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. The elections were neither free or fair. On 15 April 1945, Bergen-Belsen camp was liberated by the British Army. He also wanted to appease leaders of the Reichswehr, the German military, who feared and despised the SA as a potential rival, in particular because of Rhm's ambition to merge the army and the SA under his own leadership. [41] Several leaders of the disbanded Catholic Centre Party were also murdered in the purge. The Party had generally been aligned with the Social Democrats and Catholic Church during the rise of Nazism, being critical of Nazi ideology, but voting nonetheless for the Enabling Act of 1933 which granted Hitler dictatorial authority. It targeted potential threats to Hitler's power, particularly within the NSDAP's fast-growing and politically vocal paramilitary wing, the Sturmabteilung or SA. [72] Fritsch and Blomberg suddenly now claimed at the end of 1934 that as army officers they could not stand the exceedingly violent press attacks on Schleicher and Bredow that had been going on since July, which portrayed them as the vilest traitors, working against the Fatherland in the pay of France. The army's support for the purge, however, would have far-reaching consequences for the institution. Because their plans for the army conflicted, Rhm's success could come only at Hitler's expense. Although President Hindenburg and the Reichstag continued to exist, Hitler could now govern by decree. The 'Night of the Long Knives' is a name given to an internal purge within the National Socialist movement in mid-1934. Local governments proved more difficult to infiltrate, and even at the end of 1945 only 60% of local mayors were Nazi Party members. On 11 April 1945, the US army liberated Buchenwald camp. As the SA were known for being violent and unruly, many saw this as a legitimate move by the government to ensure public order. [40] Those not immediately executed were taken back to the Leibstandarte barracks at Lichterfelde, given one-minute "trials", and shot by a firing squad. The camps were brutal and had extremely unsanitary conditions. Courtesy of The Wiener Holocaust Library Collections. Terror and intimidation became one of the main ways that the Nazis sought to control or suppress their opposition, and Germans in general. From 20 August onwards, the Alleging that Rhm was plotting a putsch, Hitler ordered a massacre. "[46], Some SA members died saying "Heil Hitler" because they believed that an anti-Hitler SS plot had led to their execution. We want to wait till Papa Hindenburg is dead, and then the SA will march against the army. The Nazis secured 43.9% of the vote, an improvement of almost 10% on the previous Novembers election. 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. By June 1934 this had grown to over 3,000,000 members. Excellency, save Germany for the fourth time! , who had previously been a separate organisation, now swore a personal allegiance to Hitler. 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'. She even compared him to Frederick the Great, the 18th-century king of Prussia.[2]. The Night of the Long Knives. [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. In reality, the laws that the Nazis put forward secured their future as the sole ruling party in Germany. The Night of the Long Knives was extremely significant in the establishment of the Nazi dictatorship and ultimately Hitler's power. ", Coincidentally, Hitler had been incarcerated at. [7] Complaints of "overbearing and loutish" behaviour by stormtroopers became common by the middle of 1933. 15 Apr 2023. 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. Rhm was a potential rival to Hitler's position. This resource hasn't been reviewed yet. Gring declared that the communists had planned a national uprising to overthrow the Weimar Republic. [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. The History Learning Site, 9 Mar 2015. ultimate power over Germany, whilst maintaining an Whilst the purge focused on the SA, the Nazis also used the event to eliminate other political opponents, such as the former chancellor Kurt von Schleicher. The Centre Partys vote was crucial. Hitler shouted at Schneidhuber and accused him of treachery. As a result, a political struggle within the party grew, with those closest to Hitler, including Prussian premier Hermann Gring, Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels, Reichsfhrer-SS Heinrich Himmler, and Hitler's deputy Rudolf Hess, positioning themselves against Rhm. President Hindenburg died at the age of 87 on 2 August 1934. Hindenburg died on August 2, 1934. 1 Quoted in Richard J. Evans, The Third Reich in Power (New York: Penguin Books, 2005), 37-38. However getting rid of the SA did get the support of the army which was very helpful for Hitler. 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. And let it be known for all time to come that if anyone raises his hand to strike the State, then certain death is his lot. Gring's personal police battalion also took part in the killings. If passed, the law would establish the conditions needed for dictatorial rule. Hitler ordered him, as one prominent historian described it, to put an end to "homosexuality, debauchery, drunkenness, and high living" in the SA. A telegram purportedly from the ailing Hindenburg, Germany's highly revered military hero, expressed his "profoundly felt gratitude", and congratulated Hitler for "nipping treason in the bud",[61] although Hermann Gring later admitted during the Nuremberg trials that the telegram was never seen by Hindenburg, and was actually written by the Nazis. Under pressure from Hitler, Rhm reluctantly signed a pledge stating that he recognised the supremacy of the Reichswehr over the SA. [32] Blomberg and General Walther von Reichenau, the army's liaison to the party, gave it to him by expelling Rhm from the German Officers' League. The Night of Long Knives, one of most noteworthy events during Hitler's rule, was a purge that occurred on the 30th June 1934. . "Rhm was given the opportunity to draw the consequences of his treacherous behaviour," said Hitler in . The Night of the Long Knives: the bloody purge that secured Hitler's power. In August 1932 there were approximately 445,000 members of the SA. "It was plain that there was wide acceptance of the deliberately misleading propaganda put out by the regime. isabellaaellis. On 13 July 1934 the Reichstag [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. 2 Lucy S. Dawidowicz, The War against the Jews, 1933-1945 (New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1975), 82. [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. On 25 June, General Werner von Fritsch placed the Reichswehr on the highest level of alert. 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. Night of the Long Knives, in German history, purge of Nazi leaders by Adolf Hitler on June 30, 1934. Censorship was heightened, and any person publishing actively anti-Nazi material was threatened or imprisoned. The tension between the SA and the Nazi leadership grew. The Nazis aimed to increase their share of the vote so that they would have a majority in the Reichstag. Dachau Fearing that the paramilitary SA had become too powerful, Hitler ordered his elite SS guards to murder the organization's leaders, including Ernst Rhm. [75] Hitler expressly told him to stop SA funds from being spent on limousines and banquets, which he considered evidence of SA extravagance. Whilst the pseudo-legal measures were one factor that helped the Nazis to consolidate power, another was terror and intimidation. The purge list is drawn up. [75] Lutze did little to assert the SA's independence in the coming years, and the organization lost its power in Germany. Whilst Gleichschaltung aimed to reach every aspect of rule in Germany, this was not always possible. Hitler and the rest of the Nazi leadership disagreed with their approach. However, this power was limited, as the Nazis were just one party in a three party 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. [38] Joseph Goebbels, who had been with Hitler at Bad Wiessee, set the final phase of the plan in motion. Lippert was convicted and sentenced to 18 months in prison.[50]. Rhm's contempt for the party's bureaucracy angered Hess. Through these aspects the Nazis suppressed any opposition to their power, and were able to start the road from democracy to a dictatorship. Hitler's entire life was one of making key-life and death-strategic decisions, successfully. [22] Himmler named his deputy Reinhard Heydrich to head the Gestapo on 22 April 1934. 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. Moreover, it was not just the Reichswehr that viewed the SA as a threat. [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. Consequences of the Night of the long Knives Death of Hindenburg and Fuhrer Army Oath Plenary - hierarchy task. This continued when a young Dutchcommunist, Van der Lubbe was arrested for the crime. Once inside Rhm's cell, they handed him a Browning pistol loaded with a single cartridge and told him he had ten minutes to kill himself or they would do it for him. Home Explore. : Why did Hitler order the massacre of hundreds of Nazis. Religion and The Bloody Chamber. [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. SA violence in Prussia gravely concerned Gring. of any opponents, who were be framed as traitors to the republic. [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. These acts removed peoples ability to oppose the Nazi Party, in any form. This would allow them to rule unopposed and unhindered by coalition governments. [42] The Gestapo also murdered Erich Klausener, the leader of Catholic Action, and a close Papen associate. The day after the fire, Hindenburg signed the Emergency Decree for the Protection of the German People. The SA were dramatically reduced in size, dropping by 40% to 1.8 million by 1935. Hess, present among the assembled, even volunteered to shoot the "traitors". In his speech to the Reichstag on 13 July justifying his actions, Hitler denounced Schleicher for conspiring with Rhm to overthrow the government; Hitler alleged both were traitors working in the pay of France. 20 terms. 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. [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. Until then, Lippert had been one of the few executioners of the purge to evade trial. The day after the Reichstag fire, the 28 February 1933, Hindenburg signed a decree giving Hitler emergency powers. [39] There in the prison courtyard, the Leibstandarte firing squad shot five SA generals and an SA colonel. Hitler's task would not be simple, however, as the SA made up a large part of Nazism's most devoted followers. The Foreign Office even complained of instances where brownshirts manhandled foreign diplomats. Fearing that the paramilitary SA had become too powerful, Hitler ordered his elite SS guards to murder the organization's leaders, including Ernst Rhm. Night of the Long Knives 30 June 1934. On the 28 February 1933, President Hindenburg signed the Emergency Decree for the Protection of the German People. [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. But with the Night of the Long Knives, it's . 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. While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. Both Kurt von Schleicher, Hitler's predecessor as Chancellor, and his wife were murdered at their home. [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. 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. Hitler arrived and personally placed Rhm and other high ranking SA leaders under arrest. The primary instruments of Hitler's action, which carried out most of the killings, were the Schutzstaffel (SS) paramilitary force under Himmler and its Security Service (SD), and Gestapo (secret police) under Reinhard Heydrich. 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. [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. They understood the need to appear moderate and take over slowly by democratic means where possible, maintaining the stability and illusion of a democracy. At first, its architects seemed split on how to handle the event. Reviews Something went wrong, please try again later. The SA traced its dramatic rise in numbers in part to the onset of the Great Depression, when many German citizens lost both their jobs and their faith in traditional institutions. government, under President Hindenburg. This hysteria helped to turn the public against the communists, one of the Nazis main opponents, and 4000 people were imprisoned. The Nazis used the guise of moderationto conceal their rapid consolidation of power. Prisons soon became stretched for space. [25] Neurath's manoeuvre to put pressure on Hitler paid off, with Mussolini agreeing to the request (Neurath was a former ambassador to Italy, and knew Mussolini well). The Nazis had the support of the DNVP, and had banned the communist party, the KPD, from attending. "[74], Hitler named Viktor Lutze to replace Rhm as head of the SA. The Nazis also took steps to ensure they couldnt be openly opposed in the press. 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. People could be imprisoned for any or no reason. Following the purge, the Nazi's sculpted the media coverage to portray the event as a preventative measure against a revolutionary, violent, and . 464 Words. One key example of an event posed as moderate was the Night of Long Knives. "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.'" In a new pair Rally Coach this worksheet. While Rhm's homosexuality did not endear him to conservatives, they were more concerned about his political ambitions. An atmosphere of panic and terror followed the event. [63], Former Kaiser Wilhelm II, who was in exile in Doorn, Netherlands, was horrified by the purge. Refusing to take his own life, he was shot on 1 July 1934 by two SS guards. [6], Hitler's appointment as chancellor, followed by the suppression of all political parties except the Nazis, did not end the violence of the stormtroopers. The result was that it was made Hitler the undisputed leader of the Nazis and by extension Germany. [33] On 28 June Hitler went to Essen to attend the wedding celebration and reception of Josef Terboven; from there he called Rhm's adjutant at Bad Wiessee and ordered SA leaders to meet with him on 30 June at 11:00. Fearing that the paramilitary SA had become too powerful, Hitler ordered his elite SS guards to murder the organizations leaders, including Ernst Rhm. 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. This new law gave Hitler the power to rule by decree rather than passing laws through the Reichstag and the president. They were often given a free rein on their activities and were violent and difficult to control. consolidate [82] However, the term was soon adopted by the Nazis themselves to invoke what they saw as justifiable and necessary measures taken by Germanic peoples against an enemy. The Peoples Court, a court created by the Nazis in April 1934 with judges chosen specifically for their Nazi beliefs, replaced the Supreme Court. , which opened just a few days before the vote on the 20 March 1933. They murdered Austrian Chancellor Engelbert Dollfuss in his chancellery, but the putsch failed in its main purpose. The news of it was received with consternation and disgust in the other European capitals, but the shock was greatest in Rome. The undersigned Generals and senior officers swear to preserve to the last breath their loyalty to you and the Fatherland. As the leader of the SA, Rhm was seen as a threat to Hitlers power. The generals, whose chief spokesman was the minister of defense, Werner von Blomberg, were certainly impressed by the efficiency with which Rhm and his SA clique had been eliminated. Hitler told the crowd that "undisciplined and disobedient characters and asocial or diseased elements" would be annihilated. The Nazis immediately used the Enabling Law to remove civil rights. [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. 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. oppression They will . As such, the Nazis consolidation of power relied on maintaining the illusion of a stable democracy. Ernst Rhm was murdered in the event known as the Rhm Putsch, or the Night of Long Knives. Sixty years ago today, Harold Macmillan carried out a cabinet reshuffle which became known as the 'Night of the Long Knives'. The long term impact brought forth by the consequences or legacy of the Nazi party included a population decrease and an increase in deaths. , In this hour I was responsible for the fate of the German people, and thereby I became the supreme judge of the German people. Having earlier imprisoned or exiled prominent Social Democrats and Communists, Hitler used the occasion to move against conservatives he considered unreliable. The destiny of our country is at stake. A poster from the March 1933 elections. On 25 April 1933, the Law Against Overcrowding in Schools and Universities was issued, restricting the number of Jewish students. For new Germany unit - 1890-1945. Captain Ernst Rhm of the Reichswehr served as the liaison with the Bavarian Freikorps. 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. info)), or the Rhm purge (German: Rhm-Putsch), also called Operation Hummingbird (German: Unternehmen Kolibri), was a purge that took place in Nazi Germany from 30 June to 2 July 1934. 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. The first concentration camp, Dachau, opened in a broken-down munitions factory on the 20 March 1933, imprisoning primarily political prisoners. 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. The SS found Breslau SA leader Edmund Heines in bed with an unidentified eighteen-year-old male SA senior troop leader. Many of the prisoners were tortured and abused. 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. . You must first remember and recite all the points made earlier in the circle then add your own point. [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. Hitler, however, disclaimed all responsibility for the coup, sent a telegram of condolence to Austrian Pres. While Nazism was not exclusively or even primarily a working-class phenomenon, the SA fulfilled the yearning of many unemployed workers for class solidarity and nationalist fervour. Rhm left the Reichswehr in 1923 and later became commander of the SA. of democracy. The Night of the Long Knives was "an act of carnage" which had come out of the blue. [2] The purge strengthened and consolidated the support of the military for Hitler. illusion 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). The law needed two thirds of the Reichstag to vote for it to pass. Many of those killed in the purge were leaders of the SA, the best-known being Rhm himself, the SA's chief of staff and one of Hitler's longtime supporters and allies. 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. It was during this speech that Hitler gave the purge its name: Night of the Long Knives (a phrase from a popular Nazi song). [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. "[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! [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. 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. On 7 April 1943, the SS shut down the Chemno death camp for the first time. Rhm, however, wanted to eliminate the generalship of the Prussian aristocracy altogether, using the SA to become the core of a new German military. 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. On 1 July, at Hitler's behest, Theodor Eicke, Commandant of the Dachau concentration camp, and his SS adjutant Michael Lippert visited Rhm. info)), or the Rhm purge (German: Rhm-Putsch), also called Operation Hummingbird (German: Unternehmen Kolibri), was a purge that took place in Nazi Germany from 30 June to 2 July 1934. What were Hitler's and the Nazi Party's ideas? With Hitler's arrival in Bad Wiessee between 06:00 and 07:00, the SA leadership, still in bed, were taken by surprise. On 19 April 1943, the beginning of the liquidation of the Warsaw ghetto was met with organised armed resistance by its residents. [17] While Hitler did not take immediate action against Rhm for his intemperate outburst, it nonetheless deepened the rift between them.
Frases Para Mi Novio Que Es Frio Conmigo, Assent In Quebec Crossword Clue, Roswell Jr Hornets Basketball, Is Glynn Turman Still Alive, Articles C