[32] Blomberg and General Walther von Reichenau, the army's liaison to the party, gave it to him by expelling Rhm from the German Officers' League. How did the Night of the Long Knives help to create a dictatorship out of a democracy? In the years preceding the purge, the term "long knives" had become a popular description of treachery in Germany and was used as a criticism of Nazi actions and deceitfulness. 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. 95.7% of the population voted. 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. Give Hitler four years to rebuild it! approved a bill legalising the purge as emergency defence measures. 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. He stated that 61 people had been executed and 13 had committed suicide. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). This also lead to the Oath Of Loyalty which was. [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. These acts removed peoples ability to oppose the Nazi Party, in any form. As the leader of the SA, Rhm was seen as a threat to Hitlers power. Night of the Long Knives, (June 30, 1934) Purge of Nazi leaders by Adolf Hitler. The Foreign Office even complained of instances where brownshirts manhandled foreign diplomats. Hitler claimed that 61 had been executed while 13 had been shot resisting arrest and three had committed suicide. [70] It is noteworthy that even those officers who were most offended by the killings, like Hammerstein and Mackensen, did not blame the purge on Hitler, whom they wanted to see continue as Chancellor; they at most wanted a reorganization of the Cabinet to remove some of Hitler's more radical followers. Gring instructed police stations to burn "all documents concerning the action of the past two days". Fearing that the paramilitary SA had become too powerful, Hitler ordered his elite SS guards to murder the organization's leaders, including Ernst Rhm. Our editors will review what youve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. An atmosphere of panic and terror followed the event. By 1935, over 1,600 newspapers had been closed. On 11 April 1945, the US army liberated Buchenwald camp. : Why did Hitler order the massacre of hundreds of Nazis. First was his old comrade Ernst Rhm, chief of staff of the SA (Sturmabteilung; German: Assault Division), or Brownshirts. The Nazis immediately used the Enabling Law to remove civil rights. However, there were also other events which helped Hitler in achieving the position of a dictator. Reichswehr Its membership plummeted from 2.9 million in August 1934 to 1.2 million in April 1938. Hitler saw the independence of the SA and the penchant of its members for street violence as a direct threat to his newly gained political power. The Night of the Long Knives (in addition to Hindenburgs deatha few months later) helped Hitler and the Nazi Party to consolidate absolute power in Germany by removing their political opposition. History portrays the infamous 'Night of the Long Knives' as a textbook political disaster, but as a BBC documentary shows on the 50th anniversary, it could have been so different. Captain Ernst Rhm of the Reichswehr served as the liaison with the Bavarian Freikorps. [19] Schleicher criticized the current Hitler cabinet, while some of Schleicher's followers such as General Ferdinand von Bredow and Werner von Alvensleben started passing along lists of a new Hitler cabinet in which Schleicher would become vice-chancellor, Rhm minister of defence, Heinrich Brning foreign minister and Gregor Strasser minister of national economy. "[26] According to his memoirs, von Papen, a Catholic aristocrat with ties to army and industry, privately threatened to resign if Hitler did not act. Wiskemann, Elizabeth, "The Night of the Long Knives", This page was last edited on 9 April 2023, at 02:08. 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. On 25 April 1933, the Law Against Overcrowding in Schools and Universities was issued, restricting the number of Jewish students. [75] Lutze did little to assert the SA's independence in the coming years, and the organization lost its power in Germany. 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. Religion in Dracula. "[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. Hitler remained indecisive and uncertain about just what precisely he wanted to do when he left for Venice to meet Benito Mussolini on 15 June. 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 army's support for the purge, however, would have far-reaching consequences for the institution. [1] More than a thousand perceived opponents were arrested. "A chancellor", he wrote, "sentences and shoots members of his own private army! Hitler travelled to Munich by plane with . It will first explore this topic in chronological order, from the Reichstag Fire through to the death of President Hindenburg, and then explore it thematically in the last section. By the end of 1934, the Nazis had managed to infiltrate and take control of every major aspect of German government. 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". [21], Demands for Hitler to constrain the SA strengthened. On the 2 May 1933 trade unions were banned. The Night of the Long Knives. The strike, which will end just before midnight, comes after a High Court . Religion and The Bloody Chamber. Language links are at the top of the page across from the title. For new Germany unit - 1890-1945. You gave these parties 14 years to ruin Germany! 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. Hindenburg died on August 2, 1934. The law needed two thirds of the Reichstag to vote for it to pass. Hitler told the crowd that "undisciplined and disobedient characters and asocial or diseased elements" would be annihilated. They understood the need to appear moderate and take over slowly by democratic means where possible, maintaining the stability and illusion of a democracy. The Nazis also took several more steps to reduce their political opposition legally. Rhm was very critical of Hitler's policies of working with rich businessmen and the army. [49] In 1957, the German authorities tried Lippert in Munich for Rhm's murder. "[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. Officially 85; estimates range up to 1,000. illusion [17] While Hitler did not take immediate action against Rhm for his intemperate outburst, it nonetheless deepened the rift between them. 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. President Hindenburg died at the age of 87 on 2 August 1934. Rhm wanted to have his troops incorporated into the new Wehrmacht that was being prepared to take the place of the Reichswehr, despite the fact that the conservative-minded generals were resolutely opposed to any such contamination of the army by the SA. , who had previously been a separate organisation, now swore a personal allegiance to Hitler. 89.93% voted in favour of Hitler. "[9], Hitler's speech signalled his intention to rein in the SA, whose ranks had grown rapidly in the early 1930s. Rhm, who was initially On 17 June 1934, conservative demands for Hitler to act came to a head when Vice-Chancellor Franz von Papen, confidant of the ailing Hindenburg, gave a speech at Marburg University warning of the threat of a "second revolution. (29-30 June 1934) The name coined by Hitler for a weekend of murders throughout Germany. In the judicial system specifically, this act removed any judges that were deemed non-compliant with Nazi laws or principles. The Nazis used the SA and the newly expanded SS to harass and imprison any potential opponents of the Nazi Party. [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. However, it did so under the guise of legality, and protecting the German people and their democracy. This decree suspended the democratic aspects of the Weimar Republic and declared a state of emergency. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. 9. Hitler, knowing that military strength was necessary for his foreign policy and that antagonizing the generals could be fatal to himself, decided to sacrifice Rhm. [76], According to Albert Speer, "the Right, represented by the President, the Minister of Justice, and the generals, lined up behind Hitler the strong left wing of the party, represented chiefly by the SA, was eliminated. The atmosphere of uncertainty following the Reichstag Fire secured many voters for the Nazi party. Over the next two months, they launched themselves into an intense election campaign. They used any space they could get their hands on to create temporary camps. As chancellor, Hitler did not command the army, which remained under the formal leadership of Hindenburg, a highly respected veteran field marshal. The Night of the Long Knives was a turning point for the German government. The SS found Breslau SA leader Edmund Heines in bed with an unidentified eighteen-year-old male SA senior troop leader. By the end of May 1934, Hitler had been chancellor for 16 . In Berlin, on Gring's personal orders, an armed SS unit stormed the Vice-Chancellery. The Nazis improvised. You must first remember and recite all the points made earlier in the circle then add your own point. Germany feared revolution. Some of Hitlers other enemies were also murdered, including the last chancellor of the Weimar Republic, Kurt von Schleicher; Gregor Strasser, who until 1932 had been second only to Hitler in the Nazi Party; Bavarian ex-separatist Gustav von Kahr; conservative critic Edgar Jung; and Catholic professor Erich Klausener. From the airport they drove to the Bavarian Interior Ministry, where they assembled the leaders of an SA rampage that had taken place in city streets the night before. For the full article, see Night of the Long Knives . [2] The purge strengthened and consolidated the support of the military for Hitler. Over the next two days, most of the SA leadership were placed under arrest and murdered without trial. [21] At the end of May, Brning and Schleicher, two former chancellors, received warnings from friends in the Reichswehr that their lives were in danger and they should leave Germany at once. [69] The request that Neurath be replaced by Nadolny, the former Ambassador to the USSR, who had resigned earlier that year in protest against Hitler's anti-Soviet foreign policy, indicated that Hammerstein and Mackensen wanted a return to the "distant friendliness" towards the Soviet Union that existed until 1933. Civil Service During a trip to Warsaw in January 1935, Gring told Jan Szembek that Schleicher had urged Hitler in January 1933 to reach an understanding with France and the Soviet Union, and partition Poland with the latter, and Hitler had Schleicher killed out of disgust with the alleged advice. They murdered Austrian Chancellor Engelbert Dollfuss in his chancellery, but the putsch failed in its main purpose. ", "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. 2 Lucy S. Dawidowicz, The War against the Jews, 1933-1945 (New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1975), 82. The Night of the Long Knives L.O. This continued when a young Dutchcommunist, Van der Lubbe was arrested for the crime. The SA evolved out of the remnants of the Freikorps movement of the post-World War I years. Ernst Rhm was murdered in the event known as the Rhm Putsch, or the Night of Long Knives. On the 30 January 1933 Hitler was appointed as chancellor of the Weimar Republic. And let it be known for all time to come that if anyone raises his hand to strike the State, then certain death is his lot. [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. Despite this improvement, the Nazis still did not command a majority in the Reichstag. While Rhm's homosexuality did not endear him to conservatives, they were more concerned about his political ambitions. 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. He left Neudeck with the intention of both destroying Rhm and settling scores with old enemies. The biggest threat to Hitler was Ernst Rhm. 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. With these measures in place, the Nazification of the judicial system was complete. coup [69] Finally, Hammerstein and Mackensen asked that Hindenburg reorganize the government by firing Baron Konstantin von Neurath, Robert Ley, Hermann Gring, Werner von Blomberg, Joseph Goebbels and Richard Walther Darr from the Cabinet. They will . The Enabling Law allowed them to do this under the guise of legality. Hitler ordered him, as one prominent historian described it, to put an end to "homosexuality, debauchery, drunkenness, and high living" in the SA. Other sets by this creator. 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. [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. [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. Hitler and the rest of the Nazi leadership disagreed with their approach. Until then, Lippert had been one of the few executioners of the purge to evade trial. On 15 April 1945, Bergen-Belsen camp was liberated by the British Army. [23] Himmler envied the independence and power of the SA, although by this time he and Heydrich had already begun restructuring the SS from a bodyguard formation for Nazi leaders (and a subset of the SA) into its own independent elite corps, one loyal to both himself and Hitler. [21] Brning fled to the Netherlands while Schleicher dismissed the tip-off as a bad practical joke. They come in PDF and Powerpoint formats and can be amended and changed to suit. [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 L.O. 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. was 10.99. Lippert was convicted and sentenced to 18 months in prison.[50]. Hitler told the gathered officials, "The stream of revolution has been undammed, but it must be channelled into the secure bed of evolution. The Nazi Party used the atmosphere of panic to their advantage, encouraging anti-communism. The purge list is drawn up. Some of those executed by Hitler were once considered close allies and friends. [35] Schneidhuber was executed later that day. Let the nation know that its existence which depends on its internal order and security cannot be threatened with impunity by anyone! This act was reinforced by the German Civil Service code of 26 January 1937, which retired any judges or judicial official who would not intervene in cases and rule in favour of the Nazis. This resource hasn't been reviewed yet. 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. In August 1932 there were approximately 445,000 members of the SA. It was during this speech that Hitler gave the purge its name: Night of the Long Knives (a phrase from a popular Nazi song). It targeted potential threats to Hitler's power, particularly within the NSDAP's fast-growing and politically vocal paramilitary wing, the Sturmabteilung or SA. Many of the prisoners were tortured and abused. Many members of the SA, including its leader Ernst Rhm, were demanding that the Nazi party carry out its socialist agenda and that the SA take over the army. The Night of the Long Knives was the least important factor, as it did no help much towards Hitler's consolidation of power. Others were appalled at the scale of the executions and at the relative complacency of many of their fellow Germans. , was then given the choice of suicide or murder. Hitler entitled the purge the 'Night of the Long Knives' - a reference to the lyrics from a popular Nazi song. [31] On 27 June, Hitler moved to secure the army's cooperation. In conclusion, this lesson plan on Night of the Long Knives Rohm Source Investigation, provides an in-depth examination of one of the most controversial events in modern history. Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. This act legalised removing anyone of non-Ayran descent from the civil service. The Nazis consolidation of power can be grouped into three main themes: pseudo-legality, terror and intimidation and pseudo-moderation. The speed and scale of the reshuffle caused it to be associated by its critics with the 1934 Night of the Long Knives in Nazi Germany . . Whilst Gleichschaltung aimed to reach every aspect of rule in Germany, this was not always possible. [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. , issuing the Act for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service on the 7 April 1933. Several of Hitler's lieutenants feared Rhm's growing power and restlessness, as did Hitler. 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. [75] Hitler expressly told him to stop SA funds from being spent on limousines and banquets, which he considered evidence of SA extravagance. 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. [69] The memo asked that Hindenburg instead create a directorate to rule Germany, comprising the Chancellor (who was not named), General Werner von Fritsch as Vice-Chancellor, Hammerstein as Minister of Defense, the Minister for National Economy (also unnamed), and Rudolf Nadolny as Foreign Minister.
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