Edmund Heines

{{short description|German Nazi politician (1897–1934)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=August 2020}} {{Infobox officeholder | honorific_prefix = | name = Edmund Heines | honorific_suffix = | image = Bundesarchiv Bild 119-1231, Edmund Heines.jpg | image_upright = | alt = | caption = Heines in 1927 | office = Deputy to SA ''Stabschef'' | term_start = 1 May 1931 | term_end = 30 June 1934 | predecessor = ''Position established'' | successor = ''Position abolished'' | office2 = ''Polizeipräsident'' of Breslau | term_start2 = 25 March 1933 | term_end2 = 30 June 1934 | predecessor2 = | successor2 = | office3 = ''Führer'', SA-''Obergruppe'' III <br>''Führer'', SA-''Obergruppe'' VIII | term_start3 = 1 July 1933 | term_end3 = 30 June 1934 | predecessor3 = Wolf-Heinrich Graf von Helldorff | successor3 = ''Position abolished'' | office4 = Deputy ''Gauleiter'' of Gau Silesia | term_start4 = Early 1933 | term_end4 = 30 June 1934 | predecessor4 = {{interlanguage link|Karl Peschke|de|Karl Peschke (Politiker)}} | successor4 = Walter Gottschalk | office5 = Acting ''Gauleiter'' of Gau Oberpfalz | term_start5 = June 1930 | term_end5 = November 1930 | predecessor5 = Franz Maierhofer | successor5 = Franz Maierhofer | birth_name = Edmund Heines | other_name = | nickname = | birth_date = {{birth date|1897|07|21|df=y}} | birth_place = Munich, Kingdom of Bavaria, German Empire | death_date = {{death date and age|1934|6|30|1897|07|21|df=y}} | death_place = Stadelheim Prison, Munich, Bavaria, Nazi Germany | death_cause = Execution by firing squad {{nowrap|(Night of the Long Knives)}} | placeofburial = | placeofburial_label = | placeofburial_coordinates =  | allegiance = {{flag|German Empire}}<small>(1915–1918)</small> | branch = {{army|German Empire}} | branch_label = Branch | service_years = 1915–1918 | service_years_label = | rank = ''Leutnant'' | rank_label = | servicenumber = | unit = | commands = | battles = World War I | battles_label = | awards = Iron Cross, 1st Class<br>Iron Cross, 2nd Class | memorials = | spouse =  | children = | relations = | laterwork = | signature = | signature_size = | signature_alt = | website =  | module = }}

'''Edmund Heines''' (21 July 1897 – 30 June 1934) was a German Nazi politician and Deputy to Ernst Röhm, the ''Stabschef'' of the ''Sturmabteilung'' (SA). Heines was one of the earliest members of the Nazi Party and a leading member of the SA in Munich, participating in the Beer Hall Putsch and becoming a notorious enforcer of the party. He held several high-ranking positions in the Nazi administration until he was executed during the Night of the Long Knives in June 1934.

==Early life== Edmund Heines was born on 21 July 1897 in Munich, the illegitimate child of Helene Martha Heines and Lieutenant Edmund von Parish, a native of Hamburg from a merchant family for whom she was a nanny. In 1903, Martha Heines gave birth to a second child, Oskar Heines, who is also believed to have been fathered by Parish. In 1915, Heines joined the Bavarian Army to fight in World War I after graduating from his ''Gymnasium'', and fought on the Western Front as a field artillery operator. Heines suffered a serious head wound in late 1915, earned the Iron Cross 1st Class and 2nd Class, and was discharged as a ''Leutnant'' in 1918.

==Political career== After the war, Heines became involved in the ''Freikorps'' movement. From 1919 to December, 1922, Heines served as leader of a unit in ''Freikorps Roßbach'' that fought in West Prussia and the Baltic States under Gerhard Roßbach. In March 1920, Heines participated in the Kapp Putsch, and relocated to the Mecklenburg-Pomerania area after the coup's failure like most participating ''Freikorps Roßbach'' members. In July 1920, Heines was involved in the murder of Willi Schmidt, a 20-year-old farm worker who allegedly wanted to reveal hidden arms caches of the ''Freikorps''. Heines returned to Munich following Schmidt's murder, and in 1922 became ''Führer'' of the Munich Ortsgruppe, the local ''Freikorps Roßbach'' group. In December 1922, Heines became Member #78 of the National Socialist German Workers' Party (NSDAP), and transferred the ''Ortsgruppe'' to the ''Sturmabteilung'' (SA), the paramilitary wing of the party. Heines was appointed leader of the Second Battalion in the Munich SA Regiment and soon became one of the SA's leading members. In November 1923, Heines was one of two thousand Nazis that participated in the Beer Hall Putsch, being assigned to take the Hotel ''Vierjahreszeiten''. Heines was sentenced to 15 months imprisonment for his part in the failed coup d'etat and was held, together in the same cell with Adolf Hitler, at Landsberg Prison. Heines was released prematurely in September 1924 while the SA and NSDAP were both still banned, taking over the leadership of the Second Battalion of the Munich ''Frontbann'' Regiment until 1925 when he joined the re-legalized SA and NSDAP. From 1925 to August 1926, Heines was federal director of the ''Schilljugend'', a right-wing youth organization founded by Gerhard Roßbach now affiliated with the SA and NSDAP. In 1926, Heines enrolled in Erlangen University to study law, and became a ''Standartenführer'' of the SA.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YsxhQbAa9iIC&q=edmund+heines&pg=PA156|title = Erlangen: An American's History of a German Town|isbn = 9780761830245|last1 = Fouse|first1 = Gary C.|year = 2005| publisher=University Press of America }}</ref>

On 22 January 1928, Heines was arrested in Schongau for his involvement in Willi Schmidt's murder in 1920, which was exposed during a blackmail attempt. Heines was transferred to Stettin as the main defendant in the trial for Schmidt's murder. The prosecution demanded the death penalty for Schmidt's murder, but the judgement of the Stettin court was 15 years in prison for manslaughter, later lowered to 5 years. On 15 June 1928, the NSDAP deputy Wilhelm Frick referred to Heines's conviction in a ''Reichstag'' speech as "Outflow of infernal Jewish hatred of the front spirit, against the spirit of national resistance." On 14 May 1929 Heines was released from custody by a decision of the Stettin court for a "bail" of 5000 ''Reichsmarks''. In 1929, Heines was also convicted of the murder of communist Conrad Pietrzuch, who had been beaten to death by an SA gang led by Heines. The trial had to be reopened due to a technical error, and Heines soon received an amnesty because of his supposedly "patriotic" motive.<ref>Davidson, Eugene, ''The Making of Adolf Hitler: The Birth and Rise of Nazism'', University of Missouri Press, 1997, pp. 333–4.</ref>

Heines held numerous prominent political positions concurrently with his SA positions. From August 1929 to June 1930 he was the SA-''Führer'' of Standarte X in Munich, the Nazi Party headquarters. He was also an ''Ortsgruppenleiter'' (Local District Leader) in the Munich Party organization and served as the Adjutant to ''Gauleiter'' Adolf Wagner. From May to August 1930 he was the Gau Propaganda Leader in Gau Groß-Munich under Wagner. From June to November 1930, he was additionally appointed as Acting ''Gauleiter'' of Gau Oberpfalz, the Upper Palatinate region of Bavaria. Then in November, he became a staff member in the News and Press Department of the ''Obersten SA-Führung'' (Supreme SA Leadership) serving there until April 1931. In September 1930, Heines was elected to the ''Reichstag'' for electoral constituency 8 (Liegnitz) and remained a ''Reichstag'' deputy until his death.{{sfn|Miller|Schulz|2012|pp=448-449}}

==Deputy to Ernst Röhm== [[File:Bundesarchiv_Bild_146-1977-065-28,_Ernst_Röhm,_Edmund_Heines.jpg|thumb|Heines (right) with Ernst Röhm at an event in 1933]]

On 1 May 1931, Heines was appointed Deputy to SA-''Stabschef'' Ernst Röhm, the effective commander of the SA and a close friend of Hitler. Then in July 1931, Heines also became SA-''Führer'' of SA-''Gruppe'' Silesia. After the Nazi seizure of power, Heines was appointed ''Polizeipräsident'' (Police President) in Breslau on 25 March 1933. He was also named Deputy ''Gauleiter'' to Helmuth Brückner in Gau Silesia. In addition, he became the Special Plenipotentiary to Silesia of the SA Supreme Leadership. In April, he secured a position on the Prussian State Council until it was dissolved in July, but was reappointed on 14 September to the reconstituted Council formed by Prussian Minister-President Hermann Göring. On 20 April 1933 Heines was promoted to SA-''Obergruppenführer''. In July 1933 he became SA-''Führer'' of the new SA-''Obergruppe'' III with oversight of three SA ''Gruppe'', namely, Berlin-Brandenburg, Ostmark and Silesia. On 15 March 1934, Silesia was raised to the status of an ''Obergruppe'' (VIII) and Heines remained in charge. Now at the height of his power, Heines would hold all these posts until his death.{{sfn|Miller|Schulz|2012|p=449}}

In early 1933, the establishment of Nazi Germany led to Hitler, now with access to the state apparatus including the ''Reichswehr'', no longer requiring or desiring the street fighting antics of the SA, and seeking to marginalize the organization. Röhm was one of the most powerful men in Nazi Germany as ''de facto'' commander of the SA, and considered by Hitler to be one of few people who posed a threat to his leadership. Hitler already had a personal aversion to Heines who, as Röhm's loyal Deputy, was perceived as a threat by extension.

''The Brown Book of the Reichstag Fire and Hitler Terror'' claimed that a clique of homosexual stormtroopers led by Heines set the Reichstag fire; the convicted arsonist Marinus van der Lubbe remained behind and agreed to accept the sole blame because of his desperation for affection; and Röhm's assistant Georg Bell was killed to cover it up. There was no evidence for these claims,{{sfn|Wackerfuss|2015|p=248}}{{sfn|Rabinbach|2008|p=112}} and in fact Heines was in Breslau at the time.{{sfn|Schwartz|2019|p=197}} Nevertheless, the matter was so politically explosive that it was aired at van der Lubbe's trial in Leipzig.{{sfn|Göllnitz|2021|p=229}}{{sfn|Rabinbach|2008|pp=110, 112}}

==Death== On 30 June 1934, Heines and many other SA leaders were executed shortly after their arrest during the Night of the Long Knives. Hitler identified Heines as one of the principal members of a "small group of elements which were held together through a like disposition" in his ''Reichstag'' speech of 13 July 1934. The SS found Heines in bed with an unidentified eighteen-year-old male SA senior troop leader.{{sfn|Kempka|1948}} Goebbels emphasised this aspect in subsequent Nazi propaganda, justifying the purge as a crackdown on moral turpitude.{{sfn|Kershaw|1999|p=514}}{{verify source| reason = exact wording? German and English if available|date=December 2025}} Heines and five others were executed by a firing squad convened by Sepp Dietrich at Stadelheim Prison. Erich Kempka said in a 1946 interview that Hitler ordered both Heines and his partner taken outside the hotel and shot.{{sfn|Shirer|1960|p=221}} In 1957, Dietrich was sentenced to 18 months in prison by a West German court for his role in the executions of Heines and the other men.{{sfn|Zentner|Bedürftig|1997|p=197}}

Heines's younger brother, Oskar, was an ''Obersturmbannführer'' of the SA, and on the morning of 1 July 1934, he heard a radio report concerning the execution of his brother. Soon after, Oskar Heines and SA-''Obersturmbannführer'' Werner Engels, reported to the ''Polizeipräsidium'' in Breslau, where they were immediately placed under arrest by SS men. From there, they were driven that night to a forested area near Deutsch-Lissa (now Wrocław-Leśnica, Poland). At dawn on 2 July 1934, the two were shot on orders of SS-''Obergruppenführer'' Udo von Woyrsch.

==Character and attributes== Heines had developed a reputation for brutality as an enforcer of the SA, known for personally killing political opponents of the NSDAP despite his high-ranking status. In his diaries, Joseph Goebbels described Heines as "an unbalanced person, full of storm and urge, a child's head", attributing his violent nature to his background. Contemporary sources often pointed out Heines as being unusually tall and powerfully built but with a contradictory youthful, boyish face.

==Awards and decorations== * 1914 Iron Cross 2nd Class, 11.03.1916{{sfn|Miller|2015|p=528}} * 1914 Iron Cross 1st Class, 1916{{sfn|Miller|2015|p=528}} * Military Merit Order (Bavaria) 3rd Class with Crown and Swords, 11.05.1917{{sfn|Miller|2015|p=528}} * Military Merit Order (Bavaria) 4th Class with Swords, 05.07.1918{{sfn|Miller|2015|p=528}} * 1918 Wound Badge, 1918{{sfn|Miller|2015|p=528}} * Tiwaz (rune), c.1932{{sfn|Miller|2015|p=528}} * Honour Chevron for the Old Guard, February 1934{{sfn|Miller|2015|p=528}}

==Notes== {{Portal|Germany|LGBTQ}} {{reflist}}

==External links== * {{ReichstagDB|124349595}}

==References== * {{cite book|title=Revolution in Kiel – Revolutionsangst in der Geschichte|series=Kieler Schriften zur Regionalgeschichte: Band 8|publisher={{ill|Wachholtz Verlag|de}}|date=2021|chapter=Homophobie und Revolutionsangst. Die politische Dramaturgie des 30. Juni 1934|first=Martin |last=Göllnitz|pages=209–234|trans-chapter=Homophobia and fear of revolution. The political dramaturgy of June 30, 1934 |trans-title= Revolution in Kiel – fear of revolution in history|url=https://www.wachholtz-verlag.de/out/media/10.5771-9783529094569.pdf}} * {{cite journal |last1=Rabinbach |first1=Anson |authorlink= Anson Rabinbach |title=Staging Antifascism: "The Brown Book of the Reichstag Fire and Hitler Terror" |journal=New German Critique |date=2008 |volume=35 |issue=103 |pages=97–126 |doi=10.1215/0094033X-2007-021 |jstor=27669222 |issn=0094-033X}} * {{cite book|first=Karl|last=Höffkes|title=Hitlers Politische Generale. Die Gauleiter des Dritten Reiches: Ein biographisches Nachschlagewerk|publisher=Grabert-Verlag|location=Tübingen|year=1986|isbn=3-87847-163-7}} * {{cite book | last = Miller | first = Michael | title = Leaders of the Storm Troops Volume 1 | publisher = Helion & Company | location = England| year = 2015 | isbn = 978-1-909982-87-1 }} * {{cite book |first1=Michael D. |last1=Miller |first2= Andreas |last2=Schulz |title= Gauleiter: The Regional Leaders of the Nazi Party and Their Deputies, 1925-1945 |volume=I (Herbert Albrecht - H. Wilhelm Hüttmann) |publisher= R. James Bender Publishing |year= 2012 |isbn=978-1-932970-21-0}} * {{cite book |last1=Schwartz |first1=Michael |title=Homosexuelle, Seilschaften, Verrat: Ein transnationales Stereotyp im 20. Jahrhundert|trans-title=Homosexuals, Political Cliques, and Betrayal: A 20th Century Transnational Stereotype |date=2019 |publisher=De Gruyter |isbn=978-3-11-063650-5 |language=de }} * {{cite book |last1=Wackerfuss |first1=Andrew |title=Stormtrooper Families: Homosexuality and Community in the Early Nazi Movement |date=2015 |publisher=Harrington Park Press |location=New York |isbn=978-1-939594-06-8 |language=en}} * {{cite book |last1=Zentner |first1=Christian |last2=Bedürftig |first2=Friedemann |year=1997 |orig-year=1991 |title=The Encyclopedia of the Third Reich |publisher=Da Capo Press |url=https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofth0001unse_x9h2 |location= New York |isbn=978-0-3068079-3-0}} * {{Cite web |last=Kempka |first=Erich |author-link=Erich Kempka |id=Library of Congress: Musmanno Collection-Interrogations of Hitler Associates – Kempka, Erich-Box1FF33 23 |title=Erich Kempka interview |date=1948 |url=https://digital.library.duq.edu/digital/collection/mussinter/id/1149/}} * {{cite book | last = Kershaw | first = Ian | author-link = Ian Kershaw | year = 1999 | title = Hitler: 1889–1936 Hubris | url = https://archive.org/details/hitlerhubris00kers | url-access = registration | publisher = W. W. Norton & Company | location = New York | isbn = 978-0-393-32035-0 }} *{{cite book |last= Shirer |first= William L. |author-link= William L. Shirer |year= 1960 |title= The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich |publisher= Simon & Schuster |location= New York |lccn = 60-6729 |title-link= The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Heines, Edmund}} Category:1897 births Category:1934 deaths Category:20th-century Freikorps personnel Category:Executed Nazi assassins Category:Gauleiters Category:Gay military personnel Category:German LGBTQ military personnel Category:German Army personnel of World War I Category:German gay politicians Category:German people convicted of manslaughter Category:German people convicted of murder Category:Kapp Putsch participants Category:LGBTQ legislators in Germany Category:LGBTQ people in the Nazi Party Category:Nazi Party members Category:Members of the Prussian State Council (Nazi Germany) Category:Members of the Reichstag 1930–1932 Category:Members of the Reichstag 1932 Category:Members of the Reichstag 1932–1933 Category:Members of the Reichstag 1933 Category:Members of the Reichstag 1933–1936 Category:Nazis convicted of crimes Category:Nazis executed by Nazi Germany by firing squad Category:Nazis killed during the Night of the Long Knives Category:Nazis who participated in the Beer Hall Putsch Category:People convicted of treason against Germany Category:People from Bavaria executed by Nazi Germany Category:Politicians from Munich Category:Politicians from the Kingdom of Bavaria Category:Recipients of the Iron Cross (1914), 1st class Category:Recipients of the Iron Cross (1914), 2nd class Category:SA-Obergruppenführer