Viktor Lutze Viktor Lutze ( December 28 , 1890 – May 2 , 1943 ) was the commander of the " Sturmabteilung " ( " SA " ) succeeding Ernst Röhm as " Stabschef " . He died from injuries received in an automobile accident . Lutze was given an elaborate state funeral in Berlin on May 7 , 1943 . Early life . Lutze was born in Bevergern , Westphalia , the son of a peasant craftsman . After a short career in the post office , he joined the German Army in 1912 , serving with the 55th Infantry Regiment . He fought in the 369th Infantry Regiment and 15th Reserve Infantry Regiment during World War I . He became a company commander and was heavily wounded four times , including loss of his left eye . After the war , Lutze became a merchant and joined the police force . Nazi party and SA . Lutze joined the National Socialist German Workers Party ( NSDAP or Nazi Party ) in 1922 , and the Prussia n State Council . He became an associate of Franz Pfeffer von Salomon , the first leader of the SA . Together , they determined the structure of the organization . He also worked with Albert Leo Schlageter in the resistance / sabotage of the Belgian and French occupation of the Ruhr in 1923 . His organization of the Ruhr for the SA became a model for other regions after 1926 . In October 1931 , he organized a huge joint rally in Braunschweig ( Brunswick ) of SA and SS men to show both strength in strife - weary Germany and loyalty to their leader , Adolf Hitler . This was before Hitler came to national power as Chancellor of Germany in January , 1933 . Over 100 , 000 men attended the rally hosted by SA - " Gruppe Nord " under the leadership of Lutze . At the rally , the SA assured Hitler of their loyalty and Hitler in turn increased the size of the SA with the creation of 24 new " Standarten " ( regiment - sized formations ) . Hitler never forgot this show of loyalty by Lutze . A badge was made to commemorate the event . Lutze rose through the ranks and by 1933 was a SA - " Obergruppenführer " . In March 1933 , he was appointed police president of Hanover and later its provincial governor and state counselor . Purge of Röhm . Lutze ' s participation in the Night of the Long Knives in 1934 was very important : he informed Hitler about Ernst Röhm ' s anti - régime activities . ( Hitler at first said , " We ' ll have to let the thing ripen " ) . In preparation for the purge , both Heinrich Himmler and his deputy Reinhard Heydrich , chief of the SS Security Service ( SD ) , assembled dossiers of manufactured evidence to suggest that Röhm planned to overthrow Hitler . Meanwhile Göring , Himmler , Heydrich and Lutze ( at Hitler ' s direction ) drew up lists of those who should be liquidated , starting with seven top SA officials and including many more . At least 85 people died during the purge , although the final death - toll may have been in the hundreds . After the purge Lutze succeeded Röhm as " Stabschef SA " , but after the Night of the Long Knives , the SA no longer had as prominent a role as it had had in the early days of the party . Lutze ' s major tasks included overseeing a large reduction in the SA , a task welcomed by the SS and by the regular armed forces . On June 30 , 1934 Hitler issued a twelve - point directive to Lutze to clean up the SA and wrote that " SA men should be leader s , not ludicrous apes " . At the Nazi Party Congress in Nuremberg in September 1934 , William L . Shirer observed Hitler speaking to the SA for the first time since the purge ( Hitler absolved the SA from crimes committed by Röhm ) . Shirer also noted Lutze speaking there ( Lutze reaffirmed the SA ' s loyalty ) . Shirer described Lutze as possessing a shrill unpleasant voice , and thought the " SA boys received him coolly " . Leni Riefenstahl ' s film " Triumph of the Will " , however , shows the SA mobbing Lutze as he departs at the end of his evening rally - speech . His automobile can barely make it through the crowd . Alone among the speakers ( apart from Hitler ) Lutze receives the dramatic low - angle shots alone at the podium . Only Hitler , Himmler , and Lutze are shown in the march to the World War I cenotaph , where they laid a wreath . The makers of the film were giving the then little - known Lutze some of the prestige of a party leader , so as to draw attention away from their recent leader , Ernst Rohm . The latter appears often by the side of Hitler in the previous Riefenstahl film of the 1933 party congress Der Sieg des Glaubens , but the film was eradicated after his murder . Foreign organisation . After the Anschluss , Lutze traveled to Austria to help reorganize the SA there . The most visible role for the SA after the purge was in assisting the SS in Kristallnacht in November 1938 . In February 1939 , Lutze reviewed a parade of 20 , 000 Blackshirts in Rome and then set off for a tour of Italy ’ s Libyan frontier with Tunisia . Lutze ’ s Death and funeral . Lutze maintained his position in the weakened SA until his death . On May 1 , 1943 he was driving a car near Potsdam with his entire family ( one account suggests they were foraging for food ) . Driving too fast in a curve caused an accident that badly injured Lutze as well as killing his oldest daughter Inge and greatly injuring his younger daughter . Viktor Lutze died during an operation in a hospital in Potsdam at 10 : 30 the next evening . ( News reports stated that the accident involved another vehicle , keeping the news of reckless driving from the public . This may have contributed to theories that Lutze has been killed just as Röhm had been , or that partisans assassinated him ) . Hitler ordered Joseph Goebbels to convey his condolences to Viktor ’ s wife Paula and son Viktor , Jr . Goebbels , in his diaries , had already described Lutze as a man of " unlimited stupidity " but at his death decided he was a decent fellow . Lutze was 52 years old . The esteem in which Lutze was held is indicated by the fact that Hitler ordered a lavish state funeral for him on May 7 , 1943 in the Reich Chancellery . Hitler attended in person , something he rarely did at that stage in the war . Lutze was posthumously awarded the Highest Grade of the German Order by Hitler . Hitler also took this opportunity to order party , army , and government officials ( many of whom were in attendance ) to curtail speeding ( specifically requesting they drive no faster than 50 miles per hour ) . Hitler appointed Wilhelm Schepmann to succeed Lutze as " Stabschef SA " , but the organization had been thoroughly marginalized by that time . Family life . Pictures recovered from Lutze ' s house by the Allies depict a family man who enjoyed day - trips and ping pong . Honors . Lutze was posthumously awarded the Highest Grade of the German Order .