One of the men Gring recruited to assist him was Willi Lehmann, a Gestapo official and NKVD spy. : Why did Hitler order the massacre of hundreds of Nazis. "A very calm and easy going mailman," the diarist Victor Klemperer wrote, "who is not at all National Socialist, said, 'Well, he simply sentenced them.'" Night of the Long Knives, in German history, purge of Nazi leaders by Adolf Hitler on June 30, 1934. In a new pair Rally Coach this worksheet. 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. [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]. Goebbels became responsible for controlling the national media, film, theatre, arts, and other cultural aspects. This act legalised removing anyone of non-Ayran descent from the civil service. The elections were neither free or fair. Terror and intimidation became one of the main ways that the Nazis sought to control or suppress their opposition, and Germans in general. Grtner also declared in cabinet that the measure did not in fact create any new law, but simply confirmed the existing law. You give Hitler power and time by voting HITLER!. You gave these parties 14 years to ruin Germany! [5] In June 1932, one of the worst months of political violence, there were more than 400 street battles, resulting in 82 deaths. This included Vice-Chancellor Papen and those in his immediate circle. 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 . approved a bill legalising the purge as emergency defence measures. was 10.99. These acts removed peoples ability to oppose the Nazi Party, in any form. 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). "[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. Hitler, however, disclaimed all responsibility for the coup, sent a telegram of condolence to Austrian Pres. [1] More than a thousand perceived opponents were arrested. The SA also ran a violent campaign of terror against any and all opponents of the Nazi regime. She even compared him to Frederick the Great, the 18th-century king of Prussia.[2]. With Hindenburg gone, there was no longer a limit to Hitlers power. This new law gave Hitler the power to rule by decree rather than passing laws through the Reichstag and the president. Consequences of the Night of the long Knives Death of Hindenburg and Fuhrer Army Oath Plenary - hierarchy task. Gleichschaltung was the process of the Nazi Party taking control over all aspects of Germany. Hitler's task would not be simple, however, as the SA made up a large part of Nazism's most devoted followers. Hitler announced that he would occupy this new role. [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. In response, Hitler met Blomberg and the leadership of the SA and SS on 28 February 1934. . Also known as the "brownshirts" or "stormtroopers," the SA became notorious for their street battles with the Communists. Quick Reference. ", "The names of eighty-five victims [exist], only fifty of them SA men. 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. And realize that this is Germany that was a Rechtsstaat, the Germans always say, a state with laws. He asked, "What would people have said if I had done such a thing? 2 Lucy S. Dawidowicz, The War against the Jews, 1933-1945 (New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1975), 82. Night of the Long Knives 30 June 1934. Rhm wanted to have his troops incorporated into the new Wehrmacht that was being prepared to take the place of the Reichswehr, despite the fact that the conservative-minded generals were resolutely opposed to any such contamination of the army by the SA. Hitler, knowing that military strength was necessary for his foreign policy and that antagonizing the generals could be fatal to himself, decided to sacrifice Rhm. It was during this speech that Hitler gave the purge its name: Night of the Long Knives (a phrase from a popular Nazi song). intensified It is otherwise known as coordination or Nazification. ", "After the 'Night of the Long Knives,' [Reich Minister for Justice Franz Grtner] nipped in the bud the attempts of some local state prosecutors to initiate proceedings against the killers. This resource hasn't been reviewed yet. ", "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. [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. [21] By the beginning of June everything was set and all that was needed was permission from Hitler. Rhm's contempt for the party's bureaucracy angered Hess. "[26] According to his memoirs, von Papen, a Catholic aristocrat with ties to army and industry, privately threatened to resign if Hitler did not act. If that was indeed true then, as a legal matter, the law was entirely unnecessary and redundant. In British politics, the " Night of the Long Knives " was a major Cabinet reshuffle that took place on 13 July 1962. The purge list is drawn up. consolidate The law needed two thirds of the Reichstag to vote for it to pass. leaders knew consequences of questioning Hitler - role of SA was reduced - membership dropped from 2.9 million to 1.6 million. [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. At first, its architects seemed split on how to handle the event. An atmosphere of panic and terror followed the event. However, following Hitler being elected chancellor, the SA, and particularly Rhm, were keen to continue the revolution and replace the traditional conservative elite with Nazis. 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. 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). 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. 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. 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. pardoned government, under President Hindenburg. The support of respected individuals such as von Papen and Hindenburgs son, Oskar von Hindenburg, gave the Nazis further legitimacy for these actions. It was named Der Fhrer schtzt das Recht ("The Fhrer Upholds the Law"). concentration camp 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. [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. In Berlin, on Gring's personal orders, an armed SS unit stormed the Vice-Chancellery. [29], In preparation for the purge, both Himmler and Heydrich assembled a dossier of manufactured evidence to suggest that Rhm had been paid 12 million (EUR 29.1million in 2023) by France to overthrow Hitler. The day after the Reichstag fire, the 28 February 1933, Hindenburg signed a decree giving Hitler emergency powers. . The Nazis immediately used the Enabling Law to remove civil rights. [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 followed a secret deal between himself and units of his personal bodyguard, the SS. Answer (1 of 5): if you were Ernst Rohm, or former conniving Chancellor Gen von Schleicher or his wife, the consequences were terminal. On 19 April 1943, the beginning of the liquidation of the Warsaw ghetto was met with organised armed resistance by its residents. 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. 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 army's support for the purge, however, would have far-reaching consequences for the institution. [11] Rhm saw violence as a means to political ends. 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.

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