The following month, he was seriously wounded in the face at Chanot Wood in Lorraine, and carried the scars for the rest of his life."

There seems to be no reference that I could find relating his facial injuries to dueling scars received during his pre-military youth. In checking the most recent biography I have in my library -- "Ernst Röhm: Hitler's SA Chief of Staff" by Eleanor Hancock, Palgrave Macmillan Publishers, 2008 -- the author provides quite a bit of detail on his facial wounds and the medical efforts to correct them, as well as the circumstances during which he received them, all of which corroborate the quote above. I would be quite interested in knowing the details which do not support the idea that his face was disfigured during WWI. With all good wishes,

Br. James

Cool you learn something new everyday.

Can't remember where I read about the dueling scars I think it was an early bio on him or on the early history of the Nazis. It most-likely one of those Nazi myths that are hard to kill. Such as Hitler the Vegetarian, teetotaler or that they came up with the eugenics.

I will have a snoop about my books

[GHP]

The mouth and ears! But the uniform?


source in Spanish

--Guy

[GHP]

...Because of personal differences with Hitler he resigned his office in 1925. In 1928 he went as an instructor with the rank of a Colonel for two years to Bolivia....

source

Which explains the uniform. I guess the photo studio "fixed" the scars since he received them in WWI and the photo was circa 1928-30.

--Guy

[Raphael1]

Why is that I couldn't see all the previous pictures? Or is it only me?