Wikipedia:Today's featured article/March 5, 2022

The Röhm scandal was the public disclosure of the homosexuality of Nazi politician Ernst Röhm (pictured) by the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD). It began in April 1931, when the SPD newspaper Münchener Post published a series of front-page stories inaccurately portraying the Nazi Party as dominated by homosexuals. During the 1932 German presidential election, the SPD released a pamphlet edited by the ex-Nazi Helmuth Klotz with letters in which Röhm had discussed his homosexuality. On 12 May 1932, Klotz was beaten by Nazi deputies in the Reichstag building in revenge for his publication of the pamphlet, bringing the matter to national attention, and making Röhm the world's first openly gay politician. The Nazis' electoral performance was not affected by the scandal. Hitler defended Röhm, but had him murdered in 1934, citing both his homosexuality and alleged treachery. This purge began the systematic persecution of homosexual men in Nazi Germany.