SA dagger with full Röhm dedication

Stunning condition 

The SA dagger with full Röhm dedication, made by  E.P & S, Solingen. The mid-toned fruit wood grip with solid nickel-silver eagle & swastika motif and SA Runes eye. The Röhm dagger with solid nickel-silver mounts thoughout, as expected. The lower guard with gruppe designation 'No'.

The dagger blade with full motto,  the reverse with the full Röhm dedication, and the E.P & S. full name and logo. The scabbard with dark brown anodised finish, and with the leather strap remaining in place.

Condition report: The dagger grip in excellent condition, and the fruit wood with a beautiful translucent deep finish . The grip remaining tight with both the upper and lower crossguards. The top fastening-nut clean and free from any damage. The blade in excellent condition with 98% of its original polish and crossgrain remaining. Just light runner marks visible.The 'Alles für Deutschland' motto particularly sharp and clear. Reverse to blade again with good polish and crossgrain, and designation 'In herzlicher freundschaft Ernst Röhm' particularly clear, sharp. The E.P & S logo clear and sharp.

The scabbard with  98% original anodised brown finish remaining, and with some original lacquer evident. The scabbard body free from dents. The bottom ball perfect. All screws present and unmolested. The leather hanger supple. The nickle-silver spring-clip not working.

Notes: This example of a full Röhm SA dagger is of Museum quality & condition.

Background to the Röhm Purge: The Night of the Long Knives, or the Röhm Putsch,was a purge that took place in Nazi Germany from June 30 to July 2, 1934, when the Nazi regime carried out a series of political extrajudicial executions intended to consolidate Hitler's absolute hold on power in Germany. Many of those killed were leaders of the SA (Sturmabteilung), the Nazis' own paramilitary Brownshirts organization; the best-known victim was Ernst Röhm, the SA's leader and one of Hitler's long-time supporters and allies. Leading members of the left-wing Strasserist faction of the Nazi Party (NSDAP), along with its figurehead, Gregor Strasser, were also killed, as were establishment conservatives and anti-Nazis (such as former Chancellor Kurt von Schleicher and Bavarian politician Gustav Ritter von Kahr, who had suppressed Adolf Hitler's Munich Beer Hall Putsch in 1923). The murders of Brownshirt leaders were also intended to improve the image of the Hitler government with a German public that was increasingly critical of thuggish Brownshirt tactics.

Hitler moved against the SA and its leader, Ernst Röhm, because he saw the independence of the SA and the penchant of its members for street violence as a direct threat to his newly gained political power. Hitler also wanted to conciliate leaders of the Reichswehr, the official German military who feared and despised the SA—in particular Röhm's ambition to absorb the Reichswehr into the SA under his own leadership. Additionally, Hitler was uncomfortable with Röhm's outspoken support for a "second revolution" to redistribute wealth (in Röhm's view, President Hindenburg's appointing of Hitler as German Chancellor on January 30, 1933 had accomplished the "nationalistic" revolution but had left unfulfilled the "socialistic" motive in National Socialism). Finally, Hitler used the purge to attack or eliminate critics of his new regime, especially those loyal to Vice-Chancellor Franz von Papen, as well as to settle scores with old enemies.

At least 85 people died during the purge, although the final death toll may have been in the hundreds and more than a thousand perceived opponents were arrested. Most of the killings were carried out by the Schutzstaffel (SS) and the Gestapo (Geheime Staatspolizei), the regime's secret police. The purge strengthened and consolidated the support of the Reichswehr for Hitler. It also provided a legal grounding for the Nazi regime, as the German courts and cabinet quickly swept aside centuries of legal prohibition against extrajudicial killings to demonstrate their loyalty to the regime. The Night of the Long Knives was a turning point for the German government. It established Hitler as "the supreme justiciar of the German people", as he put it in his July 13, 1934 speech to the Reichstag.

Directly after the purge, an order went out that all daggers bearing the Röhm Honour Dedication, should have the dedication removed. This was achieved in a variety of ways. Some owners simply ran a grinding wheel over the dedication, removing the entire wording. Some simply removed out the name only with a grinding wheel, whilst a few had their daggers sent back to the manufacturer, to have the dedication professionally removed. A few owners disobeyed orders, and left the dedication intact. Certainly that was a dangerous decision if they had been found out.

Provenance: Acquired from the well known American-based edged weapons specialist, LTC.Thomas Johnson, during the late 1980s.