[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. was 10.99. The Centre Partys vote was crucial. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). 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. They used any space they could get their hands on to create temporary camps. [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. Centuries of jurisprudence proscribing extrajudicial killings were swept aside. Second, German Pres. [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. isabellaaellis. concentration camp , issuing the Act for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service on the 7 April 1933. coalition Hitler claimed that 61 had been executed while 13 had been shot resisting arrest and three had committed suicide. [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. 464 Words. The biggest threat to Hitler was Ernst Rhm. History portrays the infamous 'Night of the Long Knives' as a textbook political disaster, but as a BBC documentary shows on the 50th anniversary, it could have been so different. 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. 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. The Foreign Office even complained of instances where brownshirts manhandled foreign diplomats. While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. The Night of the Long Knives L.O. The Night of the Long Knives (in addition to Hindenburgs deatha few months later) helped Hitler and the Nazi Party to consolidate absolute power in Germany by removing their political opposition. [41], The regime did not limit itself to a purge of the SA. But the Night of the Long Knives they kill over 100 people, not just Rhm and his closest associate, but also others who are on a hit list that Hitler, Gring, and Himmler and others put together. From 20 August onwards, the In this hour I was responsible for the fate of the German people, and thereby I became the supreme judge of the German people. 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. Hitler ordered both Heines and his partner taken outside the hotel and shot. Additionally, Hitler was uncomfortable with Rhm's outspoken support for a "second revolution" to redistribute wealth. The Night of Long Knives, one of most noteworthy events during Hitler's rule, was a purge that occurred on the 30th June 1934. . The leaders of the SA were ordered to attend a meeting at a hotel in Bad Wiesse, Bavaria. On 25 June, General Werner von Fritsch placed the Reichswehr on the highest level of alert. [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 day after the Reichstag fire, the 28 February 1933, Hindenburg signed a decree giving Hitler emergency powers. However, most accounts argue that as many as 1,000 deaths occurred during the Night of the Long Knives. [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. [2] The purge strengthened and consolidated the support of the military for Hitler. 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. By the end of it, Hitler's party had been shaken by a major crisis, and the long knives were put quietly back in their box while all the Fhrer kept out was a wary ear. 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. 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. 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. Quick Reference. This resource hasn't been reviewed yet. The Nazis improvised. But with the Night of the Long Knives, it's . A poster from the March 1933 elections. [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. The Bill passed by 444 votes for to 94 against on the 24 March 1933. 20 terms. 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. [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. Conservatives in the army, industry and politics placed Hitler under increasing pressure to reduce the influence of the SA and to move against Rhm. The speed and scale of the reshuffle caused it to be associated by its critics with the 1934 Night of the Long Knives in Nazi Germany . [68] Besides working for the rehabilitation of Schleicher and Bredow, Hammerstein and Mackensen sent a memo to Hindenburg on 18 July setting out in considerable detail the circumstances of the murders of the two generals and noted that Papen had barely escaped. As such, the Nazis consolidation of power relied on maintaining the illusion of a stable democracy. 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. Hess, present among the assembled, even volunteered to shoot the "traitors". Hitler and Himmler unleashed the Gestapo against old enemies, as well. Courtesy of The Wiener Holocaust Library Collections. "[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. It targeted potential threats to Hitler's power, particularly within the NSDAP's fast-growing and politically vocal paramilitary wing, the Sturmabteilung or SA. Tes paid licenceHow can I reuse this? Despite this, on the whole, Gleichschaltung was largely successful. A very large number of the Freikorps believed that the November Revolution had betrayed them when Germany was alleged to be on the verge of victory in 1918. One key example of an event posed as moderate was the Night of Long Knives. [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. This new law gave Hitler the power to rule by decree rather than passing laws through the Reichstag and the president. [42] The Gestapo also murdered Erich Klausener, the leader of Catholic Action, and a close Papen associate. [35] Papen was unceremoniously arrested at the Vice-Chancellery, despite his insistent protests that he could not be arrested in his position as Vice-Chancellor. [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. This essentially meant that the Nazis used the atmosphere of panic following the Reichstag Fireto put forward the Enabling Law. "[9], Hitler's speech signalled his intention to rein in the SA, whose ranks had grown rapidly in the early 1930s. The SA evolved out of the remnants of the Freikorps movement of the post-World War I years. 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 . Night of the Long Knives (1962) - Wikipedia Night of the Long Knives: Jonathan Petropoulos Reorganisation and the Bamberg Conference, The role of economic instability in the Nazi rise to power, The role of political instability in the Nazi rise to power, The role of the conservative elite in the Nazi rise to power. The tension between the SA and the Nazi leadership grew. ", "The names of eighty-five victims [exist], only fifty of them SA men. In a new pair Rally Coach this worksheet. By some estimates, as many as 1,000 were rounded up, never to be seen again. [63], Former Kaiser Wilhelm II, who was in exile in Doorn, Netherlands, was horrified by the purge. Carried out primarily by the SS and the Gestapo, over 150 people were murdered and hundreds more were arrested. For the full article, see Night of the Long Knives . "Rhm was given the opportunity to draw the consequences of his treacherous behaviour," said Hitler in . [21], Demands for Hitler to constrain the SA strengthened. "[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.
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