You gave these parties 14 years to ruin Germany! The Nazis immediately used the Enabling Law to remove civil rights. Despite this, on the whole, Gleichschaltung was largely successful. The trial of Van der Lubbe following the Reichstag fire. The SA and the SS had also been on a month long campaign of violence to scare or imprison other opponents to the party. [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. "[65] Another rare exception was Field Marshal August von Mackensen, who spoke about the murders of Schleicher and Bredow at the annual General Staff Society meeting in February 1935 after they had been rehabilitated by Hitler in early January 1935. Hitler announced that he would occupy this new role. 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 support of respected individuals such as von Papen and Hindenburgs son, Oskar von Hindenburg, gave the Nazis further legitimacy for these actions. [22] Himmler named his deputy Reinhard Heydrich to head the Gestapo on 22 April 1934. When the Nazi regime did not take such steps, those who had expected an economic as well as a political revolution were disillusioned. [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. [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. Each resource gives suggested teaching strategies and are differentiated . Conservatives in the army, industry and politics placed Hitler under increasing pressure to reduce the influence of the SA and to move against Rhm. Gleichschaltung was the process of the Nazi Party taking control over all aspects of Germany. On the 2 May 1933 trade unions were banned. 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. It established Hitler as "the supreme leader of the German people", as he put it in his 13 July speech to the Reichstag. [37] Meanwhile, the SS arrested the other SA leaders as they left their train for the planned meeting with Rhm and 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. From the airport they drove to the Bavarian Interior Ministry, where they assembled the leaders of an SA rampage that had taken place in city streets the night before. In Berlin, on Gring's personal orders, an armed SS unit stormed the Vice-Chancellery. On 7 April 1943, the SS shut down the Chemno death camp for the first time. He wanted the Nazi Party to focus on socialist policies to support . "[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. With Hitler's arrival in Bad Wiessee between 06:00 and 07:00, the SA leadership, still in bed, were taken by surprise. [73] Hitler's speech was not reported in the German press, but the army was appeased by the speech. The Foreign Office even complained of instances where brownshirts manhandled foreign diplomats. The purge of the SA was kept secret until it was announced by Adolf Hitler on July 13. Tes paid licenceHow can I reuse this? Hitler, however, disclaimed all responsibility for the coup, sent a telegram of condolence to Austrian Pres. 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. Ernst Rhm was murdered in the event known as the Rhm Putsch, or the Night of Long Knives. [39] There in the prison courtyard, the Leibstandarte firing squad shot five SA generals and an SA colonel. They were often given a free rein on their activities and were violent and difficult to control. The Nazis also took several more steps to reduce their political opposition legally. Language links are at the top of the page across from the title. The news of it was received with consternation and disgust in the other European capitals, but the shock was greatest in Rome. Among the few exceptions were General Kurt von Hammerstein-Equord and Field Marshal August von Mackensen, who started a campaign to have Schleicher rehabilitated by Hitler. This fear was Thus from June 30 to July 2, 1934, which the chancellor later titled the Night of the Long Knives, Hitler purged any and all opposition in his way to a dictatorship. The Night of the Long Knives L.O. With these measures in place, the Nazification of the judicial system was complete. The Night of Long Knives, one of most noteworthy events during Hitler's rule, was a purge that occurred on the 30th June 1934. . Reichswehr [1] More than a thousand perceived opponents were arrested. Several of Hitler's lieutenants feared Rhm's growing power and restlessness, as did Hitler. [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]. On 25 June, General Werner von Fritsch placed the Reichswehr on the highest level of alert. 9. On 15 April 1945, Bergen-Belsen camp was liberated by the British Army. Others were appalled at the scale of the executions and at the relative complacency of many of their fellow Germans. 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 . [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. 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. "[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. Precise details remain unknown, but the army is believed to have promised to support Hitler as head of state after Hindenburg's death in return for . On 25 April 1933, the Law Against Overcrowding in Schools and Universities was issued, restricting the number of Jewish students. To a lesser extent, the Sturmabteilung (SA), a Nazi paramilitary organization, remained somewhat autonomous within the party. ", "The most general theory that National Socialism was a revolution of the lower middle class is defensible but inadequate. This essentially meant that the Nazis used the atmosphere of panic following the Reichstag Fireto put forward the Enabling Law. However, this power was limited, as the Nazis were just one party in a three party [69] The memo went on to demand that Hindenburg punish those responsible, and criticized Blomberg for his outspoken support of the murders of Schleicher and Bredow. and Updates? [62] General von Reichenau went so far as to publicly give credence to the lie that Schleicher had been plotting to overthrow the government. Also killed that night were hundreds of other perceived opponents of Hitler. Its membership plummeted from 2.9 million in August 1934 to 1.2 million in April 1938. The Night of the Long Knives was extremely significant in the establishment of the Nazi dictatorship and ultimately Hitler's power. 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. He dismissed seven ministers - one-third of the cabinet - and . 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). Over 150 people were murdered and hundreds more were arrested. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). Wilhelm Miklas, and recalled his minister from Vienna. Officially 85; estimates range up to 1,000. Answer (1 of 5): if you were Ernst Rohm, or former conniving Chancellor Gen von Schleicher or his wife, the consequences were terminal. The Night of the Long Knives. The army almost unanimously applauded the Night of the Long Knives, even though the generals Kurt von Schleicher and Ferdinand von Bredow were among the victims. Plenary: Form a circle of 6-8 students and paraphrase passport everything you have learnt about the Night of the Long Knives. By some estimates, as many as 1,000 were rounded up, never to be seen again. by Gring and Himmler, who gave Hitler news of Rhm organising a potential This new law gave Hitler the power to rule by decree rather than passing laws through the Reichstag and the president. Only the SPD opposed it. Within weeks of Rhms death, Hitler made an attempt to settle the question of union with Austria through simple violence. [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. If passed, the law would establish the conditions needed for dictatorial rule. 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. He took seriously the socialist promise of National Socialism and demanded that Hitler and the other party leaders initiate wide-ranging socialist reform in Germany. [11] Rhm saw violence as a means to political ends. Many of those that were harassed by the SA and the SS or imprisoned in camps were terrified to speak out about their ordeal fearing that they would be further abused or re-imprisoned. [42] The Gestapo also murdered Erich Klausener, the leader of Catholic Action, and a close Papen associate. [41], The regime did not limit itself to a purge of the SA. 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. 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]. While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. By early 1934, this vision directly conflicted with Hitler's plan to consolidate power and expand the Reichswehr. Goering, Himmler, and Heydrich, Hitler's new head of internal security for the SS, got together and drew up a list of opponents to Hitler's new Government, while Goebbels publicly accused Ernst Rhm of planning a takeover or 'Putsch'. Quick Reference. Also killed that night were hundreds of other perceived opponents of Hitler. As such the Nazis justified this measure as implementing necessary security measures, rather than revealing their true motive to remove opposition. However, most accounts argue that as many as 1,000 deaths occurred during the Night of the Long Knives. 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. In British politics, the " Night of the Long Knives " was a major Cabinet reshuffle that took place on 13 July 1962. [17] While Hitler did not take immediate action against Rhm for his intemperate outburst, it nonetheless deepened the rift between them. Hitler told the gathered officials, "The stream of revolution has been undammed, but it must be channelled into the secure bed of evolution. This decree suspended the democratic aspects of the Weimar Republic and declared a state of emergency. [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. The History Learning Site, 9 Mar 2015. SS men stormed the hotel, and Hitler personally placed Rhm and other high-ranking SA leaders under arrest. : Why did Hitler order the massacre of hundreds of Nazis. As the SA were known for being violent and unruly, many saw this as a legitimate move by the government to ensure public order. [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. [4] The violent confrontations between the two contributed to the destabilization of the Weimar Republic. SA violence in Prussia gravely concerned Gring. [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. Courtesy of The Wiener Holocaust Library Collections. By May, lists of those to be "liquidated" started to circulate amongst Gring and Himmler's people, who engaged in a trade, adding enemies of one in exchange for sparing friends of the other. "[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! To ensure quality for our reviews, only customers who have purchased this resource can review it . 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. He asked, "What would people have said if I had done such a thing? Goebbels soon radicalised each of these areas, ensuring that they advocated Nazi ideas. How did the Night of the Long Knives help to create a dictatorship out of a democracy? Prisons soon became stretched for space. [57][58], A special fund administered by SS General Franz Breithaupt was set up for the relatives of the murdered, from which they were cared for at the expense of the state. Following the Enabling Law, much of this harassment and imprisonment was legal. The SA evolved out of the remnants of the Freikorps movement of the post-World War I years. And realize that this is Germany that was a Rechtsstaat, the Germans always say, a state with laws. 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. [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. [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]. The result was that it was made Hitler the undisputed leader of the Nazis and by extension Germany. As chancellor, Hitler did not command the army, which remained under the formal leadership of Hindenburg, a highly respected veteran field marshal. 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. They used any space they could get their hands on to create temporary camps. 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. Because their plans for the army conflicted, Rhm's success could come only at Hitler's expense. Most officers are too old and have to be replaced by young ones. [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. [75] Lutze did little to assert the SA's independence in the coming years, and the organization lost its power in Germany. [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. He held the same position with Rhm as I held with Himmler. 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. While many officers were impressed by Hitler's promises of an expanded army, a return to conscription, and a more aggressive foreign policy, the army continued to guard its traditions of independence during the early years of the Nazi regime. The Night of the Long Knives was the least important factor, as it did no help much towards Hitler's consolidation of power. 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. [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. 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. 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. Give Hitler four years to rebuild it! This included Vice-Chancellor Papen and those in his immediate circle. 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. The Night of the Long Knives was a turning point for the German government. 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. 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. "[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. Given that the purge claimed the lives of so many prominent Germans, it could hardly be kept secret. You were murdered June 30-July 2, 1934, the Night of the Long Knives. [70] It is noteworthy that even those officers who were most offended by the killings, like Hammerstein and Mackensen, did not blame the purge on Hitler, whom they wanted to see continue as Chancellor; they at most wanted a reorganization of the Cabinet to remove some of Hitler's more radical followers.