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. The day after the fire, Hindenburg signed the Emergency Decree for the Protection of the German People. , was then given the choice of suicide or murder. With these measures in place, the Nazification of the judicial system was complete. It targeted potential threats to Hitler's power, particularly within the NSDAP's fast-growing and politically vocal paramilitary wing, the Sturmabteilung or SA. "[55] Reich Justice Minister Franz Grtner, a conservative who had been Bavarian Justice Minister in the years of the Weimar Republic, demonstrated his loyalty to the new regime by drafting the statute, which added a legal veneer to the purge. 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 Nazis' paramilitary organization, known colloquially as "Brownshirts". 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 resource hasn't been reviewed yet. 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. He held the same position with Rhm as I held with Himmler. [84], The Night of the Long Knives represented a triumph for Hitler, and a turning point for the German government. This photograph was taken the same day, showing the Reichstag still burning. consolidate ", "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. Updates? 2 Lucy S. Dawidowicz, The War against the Jews, 1933-1945 (New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1975), 82. The elections were neither free or fair. Additionally, Hitler was uncomfortable with Rhm's outspoken support for a "second revolution" to redistribute wealth. Just two months later, on 14 July 1933 the Nazis used the Enabling Act to ban all political parties except the Nazi Party. "[9], Hitler's speech signalled his intention to rein in the SA, whose ranks had grown rapidly in the early 1930s. In the judicial system specifically, this act removed any judges that were deemed non-compliant with Nazi laws or principles. 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. Rhm's contempt for the party's bureaucracy angered Hess. Gestapo officers attached to the SS unit shot Papen's secretary Herbert von Bose without bothering to arrest him first. The news of it was received with consternation and disgust in the other European capitals, but the shock was greatest in Rome. Until then, Lippert had been one of the few executioners of the purge to evade trial. The Nazis used the SA and the newly expanded SS to harass and imprison any potential opponents of the Nazi Party. Nazi propaganda presented the murders as a preventive measure against an alleged imminent coup by the SA under Rhm the so-called Rhm Putsch. On 13 July 1934 the Reichstag Hitler entitled the purge the 'Night of the Long Knives' - a reference to the lyrics from a popular Nazi song. [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. Other sets by this creator. [73] However, despite the rehabilitation of the two murdered officers, the Nazis continued in private to accuse Schleicher of high treason. Tes paid licenceHow can I reuse this? , which opened just a few days before the vote on the 20 March 1933. Each resource gives suggested teaching strategies and are differentiated . On 1 April 1933, the Nazi Party led a nationwide boycott of Jewish-owned businesses across Germany. 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. Chancellor Adolf Hitler, urged on by Hermann Gring and Heinrich Himmler, ordered a series of political extrajudicial executions . The Night of the Long Knives was the least important factor, as it did no help much towards Hitler's consolidation of power. [49] In 1957, the German authorities tried Lippert in Munich for Rhm's murder. 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. Others killed included Gregor Strasser, a former Nazi who had angered Hitler by resigning from the party in 1932, and Gustav Ritter von Kahr, the former Bavarian state commissioner who had helped crush the Beer Hall Putsch in 1923. The Night of the Long Knives is a harrowingif little knownevent in the history of the Troubles, but it served as an important link in the torturously slow process of transitioning from . Refusing to take his own life, he was shot on 1 July 1934 by two SS guards. [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. Paul von Hindenburg was the president of the Weimar Republic from the 12 May 1925 until his death on the 2 August 1934. Hitler announced to those present that the SA would act as an auxiliary to the Reichswehr, not the other way around. [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. Goering, Himmler, and Heydrich, Hitler's new head of internal security for the SS, got together and drew up a list of opponents to Hitler's new Government, while Goebbels publicly accused Ernst Rhm of planning a takeover or 'Putsch'. 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. Let the nation know that its existence which depends on its internal order and security cannot be threatened with impunity by anyone! I gave the order to shoot the ringleaders in this treason, and I further gave the order to cauterise down to the raw flesh the ulcers of this poisoning of the wells in our domestic life. "It was plain that there was wide acceptance of the deliberately misleading propaganda put out by the regime. 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. [22] Himmler named his deputy Reinhard Heydrich to head the Gestapo on 22 April 1934. Also killed that night were hundreds of other perceived opponents of Hitler. The Nazis had the support of the DNVP, and had banned the communist party, the KPD, from attending. 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. One key example of an event posed as moderate was the Night of Long Knives. Rhm, who was initially : Why did Hitler order the massacre of hundreds of Nazis. Omissions? [71], In late 1934early 1935, Werner von Fritsch and Werner von Blomberg, who had been shamed into joining Hammerstein and Mackensen's rehabilitation campaign, successfully pressured Hitler into rehabilitating Generals von Schleicher and von Bredow. The 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. (29-30 June 1934) The name coined by Hitler for a weekend of murders throughout Germany. The Night of Long Knives, one of most noteworthy events during Hitler's rule, was a purge that occurred on the 30th June 1934. . During the years of the rise of the Nazi Party, the SA had been instrumental in helping the party to gain support. Vice-Chancellor Franz von Papen only narrowly escaped inclusion among the victims, and he was dismissed from the vice-chancellorship three days later (July 3). Historian Gavin Mortimer explains how Hitler nearly came unstuck as early as 1934 - and that the bloody purge that followed was a warning of horrors to come . [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]. [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. and He asked, "What would people have said if I had done such a thing? Whilst Gleichschaltung aimed to reach every aspect of rule in Germany, this was not always possible. [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. Dachau The Nazis consolidation of power can be grouped into three main themes: pseudo-legality, terror and intimidation and pseudo-moderation. In reality, the laws that the Nazis put forward secured their future as the sole ruling party in Germany. pardoned While Nazism was not exclusively or even primarily a working-class phenomenon, the SA fulfilled the yearning of many unemployed workers for class solidarity and nationalist fervour. The day after the Reichstag fire, the 28 February 1933, Hindenburg signed a decree giving Hitler emergency powers. [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. It did not escape Klemperer's notice that many of the victims had played a role in bringing Hitler to power. [72] Fritsch and Blomberg suddenly now claimed at the end of 1934 that as army officers they could not stand the exceedingly violent press attacks on Schleicher and Bredow that had been going on since July, which portrayed them as the vilest traitors, working against the Fatherland in the pay of France. 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. 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. [25] While Mussolini's criticism did not win Hitler over to acting against the SA, it helped push him in that direction.[25]. It was during this speech that Hitler gave the purge its name: Night of the Long Knives (a phrase from a popular Nazi song). [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. [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. [5] In June 1932, one of the worst months of political violence, there were more than 400 street battles, resulting in 82 deaths. 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 11 April 1945, the US army liberated Buchenwald camp. Blomberg, who had been meeting with the president, uncharacteristically reproached Hitler for not having moved against Rhm earlier. Rhm, however, wanted to eliminate the generalship of the Prussian aristocracy altogether, using the SA to become the core of a new German military. Goebbels became responsible for controlling the national media, film, theatre, arts, and other cultural aspects. [34], At about 04:30 on 30 June 1934, Hitler and his entourage flew to Munich. The Night of the Long Knives was a turning point for the German government. The purge of the SA was kept secret until it was announced by Adolf Hitler on July 13. While Rhm's homosexuality did not endear him to conservatives, they were more concerned about his political ambitions. coalition 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. You must first remember and recite all the points made earlier in the circle then add your own point. Following Hitlers appointment as chancellor the Nazis were finally in a position of power. Quick Reference. He wanted the Nazi Party to focus on socialist policies to support . 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. The Centre Partys vote was crucial. Fearing that the paramilitary SA had become too powerful, Hitler ordered his elite SS guards to murder the organization's leaders, including Ernst Rhm. In a new pair Rally Coach this worksheet. 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. The long term impact brought forth by the consequences or legacy of the Nazi party included a population decrease and an increase in deaths. On 30 June 1934 these tensions came to a head. Language links are at the top of the page across from the title. [21] Brning fled to the Netherlands while Schleicher dismissed the tip-off as a bad practical joke. [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. On the 28 February 1933, President Hindenburg signed the Emergency Decree for the Protection of the German People. For all the power the Enabling Act . Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. The undersigned Generals and senior officers swear to preserve to the last breath their loyalty to you and the Fatherland. ", 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. British cartoon by David Low, 1934 They salute with both hands, now! As the leader of the SA, Rhm was seen as a threat to Hitlers power. Over the next two months, they launched themselves into an intense election campaign. Second, German Pres. This would allow them to rule unopposed and unhindered by coalition governments. It established Hitler as "the supreme leader of the German people", as he put it in his 13 July speech to the Reichstag. SA violence in Prussia gravely concerned Gring. Its membership plummeted from 2.9 million in August 1934 to 1.2 million in April 1938. Hitler's task would not be simple, however, as the SA made up a large part of Nazism's most devoted followers. [h], The action Hitler took would not only defang Rhm and the SA as a potential threat to Hitler's personal control of the Nazi Party, but would also serve to strengthen his relationship with the Wehrmacht the German armed forces which had long considered the SA to be their primary rival, the SA at times outnumbering the military in manpower.[10]. "[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 copy of the original film, before Rhm was edited out, was found in the 1980s in the German Democratic Republic's film archives. As the SA were known for being violent and unruly, many saw this as a legitimate move by the government to ensure public order. 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. Despite this improvement, the Nazis still did not command a majority in the Reichstag. Despite this, on the whole, Gleichschaltung was largely successful. Night of the Long Knives, (June 30, 1934) Purge of Nazi leaders by Adolf Hitler. If that was indeed true then, as a legal matter, the law was entirely unnecessary and redundant. This fear was [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. An atmosphere of panic and terror followed the event. [47], Rhm was held briefly at Stadelheim Prison[j] in Munich, while Hitler considered his future. The Night of the Long Knives L.O. Given that the purge claimed the lives of so many prominent Germans, it could hardly be kept secret. The SS found Breslau SA leader Edmund Heines in bed with an unidentified eighteen-year-old male SA senior troop leader. Rhm was the leader of the Nazi Brownshirts . [31] On 27 June, Hitler moved to secure the army's cooperation. Night of the Long Knives, in German history, purge of Nazi leaders by Adolf Hitler on June 30, 1934. "A chancellor", he wrote, "sentences and shoots members of his own private army! of any opponents, who were be framed as traitors to the republic. These acts removed peoples ability to oppose the Nazi Party, in any form. Some of those executed by Hitler were once considered close allies and friends. It was a mass murder planned by the SS for the SA and their members. The Night of Long Knives occurred on June 30, 1934. [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. 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]. [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. Following the Enabling Law, much of this harassment and imprisonment was legal. The leaders of the SA were ordered to attend a meeting at a hotel in Bad Wiesse, Bavaria. [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. Fearing that the paramilitary SA had become too powerful, Hitler ordered his elite SS guards to murder the organizations leaders, including Ernst Rhm. The SA also ran a violent campaign of terror against any and all opponents of the Nazi regime.
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