Reviews Something went wrong, please try again later. [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. Night of the Long Knives: newspaper coverage, Third Reich: The Rhm affair and the Night of the Long Knives, This article was most recently revised and updated by, https://www.britannica.com/event/Night-of-the-Long-Knives, Spartacus Educational - Night of the Long Knives, History Learning Site - The Night of the Long Knives, Alpha History - The Night of the Long Knives, German soldiers swearing allegiance to Adolf Hitler. Following the purge, the Nazi's sculpted the media coverage to portray the event as a preventative measure against a revolutionary, violent, and . What were Hitler's and the Nazi Party's ideas? [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. 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. . Courtesy of The Wiener Holocaust Library Collections. Only the SPD opposed it. The Third Reich was henceforth a totalitarian structure with one man as head of state, commander in chief, and leader of the only political party. [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. 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. 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. The Night of the Long Knives. Both Kurt von Schleicher, Hitler's predecessor as Chancellor, and his wife were murdered at their home. 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. [37] Arriving back at party headquarters in Munich, Hitler addressed the assembled crowd. On the 2 May 1933 trade unions were banned. The Night of the Long Knives was a helping event in Hitler becoming a dictator. [41], The regime did not limit itself to a purge 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. Prisons soon became stretched for space. In this hour I was responsible for the fate of the German people, and thereby I became the supreme judge of the German people. Many of those killed in the purge were leaders of the SA, the best-known being Rhm himself, the SA's chief of staff and one of Hitler's longtime supporters and allies. [34], At about 04:30 on 30 June 1934, Hitler and his entourage flew to Munich. "A very calm and easy going mailman," the diarist Victor Klemperer wrote, "who is not at all National Socialist, said, 'Well, he simply sentenced them.'" How Night Of Long Knives Affected Hitler's Rise To Power 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 names of eighty-five victims [exist], only fifty of them SA men. Home Explore. Although Hitler ordered him released days later, Papen no longer dared to criticize the regime and was sent off to Vienna as German ambassador.[43]. of democracy. Whilst Gleichschaltung aimed to reach every aspect of rule in Germany, this was not always possible. [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. Hitler and Himmler unleashed the Gestapo against old enemies, as well. [84], The Night of the Long Knives represented a triumph for Hitler, and a turning point for the German government. persecution Your Excellency has thrice before saved Germany from foundering, at Tannenberg, at the end of the War and at the moment of your election as Reich President. 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. Local governments proved more difficult to infiltrate, and even at the end of 1945 only 60% of local mayors were Nazi Party members. The Nazi adoption of the phrase for an upcoming violent event was well known even to the foreign press, with the 2 August 1932 issue of The Times reporting that: Prominent Nazi leaders have played upon the imaginations of their followers..with such phrases as the night of the long knives and a vengeance for every Nazi killed.[79]. Corrections? 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. It did not escape Klemperer's notice that many of the victims had played a role in bringing Hitler to power. Following the Enabling Law, much of this harassment and imprisonment was legal. The Night of the Long Knives was the least important factor, as it did no help much towards Hitler's consolidation of power. You must first remember and recite all the points made earlier in the circle then add your own point. For all the power the Enabling Act . The Foreign Office even complained of instances where brownshirts manhandled foreign diplomats. She even compared him to Frederick the Great, the 18th-century king of Prussia.[2]. [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. By the end of it, Hitler's party had been shaken by a major crisis, and the long knives were put quietly back in their box while all the Fhrer kept out was a wary ear. President Hindenburg died at the age of 87 on 2 August 1934. For the full article, see Night of the Long Knives . What were the consequences of the Night of the Long Knives? In this photo, Rhm is talking to a group of SA men, who appear to be listening intently. ", 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, National Political Institutes of Education, National Socialist German Workers' Party (NSDAP), National Socialist German Doctors' League, National Socialist League for Physical Exercise (NSRL), Bulgarian National Socialist Workers Party, German National Socialist Workers' Party (Czechoslovakia), Finnish National Socialist Labor Organisation, German National Movement in Liechtenstein, National Socialist Movement in the Netherlands, National Socialist Workers' Party of Denmark, Nationalist Liberation Alliance (Argentina), South African Gentile National Socialist Movement, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Night_of_the_Long_Knives&oldid=1148917121, Wikipedia articles needing page number citations from June 2022, Short description is different from Wikidata, Articles containing explicitly cited English-language text, Pages using Sister project links with wikidata mismatch, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, Operation Hummingbird, Rhm Putsch (by the Nazis), The Blood Purge. 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. This night of brutal murder and elimination of the Sturm Abteilung (SA) gave Hitler the support of the army, which he need for both the creation of a totalitarian state and his future foreign policy and also relieved the pressures on Hitler. This meant, as well as removing other personal freedoms, that the Nazis could now imprison their political opposition for an indefinite period for any, or no, reason. Night of the Long Knives, (June 30, 1934) Purge of Nazi leaders by Adolf Hitler. You gave these parties 14 years to ruin Germany! An atmosphere of panic and terror followed the event. The History Learning Site, 9 Mar 2015. The Nazis also took steps to ensure they couldnt be openly opposed in the press. Rhm was very critical of Hitler's policies of working with rich businessmen and the army. . The undersigned Generals and senior officers swear to preserve to the last breath their loyalty to you and the Fatherland. By 1935, over 1,600 newspapers had been closed. Night of the Long Knives (1962) - Wikipedia Paul von Hindenburg was the president of the Weimar Republic from the 12 May 1925 until his death on the 2 August 1934. In British politics, the " Night of the Long Knives " was a major Cabinet reshuffle that took place on 13 July 1962. Quick Reference. Fearing that the paramilitary SA had become too powerful, Hitler ordered his elite SS guards to murder the organization's leaders, including Ernst Rhm. 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. However, it did so under the guise of legality, and protecting the German people and their democracy. 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. Dachau [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. ", Coincidentally, Hitler had been incarcerated at. 20 terms. Wiskemann, Elizabeth, "The Night of the Long Knives", This page was last edited on 9 April 2023, at 02:08. [g] Many stormtroopers believed in the socialist promise of National Socialism and expected the Nazi regime to take more radical economic action, such as breaking up the vast landed estates of the aristocracy. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). [21], Demands for Hitler to constrain the SA strengthened. [30] At Hitler's direction, Gring, Himmler, Heydrich, and Victor Lutze drew up lists of people in and outside the SA to be killed. [25] During the summit in Venice, Mussolini upbraided Hitler for tolerating the violence, hooliganism and homosexuality of the SA, which Mussolini stated were ruining Hitler's good reputation all over the world. 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. The SA also ran a violent campaign of terror against any and all opponents of the Nazi regime. On 1 April 1933, the Nazi Party led a nationwide boycott of Jewish-owned businesses across Germany. Italian dictator Benito Mussolini sent four army divisions up the Brenner Pass and to the Carinthian frontier, and the Italian press vehemently denounced German imperialism and bad faith. This decree gave the Nazis a legal basis for the Lippert was convicted and sentenced to 18 months in prison.[50]. 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. In response to conservative pressure to constrain Rhm, Hitler left for Neudeck to meet with Hindenburg. It targeted potential threats to Hitler's power, particularly within the NSDAP's fast-growing and politically vocal paramilitary wing, the Sturmabteilung or SA. The Night of the Long Knives was a turning point for the German government. President Paul von Hindenburg appointed Hitler chancellor on 30 January 1933. On 11 April 1945, the US army liberated Buchenwald camp. The Night of the Long Knives - the Education Forum 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. Significance of the Night of the Long Knives for Hitler's Power "A chancellor", he wrote, "sentences and shoots members of his own private army! The Night of the Long Knives L.O. The Bill passed by 444 votes for to 94 against on the 24 March 1933.

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