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. The Night of Long Knives occurred on June 30, 1934. In August 1932 there were approximately 445,000 members of the SA. (29-30 June 1934) The name coined by Hitler for a weekend of murders throughout Germany. [75] Lutze did little to assert the SA's independence in the coming years, and the organization lost its power in Germany. On 30 June 1934 these tensions came to a head. pardoned 1 Quoted in Richard J. Evans, The Third Reich in Power (New York: Penguin Books, 2005), 37-38. [34], At about 04:30 on 30 June 1934, Hitler and his entourage flew to Munich. The SA and the SS had also been on a month long campaign of violence to scare or imprison other opponents to the party. The Night of the Long Knives - Jewish Virtual Library Ernst Rhm was murdered in the event known as the Rhm Putsch, or the Night of Long Knives. Many of the prisoners were tortured and abused. [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. Gestapo officers attached to the SS unit shot Papen's secretary Herbert von Bose without bothering to arrest him first. Also in 1932, the Nazi critic Carl von Ossietzky would use the term to describe the then unrealised plans for a violent uprising: At the beginning of 1932 the Nazis seemed on the verge of a dictatorship, and the air was full of the stench of blood. Thereupon the German generals agreed to the merging of the office of president of the Reich and supreme head of the armed forces with that of chancellor, in Hitlers person. Corrections? The Night of the Long Knives: the bloody purge that secured Hitler's power. 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. The Centre Partys vote was crucial. This act legalised removing anyone of non-Ayran descent from the civil service. 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. On 1 April 1933, the Nazi Party led a nationwide boycott of Jewish-owned businesses across Germany. This photograph was taken the same day, showing the Reichstag still burning. , who had previously been a separate organisation, now swore a personal allegiance to Hitler. isabellaaellis. [6], Hitler's appointment as chancellor, followed by the suppression of all political parties except the Nazis, did not end the violence of the stormtroopers. 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. [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. [63] Franois-Poncet was not declared persona non grata as would have been usual if an ambassador were involved in a plot against his host government. In British politics, the " Night of the Long Knives " was a major Cabinet reshuffle that took place on 13 July 1962. In a new pair Rally Coach this worksheet. Whilst the pseudo-legal measures were one factor that helped the Nazis to consolidate power, another was terror and intimidation. 8. [47], Rhm was held briefly at Stadelheim Prison[j] in Munich, while Hitler considered his future. Following the purge, the Nazi's sculpted the media coverage to portray the event as a preventative measure against a revolutionary, violent, and . Only the SPD opposed it. "[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. This continued when a young Dutchcommunist, Van der Lubbe was arrested for the crime. In Berlin, on Gring's personal orders, an armed SS unit stormed the Vice-Chancellery. People could be imprisoned for any or no reason. Blomberg, Hitler and Goebbels. retrospectively SA violence in Prussia gravely concerned Gring. "It was plain that there was wide acceptance of the deliberately misleading propaganda put out by the regime. Night of the Long Knives | History | tutor2u The army's support for the purge, however, would have far-reaching consequences for the institution. NHS services across England will face major disruption throughout today as nurses walk out in a 28-hour strike over pay. Night of the Long Knives - Wikipedia 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. Gring instructed police stations to burn "all documents concerning the action of the past two days". This event reputedly occurred during the fifth century Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain, when Vortigern and the British leaders were invited to discuss peace and the Saxon leader Hengist commanded his men to draw their Seax (the infamous long knives) and massacre the unarmed Britons. 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. [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. How did the Night of the Long Knives help to create a dictatorship out of a democracy? 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. 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. Excellency, save Germany for the fourth time! 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. ", Coincidentally, Hitler had been incarcerated at. The destiny of our country is at stake. isabellaaellis. They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors. On 30 April 1945, Hitler took his own life in his bunker underneath the Reich chancellery in Berlin. 89.93% voted in favour of Hitler. The Liberals' future leader, Jeremy Thorpe, mocked Macmillan by observing . Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). 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). Hitler did not exercise absolute power, however, despite his swift consolidation of political authority. The bottom half of the poster reads The more power you give Hitler, the easier he will win and the more independent you make him from the parties that led the people to where they are today. Hindenburg died on August 2, 1934. "[77], Rhm was purged from all Nazi propaganda, such as The Victory of Faith, the Leni Riefenstahl film about the 1933 Nuremberg rally, which showed Rhm frequently alongside Hitler. 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. [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. [83], Before its execution, the purges instigators referred to the plans under the codename Hummingbird (German: Kolibri), the word used to command execution squads into action on 30 June. 464 Words. Civil Service Night of the Long Knives - Cunning History Teacher The Night of the Long Knives - the Education Forum 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. [75] Hitler expressly told him to stop SA funds from being spent on limousines and banquets, which he considered evidence of SA extravagance. Macmillan's 'Night of the Long Knives' was political genius (1962) [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. Most officers are too old and have to be replaced by young ones. Purge in Nazi Germany from 30 June to 2 July 1934, 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. Through these aspects the Nazis suppressed any opposition to their power, and were able to start the road from democracy to a dictatorship. As the SA were known for being violent and unruly, many saw this as a legitimate move by the government to ensure public order. In reality, the laws that the Nazis put forward secured their future as the sole ruling party in Germany. , issuing the Act for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service on the 7 April 1933. Enraged, Hitler tore the epaulets off the shirt of Obergruppenfhrer August Schneidhuber, the chief of the Munich police, for failing to keep order in the city the previous night. [2] The purge strengthened and consolidated the support of the military for Hitler. [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. Despite his earlier agreement with Hitler, Rhm still clung to his vision of a new German army with the SA at its core. Hitler ordered him, as one prominent historian described it, to put an end to "homosexuality, debauchery, drunkenness, and high living" in the SA. The Night of the Long Knives, June 1934 - gcsehistory.com This would allow them to rule unopposed and unhindered by coalition governments. Hitler told the gathered officials, "The stream of revolution has been undammed, but it must be channelled into the secure bed of evolution. [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]. Night Of The Long Knives: What Happened & Why? | HistoryExtra Gleichschaltung was the process of the Nazi Party taking control over all aspects of Germany. [51] Meanwhile, Goebbels tried to prevent newspapers from publishing lists of the dead, but at the same time used a 2 July radio address to describe how Hitler had narrowly prevented Rhm and Schleicher from overthrowing the government and throwing the country into turmoil. [42] The Gestapo also murdered Erich Klausener, the leader of Catholic Action, and a close Papen associate. The humbling of the SA ended the threat it had posed to the army but, by standing by Hitler during the purge, the army bound itself more tightly to the Nazi regime. They would later reopen it to liquidate the d ghetto. Whilst Gleichschaltung aimed to reach every aspect of rule in Germany, this was not always possible. Plenary: Form a circle of 6-8 students and paraphrase passport everything you have learnt about the Night of the Long Knives. As such the Nazis justified this measure as implementing necessary security measures, rather than revealing their true motive to remove opposition. "[67] The extent of the massacre and the relative ubiquity of the Gestapo, however, meant that those who disapproved of the purge generally kept quiet about it. 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. In the judicial system specifically, this act removed any judges that were deemed non-compliant with Nazi laws or principles. On the 23 March 1933, Hitler proposed the Enabling Law to the Reichstag. [64] One retired captain, Erwin Planck, seemed to realize this: "If you look on without lifting a finger", he said to his friend, General Werner von Fritsch, "you will meet the same fate sooner or later. By early 1934, this vision directly conflicted with Hitler's plan to consolidate power and expand the Reichswehr. President Hindenburg died at the age of 87 on 2 August 1934. These acts removed peoples ability to oppose the Nazi Party, in any form. Prisons soon became stretched for space. We want to wait till Papa Hindenburg is dead, and then the SA will march against the army. Local governments proved more difficult to infiltrate, and even at the end of 1945 only 60% of local mayors were Nazi Party members. Political instability in the Weimar Republic, Hyperinflation and the invasion of the Ruhr, Strength and weaknesses of the Weimar Republic. [27] While von Papen's resignation as vice-chancellor would not have threatened Hitler's position, it would have nonetheless been an embarrassing display of independence from a leading conservative. By June 1934 this had grown to over 3,000,000 members. 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. Tes paid licenceHow can I reuse this? approved a bill legalising the purge as emergency defence measures. 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. IRA's Night of Long Knives' part in peace process - IrishCentral.com They were often given a free rein on their activities and were violent and difficult to control. [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]. Hitler told the crowd that "undisciplined and disobedient characters and asocial or diseased elements" would be annihilated. 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. Originally designed and developed by the London Jewish Cultural Centre. He stated that 61 people had been executed and 13 had committed suicide. [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. Given that the purge claimed the lives of so many prominent Germans, it could hardly be kept secret. 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]. With instructions from Berlin and with active help from the German legation in Vienna, Austrian Nazis on July 25, 1934, tried to take over their countrys government by an insurrectionary putsch. [40] Those not immediately executed were taken back to the Leibstandarte barracks at Lichterfelde, given one-minute "trials", and shot by a firing squad. [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 Night of the Long Knives - Nazi Germany Night of the Long Knives summary | Britannica Language links are at the top of the page across from the title. 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]. The Night of Long Knives - The Holocaust Explained Following the Enabling Law, much of this harassment and imprisonment was legal. However getting rid of the SA did get the support of the army which was very helpful for Hitler. The next German minister there was Papen, with the mission of steering Austro-German relations into a friendly and normal channel again. Soon after arriving in Vienna, he told the U.S. minister, George S. Messersmith, that all of southeastern Europe, to the borders of Turkey, was Germanys natural hinterland and that achieving control of Austria was to be the first step in that direction. The elections were neither free or fair. Gleichschaltung was applied across every possible aspect of government policy. "[46], Some SA members died saying "Heil Hitler" because they believed that an anti-Hitler SS plot had led to their execution. Now that the NSDAP had seized the reins of power in Germany, he said, it was time to consolidate its control. Sixty years ago today, Harold Macmillan carried out a cabinet reshuffle which became known as the 'Night of the Long Knives'. Rhm, however, wanted to eliminate the generalship of the Prussian aristocracy altogether, using the SA to become the core of a new German military. From 20 August onwards, the The tension between the SA and the Nazi leadership grew. "Rhm was given the opportunity to draw the consequences of his treacherous behaviour," said Hitler in . 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. Until then, Lippert had been one of the few executioners of the purge to evade trial. Gring's personal police battalion also took part in the killings. [21] Brning fled to the Netherlands while Schleicher dismissed the tip-off as a bad practical joke. He lifted his arm in the Nazi salute and called out "Heil Hitler, I love Germany. was 10.99. consolidate Hitler formally adopted this title in April 1942, thus placing himself above the reach of the law de jure and de facto. The Foreign Office even complained of instances where brownshirts manhandled foreign diplomats. [11] Rhm saw violence as a means to political ends. Night of the Long Knives: Jonathan Petropoulos 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 . ", "The names of eighty-five victims [exist], only fifty of them SA men. 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 had placed many in the first oppression Hitler's task would not be simple, however, as the SA made up a large part of Nazism's most devoted followers. 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. However, it did so under the guise of legality, and protecting the German people and their democracy. [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. 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.
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