Both Kurt von Schleicher, Hitler's predecessor as Chancellor, and his wife were murdered at their home. The purge list is drawn up. [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]. [68] Besides working for the rehabilitation of Schleicher and Bredow, Hammerstein and Mackensen sent a memo to Hindenburg on 18 July setting out in considerable detail the circumstances of the murders of the two generals and noted that Papen had barely escaped. [44] The murdered included at least one accidental victim: Willi Schmid, the music critic of the Mnchner Neuste Nachrichten newspaper, whose name was confused with one of the Gestapo's intended targets. At least 85 people died during the purge, although the final death toll may have been in the hundreds,[b][c][d] with high estimates running from 700 to 1,000. In the judicial system specifically, this act removed any judges that were deemed non-compliant with Nazi laws or principles. 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. . Wiskemann, Elizabeth, "The Night of the Long Knives", This page was last edited on 9 April 2023, at 02:08. The Night of the Long Knives was "an act of carnage" which had come out of the blue. 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. Night Of The Long Knives: Hitler's Purge Of The Nazi Party President Paul von Hindenburg appointed Hitler chancellor on 30 January 1933. However, there were also other events which helped Hitler in achieving the position of a dictator. Night of the Long Knives: Summary & Victims | StudySmarter Hitler claimed that 61 had been executed while 13 had been shot resisting arrest and three had committed suicide. It did not escape Klemperer's notice that many of the victims had played a role in bringing Hitler to power. During the years of the rise of the Nazi Party, the SA had been instrumental in helping the party to gain support. "[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. [47], Rhm was held briefly at Stadelheim Prison[j] in Munich, while Hitler considered his future. To a lesser extent, the Sturmabteilung (SA), a Nazi paramilitary organization, remained somewhat autonomous within the party. While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. 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. [m] Years later, in November 1945, while being interviewed by psychologist Gustave Gilbert in his cell during the Nuremberg trials, Gring angrily justified the killings to Gilbert, "It's a damn good thing I wiped them out, or they would have wiped us out!"[85]. July 13th 1962: The Night of the Long Knives - Politics.co.uk On the 2 May 1933 trade unions were banned. , who had previously been a separate organisation, now swore a personal allegiance to Hitler. Hitler did not exercise absolute power, however, despite his swift consolidation of political authority. "[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. Hitler ordered both Heines and his partner taken outside the hotel and shot. [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. To ensure quality for our reviews, only customers who have purchased this resource can review it . They murdered Austrian Chancellor Engelbert Dollfuss in his chancellery, but the putsch failed in its main purpose. Ernst Rhm was murdered in the event known as the Rhm Putsch, or the Night of Long Knives. Hess, present among the assembled, even volunteered to shoot the "traitors". They would later reopen it to liquidate the d ghetto. By the end of 1934, the Nazis had managed to infiltrate and take control of every major aspect of German government. [39] There in the prison courtyard, the Leibstandarte firing squad shot five SA generals and an SA colonel. [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. 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. In response to conservative pressure to constrain Rhm, Hitler left for Neudeck to meet with Hindenburg. [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. Night of the Long Knives, in German history, purge of Nazi leaders by Adolf Hitler on June 30, 1934. Because their plans for the army conflicted, Rhm's success could come only at Hitler's expense. 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). [38], Although Hitler presented no evidence of a plot by Rhm to overthrow the regime, he nevertheless denounced the leadership of the SA. Despite his earlier agreement with Hitler, Rhm still clung to his vision of a new German army with the SA at its core. For all the power the Enabling Act . "[35] Having heard nothing in the allotted time, they returned to Rhm's cell at 14:50 to find him standing, with his bare chest puffed out in a gesture of defiance. concentration camp At first, its architects seemed split on how to handle the event. Captain Ernst Rhm of the Reichswehr served as the liaison with the Bavarian Freikorps. The Peoples Court, a court created by the Nazis in April 1934 with judges chosen specifically for their Nazi beliefs, replaced the Supreme Court. But the Night of the Long Knives they kill over 100 people, not just Rhm and his closest associate, but also others who are on a hit list that Hitler, Gring, and Himmler and others put together. How did the Night of the Long Knives help to create a dictatorship out of a democracy? "[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. Quick Reference. Dachau 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. retrospectively [18], Finally, in early 1934, the growing rift between Rhm and Hitler over the role of the SA in the Nazi state led former chancellor General Kurt von Schleicher to start playing politics again. The Party had generally been aligned with the Social Democrats and Catholic Church during the rise of Nazism, being critical of Nazi ideology, but voting nonetheless for the Enabling Act of 1933 which granted Hitler dictatorial authority. coalition Night of the Long Knives - Cunning History Teacher [42] The Gestapo also murdered Erich Klausener, the leader of Catholic Action, and a close Papen associate. 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. Rhm, however, wanted to eliminate the generalship of the Prussian aristocracy altogether, using the SA to become the core of a new German military. The strike, which will end just before midnight, comes after a High Court . The purge of the SA was kept secret until it was announced by Adolf Hitler on July 13. Terror and intimidation became one of the main ways that the Nazis sought to control or suppress their opposition, and Germans in general. With Hitler's arrival in Bad Wiessee between 06:00 and 07:00, the SA leadership, still in bed, were taken by surprise. Night of the Long Knives | Date, Victims, Summary, & Facts [34], At about 04:30 on 30 June 1934, Hitler and his entourage flew to Munich. 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. With Hindenburg gone, there was no longer a limit to Hitlers power. The destiny of our country is at stake. A combat veteran of World War I, Rhm had recently boasted that he would execute 12 men in retaliation for the killing of any stormtrooper. [62] General von Reichenau went so far as to publicly give credence to the lie that Schleicher had been plotting to overthrow the government. Only the SPD opposed it. Officially 85; estimates range up to 1,000. However, the threat of a declaration of martial law from Hindenburg, the only person in Germany with the authority to potentially depose the Nazi regime, put Hitler under pressure to act. This also lead to the Oath Of Loyalty which was. 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. It established Hitler as "the supreme leader of the German people", as he put it in his 13 July speech to the Reichstag. 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. Censorship was heightened, and any person publishing actively anti-Nazi material was threatened or imprisoned. Our editors will review what youve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. In a new pair Rally Coach this worksheet. [40] Those not immediately executed were taken back to the Leibstandarte barracks at Lichterfelde, given one-minute "trials", and shot by a firing squad. of democracy. First was his old comrade Ernst Rhm, chief of staff of the SA (Sturmabteilung; German: Assault Division), or Brownshirts. 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. by Gring and Himmler, who gave Hitler news of Rhm organising a potential 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. 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. 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. The Nazis aimed to increase their share of the vote so that they would have a majority in the Reichstag. The resources all include suggested teaching strategies, retrieval practice, differentiated materials and come in PowerPoint format if there is a wish to adapt and change. The Night of the Long Knives: the bloody purge that secured Hitler's power. [69], Hindenburg never responded to the memo, and it remains unclear whether he even saw it, as Otto Meiner, who decided that his future was aligned with the Nazis, may not have passed it along. The Nazis had the support of the DNVP, and had banned the communist party, the KPD, from attending. "Rhm was given the opportunity to draw the consequences of his treacherous behaviour," said Hitler in . Tes paid licenceHow can I reuse this? The Reichstag, the German lower house of parliament, was set on fire on the 27 February 1933. The Night of the Long Knives is regarded as an important political episode that had far-reaching consequences, not only in Nazi Germany but across the world. They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors. 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. [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. 15 Apr 2023. [79] This story would be popularized across western Europe in the 12th century as part of the History of the Britons by Geoffrey of Monmouth, which introduced many of the Arthurian legends to Germany.[80][81]. Several of Hitler's lieutenants feared Rhm's growing power and restlessness, as did Hitler. They used any space they could get their hands on to create temporary camps. Hitler had become a chancellor in 1933 henceforth he had the power to establish his power. Civil Service [3] It established Hitler as the supreme administrator of justice of the German people, as he put it in his 13 July speech to the Reichstag. [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. In British politics, the " Night of the Long Knives " was a major Cabinet reshuffle that took place on 13 July 1962. 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. [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. On the 4 October 1933, it was declared that all editors must be Aryan. 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". Night of the Long Knives - Achieving Total Power - July 1933 - August The news of it was received with consternation and disgust in the other European capitals, but the shock was greatest in Rome. The Nazis consolidation of power can be grouped into three main themes: pseudo-legality, terror and intimidation and pseudo-moderation. 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. With these measures in place, the Nazification of the judicial system was complete. [24] Before Hitler left, and at the request of Presidential State Secretary Otto Meiner, Foreign Minister Baron Konstantin von Neurath ordered the German Ambassador to Italy Ulrich von Hassell without Hitler's knowledge to ask Mussolini to tell Hitler that the SA was blackening Germany's good name. Omissions? 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.
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