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In Berlin, on Gring's personal orders, an armed SS unit stormed the Vice-Chancellery. On 30 June, Himmler's SS and Goering's special police arrested and executed the leaders of the SA and other ", Coincidentally, Hitler had been incarcerated at. [56] Germany's legal establishment further capitulated to the regime when the country's leading legal scholar, Carl Schmitt, wrote an article defending Hitler's 13 July speech. With Hitler's arrival in Bad Wiessee between 06:00 and 07:00, the SA leadership, still in bed, were taken by surprise. July 14-20, 1934 News articles, editorials, opinion pieces, letters-to-the-editor, and . It established Hitler as "the supreme leader of the German people", as he put it in his 13 July speech to the Reichstag. Over 150 people were murdered and hundreds more were arrested. 2 Lucy S. Dawidowicz, The War against the Jews, 1933-1945 (New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1975), 82. The Nazis consolidation of power can be grouped into three main themes: pseudo-legality, terror and intimidation and pseudo-moderation. [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. The Night of the Long Knives was a turning point for the German government. On 17 March 1935, 700 pastors of the Confessing Church, which opposed the Nazis, were arrested. [7] Complaints of "overbearing and loutish" behaviour by stormtroopers became common by the middle of 1933. "[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. of any opponents, who were be framed as traitors to the republic. Let the nation know that its existencewhich depends on its internal order and securitycannot be threatened with impunity by anyone! Hold me on this night of the long knives Hold me on this night of the long knives It's coming (Shame about your neighbourhood) It's coming (Shame about your neighbourhood) There's a flood on the street, there's a tide and it's coming in now Yet the concrete burns at the back of your skull And they're saying it's a wave but it feels like a . [57][58], A special fund administered by SS General Franz Breithaupt was set up for the relatives of the murdered, from which they were cared for at the expense of the state. The Night of the Long Knives: the bloody purge that secured Hitler's power. coup Also killed that night were hundreds of other perceived opponents of Hitler. [20] Although Schleicher was in fact unimportant by 1934, increasingly wild rumours that he was scheming with Rhm to re-enter the corridors of power helped stoke the sense of crisis. Fearing that the paramilitary SA had become too powerful, Hitler ordered his elite SS guards to murder the organization's leaders, including Ernst Rhm. Prime Minister Harold Macmillan dismissed seven members of his Cabinet, one-third of the total. The leaders of the SA were ordered to attend a meeting at a hotel in Bad Wiesse, Bavaria. He had banned opposition parties, taken control of the press, outlawed troublesome unions and thrown communists and other political dissidents into concentration camps. The Nazis used violence to increase their vote share. kato-eng. Following Hitlers appointment as chancellor the Nazis were finally in a position of power. He then told Hitler that Hindenburg was close to declaring martial law and turning the government over to the Reichswehr if Hitler did not take immediate steps against Rhm and his brownshirts. Grtner also declared in cabinet that the measure did not in fact create any new law, but simply confirmed the existing law. Hitler claimed that 61 had been executed while 13 had been shot resisting arrest and three had committed suicide. Political instability in the Weimar Republic, Hyperinflation and the invasion of the Ruhr, Strength and weaknesses of the Weimar Republic. 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 was plain that there was wide acceptance of the deliberately misleading propaganda put out by the regime. This new law gave Hitler the power to rule by decree rather than passing laws through the Reichstag and the president. Uploaded: 09/18/2002. [49] In 1957, the German authorities tried Lippert in Munich for Rhm's murder. By the end of 1934, the Nazis had managed to infiltrate and take control of every major aspect of German government. In less than a week and just a few months ahead of a crucial election, Nicaraguan police have detained seven high-profile . The SS found Breslau SA leader Edmund Heines in bed with an unidentified eighteen-year-old male SA senior troop leader. With the army limited by the Treaty of Versailles to one hundred thousand soldiers, its leaders watched anxiously as membership in the SA surpassed three million men by the beginning of 1934. The support of respected individuals such as von Papen and Hindenburgs son, Oskar von Hindenburg, gave the Nazis further legitimacy for these actions. 3. ", 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. [84], The Night of the Long Knives represented a triumph for Hitler, and a turning point for the German government. [37] Arriving back at party headquarters in Munich, Hitler addressed the assembled crowd. On the 30 January 1933 Hitler was appointed as chancellor of the Weimar Republic. The Night of the Long Knives involved the violent purge of certain members of the Nazi Party from June 30th to July 2nd in 1934. The Night of the Long Knives. Hitler wanted to consolidate his power and settle old scores. July 1-13, 1934 Editorials, opinion pieces, letters-to-the-editor, and political cartoons regarding the "Night of the Long Knives". [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. As the stormtroopers were hustled off to prison, Hitler assembled a large group of SS and regular police, and departed for the Hanselbauer Hotel in Bad Wiessee, where Ernst Rhm and his followers were staying.[36]. Once the Enabling Law was in place, the Nazis could bypass the Reichstag and rule by decree seemingly creating laws that stabilised Germany and got rid of its internal enemies. The Night of the Long Knives was a purge that took place in Nazi Germany. By 1935, over 1,600 newspapers had been closed. approved a bill legalising the purge as emergency defence measures. The Night of the Long Knives. 8 study hacks, 3 revision templates, 6 revision techniques, 10 exam and self-care tips. Rhm was given the nickname "The Machine Gun King of Bavaria" in the early 1920s, since he was responsible for storing and issuing illegal machine guns to the Bavarian Freikorps units. It's been called "the night of the long knives in the tropics.". Following the Enabling Law, much of this harassment and imprisonment was legal. [51] Meanwhile, Goebbels tried to prevent newspapers from publishing lists of the dead, but at the same time used a 2 July radio address to describe how Hitler had narrowly prevented Rhm and Schleicher from overthrowing the government and throwing the country into turmoil. coalition Hitler formally adopted this title in April 1942, thus placing himself above the reach of the law de jure and de facto. Blomberg, who had been meeting with the president, uncharacteristically reproached Hitler for not having moved against Rhm earlier. , which opened just a few days before the vote on the 20 March 1933. Centuries of jurisprudence proscribing extrajudicial killings were swept aside. The process primarily took place between 1933-1934. The undersigned Generals and senior officers swear to preserve to the last breath their loyalty to you and the Fatherland. BUT Some within the Nazi Party opposed Hitler. Doug and Tony land in nineteenth century Asia, meet Rudyard Kipling and become involved in the conflict between the British and local tribesman for control of the Khyber Pass. However, most accounts argue that as many as 1,000 deaths occurred during the Night of the Long Knives. [69] Mackensen and Hammerstein ended their memo with: Excellency, the gravity of the moment has compelled us to appeal to you as our Supreme Commander. 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. Add to Favorites. ", "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. 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. Night of the Long Knives (Classroom Activity) When the Nazi Party was first formed it was an anti-capitalist movement. By JAINDI KISEROWe all thought that it was President Uhuru Kenyatta's night of long knives a reference to Tory Prime Minister Harold Macmillan's sudden decision in 1962 to replace a . The Night of the Long Knives was a helping event in Hitler becoming a dictator. 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 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. 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. As the leader of the SA, Rhm was seen as a threat to Hitlers power. What were Hitler's and the Nazi Party's ideas? Hitler then ordered Himmler and Goering to eliminate the threat posed by the leaders of the SA. People could be imprisoned for any or no reason. The message of the cartoon "They Salute with Both Hands Now" is that in the Night of the Long Knives, Hitler turned on his previously loyal supporters, the SA, in order to consolidate his position by eliminating the threat of Ernst Rohm and the SA and winning over the Army. Just two months later, on 14 July 1933 the Nazis used the Enabling Act to ban all political parties except the Nazi Party. The law needed two thirds of the Reichstag to vote for it to pass. Hitler orders a violent purge of the top leadership of the Nazi Party paramilitary formation, the SA (Sturmabteilungen; Assault Detachments). [e] Over the next few months, during the so-called Gleichschaltung, Hitler dispensed with the need for the Reichstag of the Weimar Republic as a legislative body[f] and eliminated all rival political parties in Germany, so that by the middle of 1933 the country had become a one-party state under his direction and control. Following the purge, the Nazis sculpted the media coverage to portray the event as a preventative measure against a revolutionary, violent, and uncontrollable force, rather than a series of political murders. However, soon after the purge Hitler himself would name the events the "Night of the long knives" in a public speech on 13 July 1934 defending the actions (despite the violence taking place over several days). The Centre Partys vote was crucial. [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]. [39] There in the prison courtyard, the Leibstandarte firing squad shot five SA generals and an SA colonel. The Night of the Long Knives L.O. Goebbels soon radicalised each of these areas, ensuring that they advocated Nazi ideas. Opposition from outside the Nazi party was being strangled Communists were banned and concentration camps set up. [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. The SA (sometimes known as the "Stormtroopers" or "Brownshirts") was the paramilitary organization of the Nazi Party that played a key role in the Nazi . The Bill passed by 444 votes for to 94 against on the 24 March 1933. Hitler shouted at Schneidhuber and accused him of treachery. The Night of the Long Knives. At first, its architects seemed split on how to handle the event. This topic will explore how the Nazis managed to eliminate their opposition and However, there were also other events which helped Hitler in achieving the position of a dictator. If passed, the law would establish the conditions needed for dictatorial rule. It also provided a legal grounding for the Nazis, as the German courts and cabinet quickly swept aside centuries of legal prohibition against extrajudicial killings to demonstrate their loyalty to the regime. intensified [63] Franois-Poncet was not declared persona non grata as would have been usual if an ambassador were involved in a plot against his host government. The Gestapo arrested and later executed Papen's close associate Edgar Jung, the author of Papen's Marburg speech, and disposed of his body by dumping it in a ditch. 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. By the summer of 1934, the SA's numbers had swollen to 2 million men. [4] The violent confrontations between the two contributed to the destabilization of the Weimar Republic. Scribd is the world's largest social reading and publishing site. The bottom half of the poster reads The more power you give Hitler, the easier he will win and the more independent you make him from the parties that led the people to where they are today. Nov 3, 2012 - Explore S o l s h e i 's board "Yay, it's Friday! [35] Goebbels emphasised this aspect in subsequent propaganda justifying the purge as a crackdown on moral turpitude. [29], In preparation for the purge, both Himmler and Heydrich assembled a dossier of manufactured evidence to suggest that Rhm had been paid 12 million (EUR 29.1million in 2023) by France to overthrow Hitler. Goebbels engineered the media coverage following the attack to present it as a preventative measure, in response to the SAs plan to overthrow the government. [34], At about 04:30 on 30 June 1934, Hitler and his entourage flew to Munich. Rhm demurred, telling them, "If I am to be killed, let Adolf do it himself. The destiny of our country is at stake. They understood the need to appear moderate and take over slowly by democratic means where possible, maintaining the stability and illusion of a democracy. Civil Service [21], As a means of isolating Rhm, on 20 April 1934, Gring transferred control of the Prussian political police (Gestapo) to Himmler, who, Gring believed, could be counted on to move against Rhm. 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. [38] Joseph Goebbels, who had been with Hitler at Bad Wiessee, set the final phase of the plan in motion. One key example of an event posed as moderate was the Night of Long Knives. Hitler and Himmler unleashed the Gestapo against old enemies, as well. Used for Educational purposes only. The Nazis secured 43.9% of the vote, an improvement of almost 10% on the previous Novembers election. "[65] Another rare exception was Field Marshal August von Mackensen, who spoke about the murders of Schleicher and Bredow at the annual General Staff Society meeting in February 1935 after they had been rehabilitated by Hitler in early January 1935. When the Nazi regime did not take such steps, those who had expected an economic as well as a political revolution were disillusioned. Despite this, on the whole, Gleichschaltung was largely successful. His perceived enemies were executed on the night of June 30, 1934. How seriously Hitler took the socialist character of National Socialism was to remain one of the main causes of disagreement and division within the Nazi party up to the summer of 1934. 'The Night of the Long Knives' is now commony associated with a particularly violent political purge in Nazi Germany in 1934. Lippert was convicted and sentenced to 18 months in prison.[50]. Ernst Rhm was murdered in the event known as the Rhm Putsch, or the Night of Long Knives. Only the SPD opposed it. The SA evolved out of the remnants of the Freikorps movement of the post-World War I years. 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. This represents how Hitler betrayed the SA, as they had been led to believe that they would gain power alongside Hitler. The Night of the Long Knives, which was originally published in Amazing Science Fiction Stories in 1960, feels surprisingly current the character names are the most dated-feeling aspect of the story. 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. By June 1934 this had grown to over 3,000,000 members. wikipedia notes: The Night of the Long Knives (German: Nacht der langen Messer) or "Operation Hummingbird," was a purge of Adolf Hitler's potential political rivals in the Sturmabteilung (SA). On the 2 May 1933 trade unions were banned. Now that the NSDAP had seized the reins of power in Germany, he said, it was time to consolidate its control. These acts removed peoples ability to oppose the Nazi Party, in any form. "A chancellor", he wrote, "sentences and shoots members of his own private army! Deprived of Communist party meetings to disrupt, the stormtroopers would sometimes run riot in the streets after a night of drinking; they would attack passers-by and then attack the police who were called to stop them. On the 23 March 1933, Hitler proposed the Enabling Law to the Reichstag. [12] Although nicknamed the "Rubber Lion" by some of his critics in the army for his devotion to Hitler, Blomberg was not a Nazi, and therefore represented a bridge between the army and the party. Dimensions: 2432 x 2229 px. 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). [75] Lutze did little to assert the SA's independence in the coming years, and the organization lost its power in Germany. [35] Schneidhuber was executed later that day. Hess, present among the assembled, even volunteered to shoot the "traitors". Although President Hindenburg and the Reichstag continued to exist, Hitler could now govern by decree. But Hitler was in power in 1934, and there was no opposition left . The atmosphere of uncertainty following the Reichstag Fire secured many voters for the Nazi party. 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. A very large number of the Freikorps believed that the November Revolution had betrayed them when Germany was alleged to be on the verge of victory in 1918. Do Damage By Placing Guns, Knives And Rockets In. [1] More than a thousand perceived opponents were arrested. Rhm, who was initially You gave these parties 14 years to ruin Germany! Also available as: Gift Options Download Options. If that was indeed true then, as a legal matter, the law was entirely unnecessary and redundant. [He] died with words "Heil Hitler" on his lips. 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. Goebbels became responsible for controlling the national media, film, theatre, arts, and other cultural aspects. Gring alone had over a thousand people arrested. This event reputedly occurred during the fifth century Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain, when Vortigern and the British leaders were invited to discuss peace and the Saxon leader Hengist commanded his men to draw their Seax (the infamous long knives) and massacre the unarmed Britons. "[63] The statements that Schleicher had been killed because he wanted to partition Poland with the Soviet Union were later published in the Polish White Book of 1939, which was a collection of diplomatic documents detailing GermanPolish relations up to the outbreak of the war. A few weeks after the purge, Hitler rewarded the SS . . Rhm's contempt for the party's bureaucracy angered Hess. The night was 29th June 1934, the Night of the Long Knives. [21], Demands for Hitler to constrain the SA strengthened. persecution Some estimates, however, put the total number killed at between 150 and 200. , who had previously been a separate organisation, now swore a personal allegiance to Hitler. [l] Luise Solmitz, a Hamburg schoolteacher, echoed the sentiments of many Germans when she cited Hitler's "personal courage, decisiveness and effectiveness" in her private diary. Finally, Hitler used the purge to attack or eliminate German critics of his new regime, especially those loyal to Vice-Chancellor Franz von Papen, as well as to settle scores with old enemies.[a]. Terror and intimidation became one of the main ways that the Nazis sought to control or suppress their opposition, and Germans in general. The SA were dramatically reduced in size, dropping by 40% to 1.8 million by 1935. Leading members of the leftist-leaning Strasserist faction of the Nazi Party, including its leader Gregor Strasser, were also killed, as were establishment conservatives and anti-Nazis, such as former Chancellor Kurt von Schleicher and Bavarian politician Gustav Ritter von Kahr, who had helped suppress Hitler's Munich Beer Hall Putsch in 1923. However, it did so under the guise of legality, and protecting the German people and their democracy. On the floor near the SA are guns and knives, this could resemble the 'Night Of The Long . He wrote about the cartoon in his book, Years of Wrath (1949): "Nazi Party members and S.S. men got out of hand, clamouring for jobs in a Nazified industry and in an army under Nazi control; but Hitler had promised the . The Nazis also took steps to ensure they couldnt be openly opposed in the press. Hitler's task would not be simple, however, as the SA made up a large part of Nazism's most devoted followers. ultimate power over Germany, whilst maintaining an Open navigation menu What does Long Knives expression mean? [19] The British historian Sir John Wheeler-Bennett, who knew Schleicher and his circle well, wrote that Bredow displayed a "lack of discretion" that was "terrifying" as he went about showing the list of the proposed cabinet to anyone who was interested. pardoned [73] However, despite the rehabilitation of the two murdered officers, the Nazis continued in private to accuse Schleicher of high treason. [68] Hammerstein, who was a close friend of Schleicher, had been much offended at Schleicher's funeral when the SS refused to allow him to attend the service and confiscated the wreaths that the mourners had brought. Over 150 people were murdered and hundreds more were arrested. One moment in a twelve-year history of the Third Reich that is underappreciated is the Night of the Long Knives, also known as the Rhm Purge, at the end of June 1934. The Nazi grip on government extended across national, state and local levels. Reorganisation and the Bamberg Conference, The role of economic instability in the Nazi rise to power, The role of political instability in the Nazi rise to power, The role of the conservative elite in the Nazi rise to power. During the years of the rise of the Nazi Party, the SA had been instrumental in helping the party to gain support. The widows of the murdered SA leaders received between 1,000 and 1,600 marks a month, depending on the rank of the murdered person. : Why did Hitler order the massacre of hundreds of Nazis in June 1934? In British politics, the "Night of the Long Knives" was a major Cabinet reshuffle that took place on 13 July 1962. As a result, a political struggle within the party grew, with those closest to Hitler, including Prussian premier Hermann Gring, Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels, Reichsfhrer-SS Heinrich Himmler, and Hitler's deputy Rudolf Hess, positioning themselves against Rhm. Hitler announced to those present that the SA would act as an auxiliary to the Reichswehr, not the other way around. On 13 July 1934 the Reichstag Night Of The Long Knives Cartoon 3 of 3. How did the Night of the Long Knives help to create a dictatorship out of a democracy? Following the purge, the Nazi's sculpted the media coverage to portray the event as a preventative measure against a revolutionary, violent, and . Excellency, save Germany for the fourth time! [63], Former Kaiser Wilhelm II, who was in exile in Doorn, Netherlands, was horrified by the purge. "[74], Hitler named Viktor Lutze to replace Rhm as head of the SA. 54 Richard J. Evans At the same time, the apparatus of the police state began to look a good deal less coercive than it had done in the 1950s. The Nazis used the guise of moderationto conceal their rapid consolidation of power. June 30, 1934 - July 12, 1934 News articles about the arrest and murder of leadership within the SA, as well as political opponents of the Nazis ("Night of the Long Knives"). The Night of Long Knives, also known as the Rhm Putsch, was the purge of the SA leadership and other political opponents from 30 June 1934 to 2 July 1934. [28] Hitler had hesitated for months in moving against Rhm, in part due to Rhm's visibility as the leader of a national militia with millions of members. [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. While many officers were impressed by Hitler's promises of an expanded army, a return to conscription, and a more aggressive foreign policy, the army continued to guard its traditions of independence during the early years of the Nazi regime. The Night of the Long Knives was a turning point in the history of Hitler's Germany. The faction headed by Hermann Gring and also . [66], Rumours about the Night of the Long Knives rapidly spread. Night of the Long Knives 30 June 1934. On 25 June, General Werner von Fritsch placed the Reichswehr on the highest level of alert. On 1 July, at Hitler's behest, Theodor Eicke, Commandant of the Dachau concentration camp, and his SS adjutant Michael Lippert visited Rhm. Night of the Long Knives: Directed by Lance Miccio, Grant Slawson. retrospectively The SA traced its dramatic rise in numbers in part to the onset of the Great Depression, when many German citizens lost both their jobs and their faith in traditional institutions. They were under the control of Ernst Rhm, a loyal follower of Hitler since the early days of the Nazi Party. com. [k] Signed into law by Hitler, Grtner, and Minister of the Interior Wilhelm Frick, the "Law Regarding Measures of State Self-Defence" retroactively legalized the murders committed during the purge. It is otherwise known as coordination or Nazification. The day after the Reichstag fire, the 28 February 1933, Hindenburg signed a decree giving Hitler emergency powers. 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. 1. While all of these men were veterans of the Nazi movement, only Rhm continued to demonstrate his independence from, rather than his loyalty to, Adolf Hitler. In 1933, up to 200,000 people were seized and imprisoned by the SA and the SS. In August 1932 there were approximately 445,000 members of the SA. Kurt von Schleicher's stepdaughter received 250 marks per month up to the age of 21, and the son of General von Bredow received a monthly allowance of 150 marks.[59]. 2. During the 1920s and 1930s, the SA functioned as a private militia used by Hitler to intimidate rivals and disrupt the meetings of competing political parties, especially those of the Social Democrats and the Communists.