[68] Hammerstein, who was a close friend of Schleicher, had been much offended at Schleicher's funeral when the SS refused to allow him to attend the service and confiscated the wreaths that the mourners had brought. 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]. A telegram purportedly from the ailing Hindenburg, Germany's highly revered military hero, expressed his "profoundly felt gratitude", and congratulated Hitler for "nipping treason in the bud",[61] although Hermann Gring later admitted during the Nuremberg trials that the telegram was never seen by Hindenburg, and was actually written by the Nazis. 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. [21] Brning fled to the Netherlands while Schleicher dismissed the tip-off as a bad practical joke. 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. [He] died with words "Heil Hitler" on his lips. They would later reopen it to liquidate the d ghetto. Gring's personal police battalion also took part in the killings. Rhm, who was initially 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). [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]. Officially 85; estimates range up to 1,000. He wanted the Nazi Party to focus on socialist policies to support . Hitler travelled to Munich by plane with . Rhm was a potential rival to Hitler's position. By some estimates, as many as 1,000 were rounded up, never to be seen again. More than a thousand high ranking SA officials (Hitler's militant Nazi storm troopers), including several of Hitler's oldest affiliates were . Hitler had become a chancellor in 1933 henceforth he had the power to establish his power. For all the power the Enabling Act . Centuries of jurisprudence proscribing extrajudicial killings were swept aside. We want to wait till Papa Hindenburg is dead, and then the SA will march against the army. [32] Blomberg and General Walther von Reichenau, the army's liaison to the party, gave it to him by expelling Rhm from the German Officers' League. Hitler remained indecisive and uncertain about just what precisely he wanted to do when he left for Venice to meet Benito Mussolini on 15 June. This would allow them to rule unopposed and unhindered by coalition governments. [13], If the regular army showed contempt for the masses belonging to the SA, many stormtroopers returned the feeling, seeing the army as insufficiently committed to the National Socialist revolution. [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. On the 23 March 1933, Hitler proposed the Enabling Law to the Reichstag. 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. [25] Neurath's manoeuvre to put pressure on Hitler paid off, with Mussolini agreeing to the request (Neurath was a former ambassador to Italy, and knew Mussolini well). This photograph was taken the same day, showing the Reichstag still burning. 2 Lucy S. Dawidowicz, The War against the Jews, 1933-1945 (New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1975), 82. 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. Moreover, it was not just the Reichswehr that viewed the SA as a threat. This decree gave the Nazis a legal basis for the And realize that this is Germany that was a Rechtsstaat, the Germans always say, a state with laws. "[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. 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. However, soon after the purge Hitler himself would name the events the "Night of the long knives" in a public speech on 13 July 1934 defending the actions (despite the violence taking place over several days). To make both of these impacts, Hitler had to overcome many hard . 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. [73] However, despite the rehabilitation of the two murdered officers, the Nazis continued in private to accuse Schleicher of high treason. Quick Reference. On the 28 February 1933, President Hindenburg signed the Emergency Decree for the Protection of the German People. Following the Enabling Law, much of this harassment and imprisonment was legal. 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. 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. Rhm's contempt for the party's bureaucracy angered Hess. 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. Blomberg, who had been meeting with the president, uncharacteristically reproached Hitler for not having moved against Rhm earlier. A copy of the original film, before Rhm was edited out, was found in the 1980s in the German Democratic Republic's film archives. The Night of the Long Knives was extremely significant in the establishment of the Nazi dictatorship and ultimately Hitler's power. Hitler shouted at Schneidhuber and accused him of treachery. The leaders of the SA were ordered to attend a meeting at a hotel in Bad Wiesse, Bavaria. However, this power was limited, as the Nazis were just one party in a three party She even compared him to Frederick the Great, the 18th-century king of Prussia.[2]. Updates? British cartoon by David Low, 1934 They salute with both hands, now! To ensure quality for our reviews, only customers who have purchased this resource can review it . This also lead to the Oath Of Loyalty which was. [35] Goebbels emphasised this aspect in subsequent propaganda justifying the purge as a crackdown on moral turpitude. 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. consolidate concentration camp 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. Several of Hitler's lieutenants feared Rhm's growing power and restlessness, as did Hitler. Hitler, however, disclaimed all responsibility for the coup, sent a telegram of condolence to Austrian Pres. 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. [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. 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). As chancellor, Hitler did not command the army, which remained under the formal leadership of Hindenburg, a highly respected veteran field marshal. Its membership plummeted from 2.9 million in August 1934 to 1.2 million in April 1938. Excellency, save Germany for the fourth time! The Night of the Long Knives. During the 1920s and 1930s, the SA functioned as a private militia used by Hitler to intimidate rivals and disrupt the meetings of competing political parties, especially those of the Social Democrats and the Communists. The Nazis also took steps to ensure they couldnt be openly opposed in the press. The consolidation of power that had begun barely a month before with the purge of Rhm and the SA was complete. The day after the fire, Hindenburg signed the Emergency Decree for the Protection of the German People. They used any space they could get their hands on to create temporary camps. 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. [63] During a meeting with Polish Ambassador Jzef Lipski on 22 May 1935, Hitler told Lipski that Schleicher was "rightfully murdered, if only because he had sought to maintain the Rapallo Treaty. isabellaaellis. 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. [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. retrospectively They understood the need to appear moderate and take over slowly by democratic means where possible, maintaining the stability and illusion of a democracy. ultimate power over Germany, whilst maintaining an 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. Fearing that the paramilitary SA had become too powerful, Hitler ordered his elite SS guards to murder the organizations leaders, including Ernst Rhm. Plenary: Form a circle of 6-8 students and paraphrase passport everything you have learnt about the Night of the Long Knives. [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. "[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! While all of these men were veterans of the Nazi movement, only Rhm continued to demonstrate his independence from, rather than his loyalty to, Adolf Hitler. Lippert was convicted and sentenced to 18 months in prison.[50]. 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. [31] On 27 June, Hitler moved to secure the army's cooperation. Refusing to take his own life, he was shot on 1 July 1934 by two SS guards. Home Explore. The Night of Long Knives, one of most noteworthy events during Hitler's rule, was a purge that occurred on the 30th June 1934. . [63], Former Kaiser Wilhelm II, who was in exile in Doorn, Netherlands, was horrified by the purge. [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. 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 . 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. On 13 July 1934 the Reichstag This resource hasn't been reviewed yet. "[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. 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. [21] By the beginning of June everything was set and all that was needed was permission from Hitler. By the end of 1934, the Nazis had managed to infiltrate and take control of every major aspect of German government. The SA also ran a violent campaign of terror against any and all opponents of the Nazi regime. The day after the Reichstag fire, the 28 February 1933, Hindenburg signed a decree giving Hitler emergency powers. He lifted his arm in the Nazi salute and called out "Heil Hitler, I love Germany. The SA and the SS had also been on a month long campaign of violence to scare or imprison other opponents to the party. 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 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. . Second, German Pres. Following Hitlers appointment as chancellor the Nazis were finally in a position of power. Reviews Something went wrong, please try again later. [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. Paul von Hindenburg was still alive and in office and, if he wished, could have stopped all of Hitlers plans by handing power over to the Reichswehr. 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 . 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. Sixty years ago today, Harold Macmillan carried out a cabinet reshuffle which became known as the 'Night of the Long Knives'. 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. [11] Rhm saw violence as a means to political ends. ", "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. He also wanted to appease leaders of the Reichswehr, the German military, who feared and despised the SA as a potential rival, in particular because of Rhm's ambition to merge the army and the SA under his own leadership. 95.7% of the population voted. 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. [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 strike, which will end just before midnight, comes after a High Court . 89.93% voted in favour of Hitler. The Nazis used the guise of moderationto conceal their rapid consolidation of power. : Why did Hitler order the massacre of hundreds of Nazis. As such, the Nazis consolidation of power relied on maintaining the illusion of a stable democracy. It was a mass murder planned by the SS for the SA and their members. Goebbels became responsible for controlling the national media, film, theatre, arts, and other cultural aspects. of democracy. 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. With Hindenburg gone, there was no longer a limit to Hitlers power. 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. A firefighter in the burnt out ruins of the Reichstag building. While Rhm's homosexuality did not endear him to conservatives, they were more concerned about his political ambitions. [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. Captain Ernst Rhm of the Reichswehr served as the liaison with the Bavarian Freikorps. intensified In 1933, up to 200,000 people were seized and imprisoned by the SA and the SS. [45] Then, on 13 July 1934,[52] Hitler justified the purge in a nationally broadcast speech to the Reichstag: If anyone reproaches me and asks why I did not resort to the regular courts of justice, then all I can say is this. However, it did so under the guise of legality, and protecting the German people and their democracy. During the years of the rise of the Nazi Party, the SA had been instrumental in helping the party to gain support. : Why did Hitler order the massacre of hundreds of Nazis. [k] Signed into law by Hitler, Grtner, and Minister of the Interior Wilhelm Frick, the "Law Regarding Measures of State Self-Defence" retroactively legalized the murders committed during the purge. 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.

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