26 Facts About Edmund Heines

Edmund Heines was a German Nazi politician and Deputy to Ernst Rohm, the Stabschef of the Sturmabteilung.

Edmund Heines held several high-ranking positions in the Nazi administration until he was executed during the Night of the Long Knives in June 1934.

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 Edmund Heines gave birth to a second child, Oskar Edmund Heines, who is believed to have been fathered by Parish.

In 1915, Edmund 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.

Edmund 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.

In July 1920, Edmund 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.

Edmund 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, Edmund Heines was one of two thousand Nazis that participated in the Beer Hall Putsch, being assigned to take the Hotel Vierjahreszeiten.

Edmund 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.

Edmund 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.

In 1926, Edmund Heines enrolled in Erlangen University to study law, and became a Standartenfuhrer of the SA.

On 22 January 1928, Edmund Heines was arrested in Schongau for his involvement in Willi Schmidt's murder in 1920, which was exposed during a blackmail attempt.

Edmund Heines was transferred to Stettin as the main defendant in the trial for Schmidt's murder.

In 1929, Edmund Heines was convicted of the murder of communist Conrad Pietrzuch, who had been beaten to death by an SA gang led by Edmund Heines.

The trial had to be reopened due to a technical error, and Edmund Heines soon received an amnesty because of his supposedly "patriotic" motive.

Edmund Heines held numerous prominent political positions concurrently with his SA positions.

Edmund Heines was an Ortsgruppenleiter in the Munich Party organization and served as the Adjutant to Gauleiter Adolf Wagner.

In September 1930, Edmund Heines was elected to the Reichstag for electoral district 8 and remained a Reichstag deputy until his death.

On 1 May 1931, Edmund Heines was appointed Deputy to SA-Stabschef Ernst Rohm, the effective commander of the SA and a close friend of Hitler.

Edmund Heines was named Deputy Gauleiter to Helmuth Bruckner in Gau Silesia.

On 15 March 1934, Silesia was raised to the status of an Obergruppe and Edmund Heines remained in charge.

Now at the height of his power, Edmund Heines would hold all these posts until his death.

Edmund Heines's younger brother, Oskar, was an Obersturmbannfuhrer of the SA, and on the morning of 1 July 1934, he heard a radio report concerning the execution of his brother.

Edmund 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.

Contemporary sources often pointed out Edmund Heines as being unusually tall and powerfully built but with a contradictory youthful, boyish face.