Editing Karl Ernst

{{Villain_Infobox
|Image = Ernst Porträt.jpg
|fullname = Karl Ernst
|occupation = Sturmabteilung Leader
|origin = Berlin, Germany
|crimes = [[War crimes]] <br> [[Anti-Semitism|Anti-semitism]]
|type of villain = Fascist War Criminal
}}
'''Karl Ernst''' (1 September 1904 - 30 June 1934) was an official in the [[Nazi Party]] and the leader of the Berlin ''[[Sturmabteilung]]'' (SA) in 1933. He was executed in 1934 during the [[Night of the Long Knives]].

==SA activities==
===Reichstag Fire===
On 27 February 1933, the Reichstag building was set on fire in an [[arson]] attack. A communist named [[Marinus van der Lubbe]] was arrested at the scene and blamed for the attack, ultimately being executed, and the attack was used as a pretext to outlaw opposition groups such as the [[Communist Party of Germany]], however there is evidence that the Nazis may have been involved. At the Nuremberg Trials, [[Rudolf Diels]] and [[Franz Halder]] claimed that [[Joseph Goebbels]] and [[Hermann Göring]] directed an SA unit led by Gruppenführer Karl Ernst to set a larger fire in the Reichstag while van der Lubbe was manipulated into setting a smaller fire in order to make the Communist Party of Germany a scapegoat.

===Murder of Albrecht Höhler===
On 20 September 1933, [[Albrecht Höhler]], a Communist activist and pimp responsible for the [[murder]] of SA member [[Horst Wessel]], was removed from his cell by three SA members under the orders of Karl Ernst on the pretext of a [[Gestapo]] prison transfer. Near Potsdamer Platz, several other vehicles joined the van carrying Höhler, and drove with it until they were 12km from Frankfurt, at which point they all stopped and Höhler was ordered to get out. A group of eight men lead by Gruppenführer Ernst and Rudolf Diels then lead Höhler into a nearby forest, where Ernst announced that he was condemning Höhler to death for the murder of Horst Wessel. All eight then shot Höhler, with Ernst himself delivering the killing shot.

===Night of the Long Knives===
During the purge of political opponents known as the Night of the Long Knives, Ernst organized the arrest of SA leader [[Ernst Röhm]], who was executed in his cell by [[Theodor Eicke]] and [[Michael Lippert]] soon after. However, Ernst, as an SA member, was soon himself arrested by a ''[[Schutzstaffel]]'' unit lead by [[Kurt Gildisch]] and taken to Berlin, where he was shot by a firing squad in the Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler, alongside thirteen other victims of the Night of the Long Knives.
[[Category:Deceased]]
[[Category:European Villains]]
[[Category:Modern Villains]]
[[Category:Execution]]
[[Category:Germany]]
[[Category:Leader]]
[[Category:War Criminal]]
[[Category:Male]]
[[Category:Anti-Semitic]]
[[Category:Murderer]]
[[Category:Incriminator]]
[[Category:Arsonist]]
[[Category:Xenophobes]]
[[Category:Lawful Evil]]
[[Category:Failure-Intolerant]]