The SA (sometimes known as the "Stormtroopers" or "Brownshirts") was the paramilitary organization of the Nazi Party that played a key role in the Nazi . government, under President Hindenburg. President Hindenburg died at the age of 87 on 2 August 1934. "It was plain that there was wide acceptance of the deliberately misleading propaganda put out by the regime. [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. [84], The Night of the Long Knives represented a triumph for Hitler, and a turning point for the German government. On the 2 May 1933 trade unions were banned. "[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. [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. A poster from the March 1933 elections. The Night of the Long Knives. The Enabling Law allowed them to do this under the guise of legality. Most officers are too old and have to be replaced by young ones. Then came the day he didn't need them anymore. [66], Rumours about the Night of the Long Knives rapidly spread. Browse 1,447 happy its friday cartoon stock photos and images available, or start a new search to explore more stock photos and images. Local governments proved more difficult to infiltrate, and even at the end of 1945 only 60% of local mayors were Nazi Party members. 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. Fearing that the paramilitary SA had become too powerful, Hitler ordered his elite SS guards to murder the organization's leaders, including Ernst Rhm. [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. Hitler told the gathered officials, "The stream of revolution has been undammed, but it must be channelled into the secure bed of evolution. [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. "They give . The Night Of The Long Knives. Centuries of jurisprudence proscribing extrajudicial killings were swept aside. [22] Himmler named his deputy Reinhard Heydrich to head the Gestapo on 22 April 1934. As S.A. membership grew, they were becoming harder . 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. Give Hitler four years to rebuild it! Ernst Rhm was murdered in the event known as the Rhm Putsch, or the Night of Long Knives. For AC/DC that's a pretty wierd thing to reference in a song. Several of Hitler's lieutenants feared Rhm's growing power and restlessness, as did Hitler. Now that the NSDAP had seized the reins of power in Germany, he said, it was time to consolidate its control. On 17 March 1935, 700 pastors of the Confessing Church, which opposed the Nazis, were arrested. [69] The memo asked that Hindenburg instead create a directorate to rule Germany, comprising the Chancellor (who was not named), General Werner von Fritsch as Vice-Chancellor, Hammerstein as Minister of Defense, the Minister for National Economy (also unnamed), and Rudolf Nadolny as Foreign Minister. The Night of the Long Knives was a turning . 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. [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, and which at times outnumbered the military in manpower.[10]. The Night of the Long Knives. Moreover, it was not just the Reichswehr that viewed the SA as a threat. Opposition from outside the Nazi party was being strangled . The crowd, which included party members and many SA members fortunate enough to escape arrest, shouted its approval. [37] Meanwhile, the SS arrested the other SA leaders as they left their train for the planned meeting with Rhm and Hitler. The Night of the Long Knives. In the judicial system specifically, this act removed any judges that were deemed non-compliant with Nazi laws or principles. Whilst the pseudo-legal measures were one factor that helped the Nazis to consolidate power, another was terror and intimidation. [30] At Hitler's direction, Gring, Himmler, Heydrich and Victor Lutze drew up lists of people in and outside the SA to be killed. On 24 March 1933, the Enabling Act was passed, allowing Hitler to make laws without the approval of the Reichstag. 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. The leaders of the SA were ordered to attend a meeting at a hotel in Bad Wiesse, Bavaria. Hitler shouted at Schneidhuber and accused him of treachery. 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. Rhm is pictured here on the left next to Rudolf Hess, who was the deputy Fhrer from 1933-1941. . and [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. On 22 March 1933, the first Nazi concentration camp was established in the town of Dachau. In response to conservative pressure to constrain Rhm, Hitler left for Neudeck to meet with Hindenburg. Many were terrified of voting of at all, and many turned to voting for the Nazi Party out of fear for their own safety. Hitler ordered both Heines and his partner taken outside the hotel and shot. [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. On 13 July 1934 the Reichstag Definition of night of the long knives in the Idioms Dictionary. The Night of the Long Knives (aka Blood Purge) was a purge that took place in Nazi Germany from June 30 to July 2, 1934, when the Nazi regime carried out a series of political extrajudicial executions intended to consolidate Hitler's absolute hold on power in Germany. This is an overview of the Night of the Long Knives of June 1934. This hysteria helped to turn the public against the communists, one of the Nazis main opponents, and 4000 people were imprisoned. Hitler and the rest of the Nazi leadership disagreed with their approach. Used for Educational purposes only. Shortly after Hindenburgs death, Hitler announced that offices of the chancellor and the president were to be combined to create one position, the Fhrer and chancellor. The SA used to be fiercely loyal to Hitler, and so would salute him with the Nazi salute (with one hand). If that was indeed true then, as a legal matter, the law was entirely unnecessary and redundant. Gleichschaltung was applied across every possible aspect of government policy. July 1-13, 1934 Editorials, opinion pieces, letters-to-the-editor, and political cartoons regarding the "Night of the Long Knives". The Night of the Long Knives commences. Having earlier imprisoned or exiled prominent Social Democrats and Communists, Hitler used the occasion to move against conservatives he considered unreliable. [39] There in the prison courtyard, the Leibstandarte firing squad shot five SA generals and an SA colonel. The Peoples Court, a court created by the Nazis in April 1934 with judges chosen specifically for their Nazi beliefs, replaced the Supreme Court. Goebbels soon radicalised each of these areas, ensuring that they advocated Nazi ideas. In two brutal days in 1934 Adolf Hitler and his senior staff would capture and execute Ernst Roehm, the rest of the senior leaders of the Sturmabteilung (SA) and perhaps 1000 other enemies and threats to his control of Germany. The Night of the Long Knives not only removed the SA leaders but also got Hitler the army's oath that he so needed. June 30, 1934 - July 12, 1934 News articles about the arrest and murder of leadership within the SA, as well as political opponents of the Nazis ("Night of the Long Knives"). The purge of the SA was kept secret until it was announced by Adolf Hitler on July 13. Gring declared that the communists had planned a national uprising to overthrow the Weimar Republic. The camps were brutal and had extremely unsanitary conditions. [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. Both Kurt von Schleicher, Hitler's predecessor as Chancellor, and his wife were murdered at their home. Given that the purge claimed the lives of so many prominent Germans, it could hardly be kept secret. 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]. [4] The violent confrontations between the two contributed to the destabilization of the Weimar Republic. [42] The Gestapo also murdered Erich Klausener, the leader of Catholic Action, and a close Papen associate. 3. [35] Schneidhuber was executed later that day. British cartoon by David Low, 1934 They salute with both hands, now! 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.
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