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]. Hitler had become a chancellor in 1933 henceforth he had the power to establish his power. If passed, the law would establish the conditions needed for dictatorial rule. Hitler feared that the SA and Ernst Rhm, their leader, were a potential threat to his leadership. illusion [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. Scribd is the world's largest social reading and publishing site. It was the culmination of a chaotic week in Westminster, which saw furious calls for an overhaul . Hitler orders a violent purge of the top leadership of the Nazi Party paramilitary formation, the SA (Sturmabteilungen; Assault Detachments). On 19 August 1934, the German people were asked to vote on whether or not they approved of the merging of the two offices and Hitlers new role as Fhrer. What were Hitler's and the Nazi Party's ideas? 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. Surrounding this scene, members of the Army and SS stand with their weapons pointing towards the SA members. I also almost always agree with what his cartoons are saying. "They give . To take control of cultural policy, the Nazis appointed Joseph Goebbels as Minister for Public Engagement and Propaganda on the 13 March 1933. 89.93% voted in favour of Hitler. However, there were also other events which helped Hitler in achieving the position of a dictator. On 17 March 1935, 700 pastors of the Confessing Church, which opposed the Nazis, were arrested. [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. Hitler told the gathered officials, "The stream of revolution has been undammed, but it must be channelled into the secure bed of evolution. 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). Originally designed and developed by the London Jewish Cultural Centre. To a lesser extent, the Sturmabteilung (SA), a Nazi paramilitary organization, remained somewhat autonomous within the party. [30] At Hitler's direction, Gring, Himmler, Heydrich and Victor Lutze drew up lists of people in and outside the SA to be killed. 'The Night of the Long Knives' is now commony associated with a particularly violent political purge in Nazi Germany in 1934. This represents how Hitler betrayed the SA, as they had been led to believe that they would gain power alongside Hitler. On the 30 January 1933 Hitler was appointed as chancellor of the Weimar Republic. Hitler did not exercise absolute power, however, despite his swift consolidation of political authority. 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. ", followed by 12,263 people on Pinterest. of any opponents, who were be framed as traitors to the republic. Hitler then ordered Himmler and Goering to eliminate the threat posed by the leaders of the SA. Hitler was shrewd enough to understand that he could never fully consolidate his grip on the country without the support of the army. Night of the Long Knives: Directed by Lance Miccio, Grant Slawson. Just two months later, on 14 July 1933 the Nazis used the Enabling Act to ban all political parties except the Nazi Party. Long Knives phrase. A poster from the March 1933 elections. [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. It shows the Nazis using violenc. The Nazi Party used the atmosphere of panic to their advantage, encouraging anti-communism. [1] More than a thousand perceived opponents were arrested. Low's cartoons have always appealed to me because of his ability to depict characters like Hitler and Mussolini in a recognisable but often funny way. In this image the narrative present is about the incident now known as the Night of the Long Knives (June 29th/30th 1934), when . Selected Clips from the movie Bent that depict the Night of the Long Knives. From 20 August onwards, the to control. Hitler announced that he would occupy this new role. Gring instructed police stations to burn "all documents concerning the action of the past two days". [47], Rhm was held briefly at Stadelheim Prison[j] in Munich, while Hitler considered his future. [35] Goebbels emphasised this aspect in subsequent propaganda justifying the purge as a crackdown on moral turpitude. 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. Hitler shouted at Schneidhuber and accused him of treachery. com. 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. [66], Rumours about the Night of the Long Knives rapidly spread. 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". Following the Enabling Law, much of this harassment and imprisonment was legal. ", "The names of eighty-five victims [exist], only fifty of them SA men. Behind Hitler is a backdrop of the Swastika. Rhm, who was initially You give Hitler power and time by voting HITLER!. The Night of the Long Knives was "an act of carnage" which had come out of the blue. On 15 March 1938, following the German annexation of Austria three days earlier, Hitler gave a speech in front of the palace in Vienna. Then came the day he didn't need them anymore. Captain Ernst Rhm of the Reichswehr served as the liaison with the Bavarian Freikorps. Gring's personal police battalion also took part in the killings. However, most accounts argue that as many as 1,000 deaths occurred during the Night of the Long Knives. Censorship was heightened, and any person publishing actively anti-Nazi material was threatened or imprisoned. Paul von Hindenburg was the president of the Weimar Republic from the 12 May 1925 until his death on the 2 August 1934. "[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. [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. British cartoon by David Low, 1934. "[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. 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. [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. [He] died with words "Heil Hitler" on his lips. Behind the backdrop there are a group of bodies laying on the foor with the Nazi Swastika on their arms, this could be the SA. 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]. "[9], Hitler's speech signalled his intention to rein in the SA, whose ranks had grown rapidly in the early 1930s. ", "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 pseudo-legal measures were one factor that helped the Nazis to consolidate power, another was terror and intimidation. The Nazis consolidation of power can be grouped into three main themes: pseudo-legality, terror and intimidation and pseudo-moderation. Facebook Twitter Email Copy Link. What does night of the long knives expression mean? 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. On 30 June 1934 these tensions came to a head. [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. [69] The memo went on to demand that Hindenburg punish those responsible, and criticized Blomberg for his outspoken support of the murders of Schleicher and Bredow. consolidate concentration camp Close 'Here after let this be known as the night of the long side burns!' He held the same position with Rhm as I held with Himmler. By the end of 1934, the Nazis had managed to infiltrate and take control of every major aspect of German government. "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.'" ultimate power over Germany, whilst maintaining an Given that the purge claimed the lives of so many prominent Germans, it could hardly be kept secret. Grtner also declared in cabinet that the measure did not in fact create any new law, but simply confirmed the existing law. They understood the need to appear moderate and take over slowly by democratic means where possible, maintaining the stability and illusion of a democracy. This betrayal is seen by the image of SA members looking fearful in . On the 2 May 1933 trade unions were banned. [73] However, despite the rehabilitation of the two murdered officers, the Nazis continued in private to accuse Schleicher of high treason. 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. 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. This new law gave Hitler the power to rule by decree rather than passing laws through the Reichstag and the president. Rhm demurred, telling them, "If I am to be killed, let Adolf do it himself. He asked, "What would people have said if I had done such a thing? Night of the Long Knives, in German history, purge of Nazi leaders by Adolf Hitler on June 30, 1934. Slope unblocked 76 games at school Arcade is one of the most popular game genres. It was all three of these men that were responsible for this night, because Hitler asked Goering and Goebbels to compile a list of disloyal SA members,; this list formed the basis of those killed on the Night of the Long Knives. On 25 June, General Werner von Fritsch placed the Reichswehr on the highest level of alert. Both Himmler and Gring welcomed Hitler's decision, since both had much to gain by Rhm's downfall the independence of the SS for Himmler and the removal of a rival for the future command of the army for Gring. [53][54], Wanting to present the massacre as legally sanctioned, Hitler had the cabinet approve a measure on 3 July that declared, "The measures taken on June 30, July 1 and 2 to suppress treasonous assaults are legal as acts of self-defence by the State. David Low responded to what became known as the Night of the Long Knives by producing a cartoon that deeply angered Hitler. IN THE CHILLY DAWN OF JUNE 30, 1934, TWO BLACK MERCEDES-BENZ automobiles wound their way around the misty western edge of Tegernsee Lake in the . The decree also removed basic personal freedoms, such as the freedom of speech, the right to own property, and the right to trial before imprisonment. [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. Many of those that were harassed by the SA and the SS or imprisoned in camps were terrified to speak out about their ordeal fearing that they would be further abused or re-imprisoned. This hysteria helped to turn the public against the communists, one of the Nazis main opponents, and 4000 people were imprisoned. 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". Hess, present among the assembled, even volunteered to shoot the "traitors". In August 1932 there were approximately 445,000 members of the SA. Called the Nacht der langen Messer in Germany, this event occurred over a series of days and entailed the Nazi regime's murder of those Hitler considered to be political enemies. This continued when a young Dutchcommunist, Van der Lubbe was arrested for the crime. 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 . Goebbels soon radicalised each of these areas, ensuring that they advocated Nazi ideas. Adolf Hitler needed Ernst Rhm and his storm troops to climb to power in faction-torn Germany. [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. "[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. 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 tension between the SA and the Nazi leadership grew. org. 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". [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. [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. 3. [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. Chancellor Adolf Hitler, urged on by Hermann Gring and Heinrich Himmler, ordered a series of political extrajudicial executions . Gestapo officers attached to the SS unit shot Papen's secretary Herbert von Bose without bothering to arrest him first. They were often given a free rein on their activities and were violent and difficult to control. With Hindenburg gone, there was no longer a limit to Hitlers power. [34], At about 04:30 on 30 June 1934, Hitler and his entourage flew to Munich. Despite this improvement, the Nazis still did not command a majority in the Reichstag. Nazi propaganda presented the murders as a preventive measure against an alleged imminent coup by the SA under Rhm the so-called Rhm Putsch. [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. The Centre Partys vote was crucial. by Roy Morris Jr. 8/20/2018. Despite his earlier agreement with Hitler, Rhm still clung to his vision of a new German army with the SA at its core. Share Image. 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. Battle to save 'Night of the Long Knives' hotel where Hitler turned on Brownshirts' leader Ernst Rhm - the only man standing in his way to absolute power - in deadly 1934 purge. The faction headed by Hermann Gring and also . Definitions by the largest Idiom Dictionary. 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]. In the cartoon, I can see Hitler standing on a stage, infront of an audience. The law needed two thirds of the Reichstag to vote for it to pass. Adolf Hitler . The SS found Breslau SA leader Edmund Heines in bed with an unidentified eighteen-year-old male SA senior troop leader. 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). 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. 1. Hitler told the crowd that "undisciplined and disobedient characters and asocial or diseased elements" would be annihilated. Once inside Rhm's cell, they handed him a Browning pistol loaded with a single cartridge and told him he had ten minutes to kill himself or they would do it for him. [41], The regime did not limit itself to a purge of the SA. 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. On the 4 October 1933, it was declared that all editors must be Aryan. 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. "[74] Hearing of the murder of former Chancellor Kurt von Schleicher and his wife, he also commented, "We have ceased to live under the rule of law and everyone must be prepared for the possibility that the Nazis will push their way in and put them up against the wall! Night of the Long Knives. In less than a week and just a few months ahead of a crucial election, Nicaraguan police have detained seven high-profile . Germany feared revolution. 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. In this hour I was responsible for the fate of the German people, and thereby I became the supreme judge of the German people. A few weeks after the purge, Hitler rewarded the SS . We were close personal friends; we often dined together in Berlin. [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. It is otherwise known as coordination or Nazification. The Nazi grip on government extended across national, state and local levels. 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]. Prisons soon became stretched for space. While Rhm's homosexuality did not endear him to conservatives, they were more concerned about his political ambitions. [63], Former Kaiser Wilhelm II, who was in exile in Doorn, Netherlands, was horrified by the purge. Gleichschaltung was applied across every possible aspect of government policy. . However, now they have both their hands up to Hitler in surrender, showing their powerlessness. Wiskemann, Elizabeth, "The Night of the Long Knives", This page was last edited on 28 February 2023, at 06:34. The Night of the Long Knives In June 1934, Hitler ordered the SA to go on leave for the entire month. After Hitler and most of the army officers had left, however, Rhm declared that he would not take instructions from "the ridiculous corporal" a demeaning reference to Hitler. [35] Schneidhuber was executed later that day. 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. [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. : Why did Hitler order the massacre of hundreds of Nazis in June 1934? British cartoon by David Low, 1934 H I UN TL PR KE ER OM PT 'S IS ES They salute with both hands, now! By mid-1934, Hitler seemed to be master of all Germany. Also killed that night were hundreds of other perceived opponents of Hitler. A firefighter in the burnt out ruins of the Reichstag building. [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]. Pressured by German army commanders, whose support he would need to become President, Hitler directs the SS to murder SA Chief of Staff Ernst Rhm and his top commanders. 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. Many of the prisoners were tortured and abused. "[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. When the Nazi regime did not take such steps, those who had expected an economic as well as a political revolution were disillusioned.