Bodyguard - Athena

EpisodE 2
EpisodE 3
Early attEmpts on HitlEr’s lifE kill tHE nEw CHanCEllor!
Highlights
• Both the black-clad SS led by Heinrich Himmler and the brownshirted
SA (Sturmabteilung, or “storm detachment”) led by Ernst
Röhm had their roots in the street fighters recruited during Hitler’s
years as a political
rabble-rouser after
World War I.
• After the failed Beer
Hall Putsch in 1923,
Hitler intended to
use democracy to
further his ambitions
and learned the
importance of loyal
bodyguards.
• Emil Maurice’s
affair with Hitler’s
niece (and alleged
mistress) Angela “Geli” Raubal may have contributed to her
purported suicide, which nearly derailed Hitler’s political career.
Question to Consider
In your opinion, what drove the tensions within the Hitler-Röhm-
Himmler triangle, and how did each man’s motives affect the
development of the Nazi Party?
2
Highlights
• Death threats against Hitler after he became chancellor prompted a
crackdown on ultra-leftist forces within Germany.
• In the survival-of-the-fittest struggle between Himmler’s SS, Röhm’s
SA, and Hermann Göring’s Gestapo, Himmler invented assassination
conspiracies to curry Hitler’s favor.
Question to Consider
Why did Hitler fear a lone gunman most?
EpisodE 4
nigHt of tHE long knivEs
Highlights
• On June 30, 1934, Hitler arrested and eventually executed more than
85 of his political opponents, including Ernst Röhm.
• Although the SA devolved into a largely ceremonial unit under
Röhm’s successor, Viktor Lutze, disgruntled former SA members
actually increased the
pool of Hitler’s potential
assassins.
Question to Consider
Was the bloody purge
of June 30th inevitable,
or could it have been
avoided had Hitler not
called Röhm back from
Bolivia in 1930?
3