[63] Since Schleicher was a good friend of the French Ambassador Andr Franois-Poncet, and because of his reputation for intrigue, the claim that Schleicher was working for France had enough surface plausibility for most Germans to accept it. Cartoonist: des MONDE. The atmosphere of terror that had followed the Reichstag Fire, and Hindenburgs and von Papens support, made the proposal seem legitimate and, to some, necessary. On the floor, lies Hitlers unkept promises, clearly discarded. [78], The term "long knives" as a metonym for treachery and violence had been used to describe the Treason of the Long Knives since this incident was recorded in the 9th century Historia Brittonum. By mid-1934, Hitler seemed to be master of all Germany. The SA also ran a violent campaign of terror against any and all opponents of the Nazi regime. Night of the Long Knives, in German history, purge of Nazi leaders by Adolf Hitler on June 30, 1934. Hitler shouted at Schneidhuber and accused him of treachery. [37] Sepp Dietrich received orders from Hitler for the Leibstandarte to form an "execution squad" and go to Stadelheim Prison where certain SA leaders were being held. "It was plain that there was wide acceptance of the deliberately misleading propaganda put out by the regime. In 1928, the popular Nazi song "Wetzt die langen Messer" (English: Sharpen the long knives) encourages the mass murder of Jewish people and the desecration of Synagogues (seemingly equating their own tactics with the treacherous Anglo-Saxons). The trial of Van der Lubbe following the Reichstag fire. Following the purge, the Nazi's sculpted the media coverage to portray the event as a preventative measure against a revolutionary, violent, and . consolidate "[14], Despite such hostility between the brownshirts and the regular army, Blomberg and others in the military saw the SA as a source of raw recruits for an enlarged and revitalized army. Many of the prisoners were tortured and abused. The Freikorps were nationalistic organizations primarily composed of disaffected, disenchanted, and angry German combat veterans founded by the government in January 1919 to deal with the threat of a Communist revolution when it appeared that there was a lack of loyal troops. On 15 March 1938, following the German annexation of Austria three days earlier, Hitler gave a speech in front of the palace in Vienna. Blomberg and many of his fellow officers were recruited from the Prussian nobility and regarded the SA as a plebeian rabble that threatened the army's traditional high status in German society. 1. It did not escape Klemperer's notice that many of the victims had played a role in bringing Hitler to power. dutch tool chest pdf. They were often given a free rein on their activities and were violent and difficult to control. Some estimates, however, put the total number killed at between 150 and 200. Blomberg, who had been meeting with the president, uncharacteristically reproached Hitler for not having moved against Rhm earlier. Reset Your Hosts File. Paul von Hindenburg was the president of the Weimar Republic from the 12 May 1925 until his death on the 2 August 1934. The elections were neither free or fair. Selected Clips from the movie Bent that depict the Night of the Long Knives. retrospectively [72] In a speech given on 3 January 1935, at the Berlin State Opera, Hitler stated that Schleicher and Bredow had been shot "in error" on the basis of false information, and that their names were to be restored to the honour rolls of their regiments at once. [22] Himmler named his deputy Reinhard Heydrich to head the Gestapo on 22 April 1934. Chancellor Adolf Hitler, urged on by Hermann Gring and Heinrich Himmler, ordered a series of political extrajudicial executions intended to consolidate his power and alleviate the concerns of the German military about the role of Ernst Rhm and the Sturmabteilung (SA), the Nazi's paramilitary organization, known colloquially as "Brownshirts". The "knives of the long night" episode, as it is now called, took place with brutal swiftness. In this photo, Rhm is talking to a group of SA men, who appear to be listening intently. "[83], Before its execution, the purges instigators referred to the plans under the codename Hummingbird (German: Kolibri), the word used to command execution squads into action on 30 June. [73] However, despite the rehabilitation of the two murdered officers, the Nazis continued in private to accuse Schleicher of high treason. In addition to this, there was a mutual dislike between the traditional conservative elite who maintained many key positions in the government and the army during the first years of the Third Reich and the SA. Gring declared that the communists had planned a national uprising to overthrow the Weimar Republic. To a lesser extent, the Sturmabteilung (SA), a Nazi paramilitary organization, remained somewhat autonomous within the party. By the end of May 1934, Hitler had been chancellor for 16 . The undersigned Generals and senior officers swear to preserve to the last breath their loyalty to you and the Fatherland. The humbling of the SA ended the threat it had posed to the army but, by standing by Hitler during the purge, the army bound itself more tightly to the Nazi regime. The Nazis consolidation of power can be grouped into three main themes: pseudo-legality, terror and intimidation and pseudo-moderation. How did the Night of the Long Knives help to create a dictatorship out of a democracy? The SA evolved out of the remnants of the Freikorps movement of the post-World War I years. [31] On 27 June, Hitler moved to secure the army's cooperation. Having earlier imprisoned or exiled prominent Social Democrats and Communists, Hitler used the occasion to move against conservatives he considered unreliable. [21], Demands for Hitler to constrain the SA strengthened. info)), or the Rhm purge (German: Rhm-Putsch), also called Operation Hummingbird (German: Unternehmen Kolibri), was a purge that took place in Nazi Germany from 30 June to 2 July 1934. President Paul von Hindenburg appointed Hitler chancellor on 30 January 1933. "[74], Hitler named Viktor Lutze to replace Rhm as head of the SA. His perceived enemies were executed on the night of June 30, 1934. When the Nazi regime did not take such steps, those who had expected an economic as well as a political revolution were disillusioned. On the 4 October 1933, it was declared that all editors must be Aryan. [45] Then, on 13 July 1934,[52] Hitler justified the purge in a nationally broadcast speech to the Reichstag: If anyone reproaches me and asks why I did not resort to the regular courts of justice, then all I can say is this. Grtner also declared in cabinet that the measure did not in fact create any new law, but simply confirmed the existing law. Hence, the Freikorps were in opposition to the new Weimar Republic, which was born as a result of the November Revolution, and whose founders were contemptuously called "November criminals". The Night of the Long Knives was a major purge of the SA and Nazi Party. , which opened just a few days before the vote on the 20 March 1933. The SA were dramatically reduced in size, dropping by 40% to 1.8 million by 1935. Among the few exceptions were General Kurt von Hammerstein-Equord and Field Marshal August von Mackensen, who started a campaign to have Schleicher rehabilitated by Hitler. Mr Maracin has filtered out much of the historical minutia belabored by other historians of Nazi Germany during this period and given us a quick 209 page read for those with a mild passing interest on how this to barbarism came to be. Adolf Hitler . Local governments proved more difficult to infiltrate, and even at the end of 1945 only 60% of local mayors were Nazi Party members. The army's support for the purge, however, would have far-reaching consequences for the institution. From 20 August onwards, the On the 2 May 1933 trade unions were banned. Hitler arrived and personally placed Rhm and other high ranking SA leaders under arrest. I gave the order to shoot the ringleaders in this treason, and I further gave the order to cauterise down to the raw flesh the ulcers of this poisoning of the wells in our domestic life. [75] Lutze did little to assert the SA's independence in the coming years, and the organization lost its power in Germany. Nazis Hermann Gring and Heinrich Himmler wait for the code word from Hitler to begin what will become known as the "Night of the Long Knives". It's helped us to become more accustomed to acts of grim self-interested political butchery; but for those witnessing these events as they happened, they were simply unprecedented. By 1935, over 1,600 newspapers had been closed. The Nazis used the guise of moderationto conceal their rapid consolidation of power. This betrayal is seen by the image of SA members looking fearful in surrender, and SA leaders dead on the floor, killed by Hitler, who holds a smoking gun. Definition of Long Knives in the Idioms Dictionary. [13], If the regular army showed contempt for the masses belonging to the SA, many stormtroopers returned the feeling, seeing the army as insufficiently committed to the National Socialist revolution. The Night of the Long Knives was a turning . [35] Papen was unceremoniously arrested at the Vice-Chancellery, despite his insistent protests that he could not be arrested in his position as Vice-Chancellor. , issuing the Act for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service on the 7 April 1933. As the leader of the SA, Rhm was seen as a threat to Hitlers power. Hitler orders a violent purge of the top leadership of the Nazi Party paramilitary formation, the SA (Sturmabteilungen; Assault Detachments). The Liberals' future leader, Jeremy Thorpe, mocked Macmillan by observing . Despite his earlier agreement with Hitler, Rhm still clung to his vision of a new German army with the SA at its core. The atmosphere of uncertainty following the Reichstag Fire secured many voters for the Nazi party. [41], The regime did not limit itself to a purge of the SA. [8], On 6 July 1933, at a gathering of high-ranking Nazi officials, Hitler declared the success of the National Socialist, or Nazi, seizure of power. On 25 June, General Werner von Fritsch placed the Reichswehr on the highest level of alert. Through these aspects the Nazis suppressed any opposition to their power, and were able to start the road from democracy to a dictatorship. Definitions by the largest Idiom Dictionary. Prime Minister Harold Macmillan dismissed seven members of his Cabinet, one-third of the total. Historian Gavin Mortimer explains how Hitler nearly came unstuck as early as 1934 - and that the bloody purge that followed was a warning of horrors to come. July 1-13, 1934 Editorials, opinion pieces, letters-to-the-editor, and political cartoons regarding the "Night of the Long Knives". In Rhm's view, President Hindenburg's appointment of Hitler as chancellor on 30 January 1933, had brought the Nazi Party to power, but had left unfulfilled the party's larger goals. By 1934 most of the socialists had left the party but some important figures in the hierarchy like Ernst Rhm and . On 27 February 1933, as the campaign moved into its final, frantic days, theReichstag, the German Parliament building, was set on fire and burnt down. of any opponents, who were be framed as traitors to the republic. 3. Facebook Twitter Email Copy Link. By 1934 there were more than a million of them. Not content solely with the leadership of the SA, Rhm lobbied Hitler to appoint him Minister of Defence, a position held by the conservative General Werner von Blomberg. A telegram purportedly from the ailing Hindenburg, Germany's highly revered military hero, expressed his "profoundly felt gratitude", and congratulated Hitler for "nipping treason in the bud",[61] although Hermann Gring later admitted during the Nuremberg trials that the telegram was never seen by Hindenburg, and was actually written by the Nazis. [45][41] As Himmler's adjutant Karl Wolff later explained, friendship and personal loyalty were not allowed to stand in the way: Among others, a charming fellow [named] Karl von Spreti, Rhm's personal adjutant. 3. Hitler entitled the purge the 'Night of the Long Knives' - a reference to the lyrics from a popular Nazi song. Unblocked games. The primary instruments of Hitler's action, which carried out most of the killings, were the Schutzstaffel (SS) paramilitary force under Himmler and its Security Service (SD), and Gestapo (secret police) under Reinhard Heydrich. ", Last edited on 28 February 2023, at 06:34, Night of the Long Knives (disambiguation), The History Place Triumph of Hitler Night of the Long Knives, German Culture The Third Reich Consolidation of Power, The German Embassy in the United States The Era of National Socialism, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Night_of_the_Long_Knives&oldid=1142048294, Operation Hummingbird, Rhm Putsch (by the Nazis), The Blood Purge. Used for Educational purposes only. In his speech to the Reichstag on 13 July justifying his actions, Hitler denounced Schleicher for conspiring with Rhm to overthrow the government; Hitler alleged both were traitors working in the pay of France. Despite some initial efforts by local prosecutors to take legal action against those who carried out the murders, which the regime rapidly quashed, it appeared that no law would constrain Hitler in his use of power. By May, lists of those to be "liquidated" started to circulate amongst Gring and Himmler's people, who engaged in a trade, adding enemies of one in exchange for sparing friends of the other. [2] The purge strengthened and consolidated the support of the military for Hitler. [21] By the beginning of June everything was set and all that was needed was permission from Hitler. . The Night of the Long Knives commences. This new law gave Hitler the power to rule by decree rather than passing laws through the Reichstag and the president. The purge of the SA was kept secret until it was announced by Adolf Hitler on July 13. [71], In late 1934early 1935, Werner von Fritsch and Werner von Blomberg, who had been shamed into joining Hammerstein and Mackensen's rehabilitation campaign, successfully pressured Hitler into rehabilitating Generals von Schleicher and von Bredow. Mussolini used the affair occasioned by the murder of Giacomo Matteotti as an example of the kind of trouble unruly followers could cause a dictator. The Night of the Long Knives: the bloody purge that secured Hitler's power. Moreover, it was not just the Reichswehr that viewed the SA as a threat. com. Definition of night of the long knives in the Idioms Dictionary. Night of the Long Knives 30 June 1934. The Night of the Long Knives. The loyalty of the SS men would prove useful to both when Hitler finally chose to move against Rhm and the SA. Prisons soon became stretched for space. Both Kurt von Schleicher, Hitler's predecessor as Chancellor, and his wife were murdered at their home. No one in the SA spoke more loudly for "a continuation of the German revolution" (as one prominent stormtrooper, Edmund Heines, put it) than Rhm himself. [34], At about 04:30 on 30 June 1934, Hitler and his entourage flew to Munich. Upon returning to Berlin, Goebbels telephoned Gring at 10:00 with the codeword Kolibri to let loose the execution squads on the rest of their unsuspecting victims. SS men stormed the hotel, and Hitler personally placed Rhm and other high-ranking SA leaders under arrest. [1] More than a thousand perceived opponents were arrested. On 1 July, at Hitler's behest, Theodor Eicke, Commandant of the Dachau concentration camp, and his SS adjutant Michael Lippert visited Rhm. The Enabling Law allowed them to do this under the guise of legality. 7 Night of the Long Knives - 30 June 1934 . Hitler's desire to consolidate his power and settle old scores, Desire of Ernst Rhm and the SA to continue "the National Socialist revolution" versus Hitler's need for relative social stability so that the economy could be refocused to rearmament and the German people acclimated to the need for expansion and war, Hitler's need to bring the Reichswehr under his control, Significant reduction in the regime's opposition, Strengthening of relationship between Hitler and the military. 'The Night of the Long Knives' is now commony associated with a particularly violent political purge in Nazi Germany in 1934. . oppression Max Heydebreck, an SA leader in Rummelsburg, denounced the army to his fellow brownshirts, telling them, "Some of the officers of the army are swine. , was then given the choice of suicide or murder. On 13 July 1934 the Reichstag kato-eng. [15] In January 1934, Rhm presented Blomberg with a memorandum demanding that the SA replace the regular army as the nation's ground forces, and that the Reichswehr become a training adjunct to the SA.[16]. [63] During a meeting with Polish Ambassador Jzef Lipski on 22 May 1935, Hitler told Lipski that Schleicher was "rightfully murdered, if only because he had sought to maintain the Rapallo Treaty. This handbook will help you plan your study time, beat procrastination, memorise the info and get your notes in order. Although many Germans approached the official news of the events as described by Joseph Goebbels with a great deal of scepticism, many others took the regime at its word, and believed that Hitler had saved Germany from a descent into chaos. Now that the NSDAP had seized the reins of power in Germany, he said, it was time to consolidate its control. However, following Hitler being elected chancellor, the SA, and particularly Rhm, were keen to continue the revolution and replace the traditional conservative elite with Nazis. I have the earlier 2005 History Channel video of Night of the Long Knives - before it was Heavily Censored to remove all references to the fact that the Nazis were founded and led by Boy Raping Diseased Homo-Anal Coprophile Ephebophiles, including Founder Ernst Rohm and his male prostitute protege Hitler. Others killed included Gregor Strasser, a former Nazi who had angered Hitler by resigning from the party in 1932, and Gustav Ritter von Kahr, the former Bavarian state commissioner who had helped crush the Beer Hall Putsch in 1923. [82] However, the term was soon adopted by the Nazis themselves to invoke what they saw as justifiable and necessary measures taken by Germanic peoples against an enemy. This photograph shows the SA as they marched victoriously through the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin the same day. The Night of Long Knives was the purge of the SA leadership and other political opponents from the 30 June 1934 to the 2 July 1934. [33] On 28 June Hitler went to Essen to attend the wedding celebration and reception of Josef Terboven; from there he called Rhm's adjutant at Bad Wiessee and ordered SA leaders to meet with him on 30 June at 11:00. Hitler claimed that 61 had been executed while 13 had been shot resisting arrest and three had committed suicide. The Night of the Long Knives (aka Blood Purge) was a purge that took place in Nazi Germany from June 30 to July 2, 1934, when the Nazi regime carried out a series of political extrajudicial executions intended to consolidate Hitler's absolute hold on power in Germany. Conservatives in the army, industry and politics placed Hitler under increasing pressure to reduce the influence of the SA and to move against Rhm. Night of the Long Knives: Directed by Lance Miccio, Grant Slawson. The Night of the Long Knives J. Marshall, 2007. Hitler had made it clear that he was the supreme ruler of Germany who had the right to be judge and jury, and had the power to decide whether people lived or died. While Rhm's homosexuality did not endear him to conservatives, they were more concerned about his political ambitions. It would become known in Welsh as "twyll y cyllyll hirion" (English: Deceit of the long knives) (first recorded around 1587) and in English as the "Treachery/Plot/Treason of the long knives" (recorded around 1604). It was a mass murder planned by the SS for the SA and their members. ", "But in origin the National Socialists had been a radical anti-capitalist party, and this part of the National Socialist programme was not only taken seriously by many loyal Party members but was of increasing importance in a period of economic depression. Then came the day he didn't need them anymore. Although President Hindenburg and the Reichstag continued to exist, Hitler could now govern by decree. [i] Rhm, as one of the earliest members of the Nazi Party, had participated in the Munich Beer Hall Putsch, an attempt by Hitler to seize power by force in 1923. He stated that 61 people had been executed and 13 had committed suicide. Whilst the purge focused on the SA, the Nazis also used the event to eliminate other political opponents, such as the former chancellor Kurt von Schleicher. Hitler had become a chancellor in 1933 henceforth he had the power to establish his power. This would allow them to rule unopposed and unhindered by coalition governments. However, to gain power Adolf Hitler built up a close and friendly relationship with Germany's industrialists. Hitler told the crowd that "undisciplined and disobedient characters and asocial or diseased elements" would be annihilated. Fearing that the paramilitary SA had become too powerful, Hitler ordered his elite SS guards to murder the organization's leaders, including Ernst Rhm. "[85], Papen, nonetheless, remained in his position although people quite close to him were murdered, including, "At least eighty-five people are known to have been summarily killed without any formal legal proceedings being taken against them. Leading officers in the SS were shown falsified evidence on 24 June that Rhm planned to use the SA to launch a plot against the government (Rhm-Putsch). [63], Former Kaiser Wilhelm II, who was in exile in Doorn, Netherlands, was horrified by the purge. [29] On 29 June, a signed article in Vlkischer Beobachter by Blomberg appeared in which Blomberg stated with great fervour that the Reichswehr stood behind Hitler. It was the culmination of a chaotic week in Westminster, which saw furious calls for an overhaul . ", followed by 12,263 people on Pinterest. You gave these parties 14 years to ruin Germany! We were close personal friends; we often dined together in Berlin. Gring's personal police battalion also took part in the killings.
