Local governments proved more difficult to infiltrate, and even at the end of 1945 only 60% of local mayors were Nazi Party members. The leaders of the SA were ordered to attend a meeting at a hotel in Bad Wiesse, Bavaria. Corrections? [45][41] As Himmler's adjutant Karl Wolff later explained, friendship and personal loyalty were not allowed to stand in the way: Among others, a charming fellow [named] Karl von Spreti, Rhm's personal adjutant. Hitler told the crowd that "undisciplined and disobedient characters and asocial or diseased elements" would be annihilated. SS men stormed the hotel, and Hitler personally placed Rhm and other high-ranking SA leaders under arrest. However, this power was limited, as the Nazis were just one party in a three party On the 5 March 1933, the elections took place, with an extremely high turnout of 89%. This decree suspended the democratic aspects of the Weimar Republic and declared a state of emergency. Now that the NSDAP had seized the reins of power in Germany, he said, it was time to consolidate its control. [41], The regime did not limit itself to a purge of the SA. The murders of SA leaders were also intended to improve the image of the Hitler government with a German public that was increasingly critical of thuggish SA tactics. Nazi propaganda presented the murders as a preventive measure against an alleged imminent coup by the SA under Rhm the so-called Rhm Putsch. [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. 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. Our editors will review what youve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. 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. The Nazis secured 43.9% of the vote, an improvement of almost 10% on the previous Novembers election. Also killed that night were hundreds of other perceived opponents of Hitler. 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. "A chancellor", he wrote, "sentences and shoots members of his own private army! 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. [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. The Night of the Long Knives, in June 1934, saw the wiping out of the SA's leadership and others who had angered Hitler in the recent past in Nazi Germany. [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. Originally designed and developed by the London Jewish Cultural Centre. Upon returning to Berlin, Goebbels telephoned Gring at 10:00 with the codeword Kolibri to let loose the execution squads on the rest of their unsuspecting victims. Source starter, video introducing the night of the long knives, source analysis assessing causes and consequences of the night of the long knives, describe 4 mark question built in and overall judgement building on the learning sequence of the most significant reason Hitler was able to establish a dictatorship. [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. 20 terms. The purge of the SA was kept secret until it was announced by Adolf Hitler on July 13. On 19 April 1943, the beginning of the liquidation of the Warsaw ghetto was met with organised armed resistance by its residents. A firefighter in the burnt out ruins of the Reichstag building. 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. In British politics, the " Night of the Long Knives " was a major Cabinet reshuffle that took place on 13 July 1962. 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. [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. Each resource gives suggested teaching strategies and are differentiated . They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors. If passed, the law would establish the conditions needed for dictatorial rule. [63], Former Kaiser Wilhelm II, who was in exile in Doorn, Netherlands, was horrified by the purge. Hitler, however, disclaimed all responsibility for the coup, sent a telegram of condolence to Austrian Pres. Night of the Long Knives, (June 30, 1934) Purge of Nazi leaders by Adolf 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. Rhm, who was initially 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. The Night of the Long Knives was "an act of carnage" which had come out of the blue. Rhm was very critical of Hitler's policies of working with rich businessmen and the army. Goebbels soon radicalised each of these areas, ensuring that they advocated Nazi ideas. [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. How did the Night of the Long Knives help to create a dictatorship out of a democracy? ", 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. This resource hasn't been reviewed yet. SA violence in Prussia gravely concerned Gring. Hitler saw the independence of the SA and the penchant of its members for street violence as a direct threat to his newly gained political power. Hitler entitled the purge the 'Night of the Long Knives' - a reference to the lyrics from a popular Nazi song. Just two months later, on 14 July 1933 the Nazis used the Enabling Act to ban all political parties except the Nazi Party. Only the SPD opposed it. Rhm is pictured here on the left next to Rudolf Hess, who was the deputy Fhrer from 1933-1941. 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. 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. 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). The Nazis used the guise of moderationto conceal their rapid consolidation of power. With Hitler's arrival in Bad Wiessee between 06:00 and 07:00, the SA leadership, still in bed, were taken by surprise. leaders knew consequences of questioning Hitler - role of SA was reduced - membership dropped from 2.9 million to 1.6 million. [e] Over the next few months, during the so-called Gleichschaltung, Hitler dispensed with the need for the Reichstag of the Weimar Republic as a legislative body[f] and eliminated all rival political parties in Germany, so that by the middle of 1933 the country had become a one-party state under his direction and control. President Paul von Hindenburg appointed Hitler chancellor on 30 January 1933. 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. By the end of 1934, the Nazis had managed to infiltrate and take control of every major aspect of German government. On 25 April 1933, the Law Against Overcrowding in Schools and Universities was issued, restricting the number of Jewish students. Some of Hitlers other enemies were also murdered, including the last chancellor of the Weimar Republic, Kurt von Schleicher; Gregor Strasser, who until 1932 had been second only to Hitler in the Nazi Party; Bavarian ex-separatist Gustav von Kahr; conservative critic Edgar Jung; and Catholic professor Erich Klausener. These acts removed peoples ability to oppose the Nazi Party, in any form. "[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. (29-30 June 1934) The name coined by Hitler for a weekend of murders throughout Germany. This topic will explore how the Nazis managed to eliminate their opposition and [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]. 464 Words. During the years of the rise of the Nazi Party, the SA had been instrumental in helping the party to gain support. In August 1932 there were approximately 445,000 members of the SA. [21], Demands for Hitler to constrain the SA strengthened. Also killed that night were hundreds of other perceived opponents of Hitler. 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. [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. [69] Mackensen and Hammerstein ended their memo with: Excellency, the gravity of the moment has compelled us to appeal to you as our Supreme Commander. In a new pair Rally Coach this worksheet. 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. isabellaaellis. [75] Lutze did little to assert the SA's independence in the coming years, and the organization lost its power in Germany. 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. [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. Lippert was convicted and sentenced to 18 months in prison.[50]. The SA evolved out of the remnants of the Freikorps movement of the post-World War I years. 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 Nazi Party used the atmosphere of panic to their advantage, encouraging anti-communism. 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. The Liberals' future leader, Jeremy Thorpe, mocked Macmillan by observing . The long term impact brought forth by the consequences or legacy of the Nazi party included a population decrease and an increase in deaths. [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]. Chancellor Adolf Hitler, urged on by Hermann Gring and Heinrich Himmler, ordered a series of political extrajudicial executions . The Foreign Office even complained of instances where brownshirts manhandled foreign diplomats. 4 terms. [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. For all the power the Enabling Act . 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. 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). One key example of an event posed as moderate was the Night of Long Knives. [2] The purge strengthened and consolidated the support of the military for Hitler. Carried out primarily by the SS and the Gestapo, over 150 people were murdered and hundreds more were arrested. [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. Conservatives in the army, industry and politics placed Hitler under increasing pressure to reduce the influence of the SA and to move against Rhm. On 15 April 1945, Bergen-Belsen camp was liberated by the British Army. Centuries of jurisprudence proscribing extrajudicial killings were swept aside. The Nazis improvised. The day after the fire, Hindenburg signed the Emergency Decree for the Protection of the German People. In the judicial system specifically, this act removed any judges that were deemed non-compliant with Nazi laws or principles. Fearing that the paramilitary SA had become too powerful, Hitler ordered his elite SS guards to murder the organization's leaders, including Ernst Rhm. Alleging that Rhm was plotting a putsch, Hitler ordered a massacre. Following the purge, the Nazi's sculpted the media coverage to portray the event as a preventative measure against a revolutionary, violent, and . Goebbels became responsible for controlling the national media, film, theatre, arts, and other cultural aspects. Answer (1 of 5): if you were Ernst Rohm, or former conniving Chancellor Gen von Schleicher or his wife, the consequences were terminal. Leading members of the leftist-leaning Strasserist faction of the Nazi Party, including its leader Gregor Strasser, were also killed, as were establishment conservatives and anti-Nazis, such as former Chancellor Kurt von Schleicher and Bavarian politician Gustav Ritter von Kahr, who had helped suppress Hitler's Munich Beer Hall Putsch in 1923. The Nazis aimed to increase their share of the vote so that they would have a majority in the Reichstag. On the night of June 30, 1934, Rhm and many more leaders of the SA were shot by members of Heinrich Himmlers SS (Schutzstaffeln; German: Protective Echelon). This would allow them to rule unopposed and unhindered by coalition governments. 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. was 10.99. To make both of these impacts, Hitler had to overcome many hard . By the end of May 1934, Hitler had been chancellor for 16 months and dictator for 14 (under the Enabling Act of March 24, 1933), but two obstacles to his absolute power remained. Fearing that the paramilitary SA had become too powerful, Hitler ordered his elite SS guards to murder the organization's leaders, including Ernst Rhm. [21] At the end of May, Brning and Schleicher, two former chancellors, received warnings from friends in the Reichswehr that their lives were in danger and they should leave Germany at once. The Night of the Long Knives was a helping event in Hitler becoming a dictator. 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. by Gring and Himmler, who gave Hitler news of Rhm organising a potential Goebbels engineered the media coverage following the attack to present it as a preventative measure, in response to the SAs plan to overthrow the government. The SS found Breslau SA leader Edmund Heines in bed with an unidentified eighteen-year-old male SA senior troop leader. It was a mass murder planned by the SS for the SA and their members. 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. 95.7% of the population voted. The crowd, which included party members and many SA members fortunate enough to escape arrest, shouted its approval. This new law gave Hitler the power to rule by decree rather than passing laws through the Reichstag and the president. 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 . Some estimates, however, put the total number killed at between 150 and 200. The resources all include suggested teaching strategies, retrieval practice, differentiated materials and come in PowerPoint format if there is a wish to adapt and change.
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