The Night of Knives


Hitler and Himmler unleashed the Gestapo against old enemies, as well. Both Kurt von Schleicher , Hitler's predecessor as Chancellor, and his wife were murdered at their home. Others killed included Gregor Strasser, a former Nazi who had angered Hitler by resigning from the party in , and Gustav Ritter von Kahr , the former Bavarian state commissioner who crushed the Beer Hall Putsch in His body was found in a wood outside Munich; he had been hacked to death, apparently with pickaxes.

The murdered included at least one accidental victim: We were close personal friends, we often dined together in Berlin. 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 which granted Hitler dictatorial authority. Until then, Lippert had been one of the few executioners of the purge to evade trial.

Lippert was convicted and sentenced to 18 months in prison. As the purge claimed the lives of so many prominent Germans, it could hardly be kept secret. At first, its architects seemed split on how to handle the event. If anyone reproaches me and asks why I did not resort to the regular courts of justice, then all I can say is this.

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In this hour I was responsible for the fate of the German people, and thereby I became the supreme judge of the German people. I gave the order to shoot the ringleaders in this treason, and I further gave the order to cauterise down to the raw flesh the ulcers of this poisoning of the wells in our domestic life. Let the nation know that its existence—which depends on its internal order and security—cannot be threatened with impunity by anyone! 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.

Concerned with presenting the massacre as legally sanctioned, Hitler had the cabinet approve a measure on July 3 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. Almost unanimously, the army applauded the Night of the Long Knives, even though the generals Kurt von Schleicher and Ferdinand von Bredow were among the victims.

The ailing President Hindenburg , Germany's highly revered military hero, sent a telegram expressing his "profoundly felt gratitude" and congratulated Hitler for "nipping treason in the bud.

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The army's support for the purge, however, would have far-reaching consequences for the institution. The humbling of the SA ended the threat it had posed to the army but, by standing by Hitler during the purge, the army bound itself more tightly to the Nazi regime. Rumours about the Night of the Long Knives rapidly spread.

Although many Germans approached the official news of the events as described by Joseph Goebbels with a great deal of scepticism, many others took the regime at its word, and believed that Hitler had saved Germany from a descent into chaos.

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She even compared him to Frederick the Great , the 18th-century King of Prussia. Others were appalled at the scale of the executions and at the relative complacency of many of their fellow Germans.

Excellency, the gravity of the moment has compelled us to appeal to you as our Supreme Commander. The destiny of our country is at stake.

Night of the Long Knives

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. Excellency, save Germany for the fourth time! The undersigned Generals and senior officers swear to preserve to the last breath their loyalty to you and the Fatherland. In late —early , 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. He asked, "What would people have said if I had done such a thing?

Hitler ordered him, as one prominent historian described it, to put an end to "homosexuality, debauchery, drunkenness, and high living" in the SA. Membership in the organisation plummeted from 2. According to Speer , "the Right, represented by the President, the Minister of Justice, and the generals, lined up behind Hitler The Night of the Long Knives represented a triumph for Hitler, and a turning point for the German government.

It established Hitler as "the supreme leader of the German people", as he put it in his July 13 speech to the Reichstag. Hitler formally adopted this title in April , thus placing himself de jure as well as de facto above the reach of the law. Centuries of jurisprudence proscribing extrajudicial killings were swept aside.

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. In this manner, the purge established a pattern of violence that would characterise the Nazi regime.

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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. For other uses, see Night of the Long Knives disambiguation. Victims of the Night of the Long Knives. Some estimates, however, put the total number killed at between and Johnson , p. The Nazis were the largest party in the legislature but were still considerably short of a majority. How seriously Hitler took the socialist character of National Socialism was to remain one of the main causes of disagreement and division within the Nazi party up to the summer of Frei , p.

If that was indeed true then, as a legal matter, the law was entirely unnecessary and redundant. Kershaw , p.

Rise of the Nazi Party 1 4 - Night of the Long Knives

Dodd papers; - Wheeler-Bennett, John W. The German Army in Politics , London: Verlag Willmuth Arenhovel, pp. Winkle, The Nazi Germany Sourcebook: An Anthology of Texts, p. Political Violence and the Rise of Nazism: The Storm Troopers in Eastern Germany — A Study in Tyranny. Collier, Martin; Pedley, Phillip Hitler and the Nazi State. Cook, Stan; Bender, Roger James Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler: The Third Reich in Power. National Socialist Rule in Germany: The Order of the Death's Head: The Story of Hitler's SS. Modern Times — the World from the Twenties to the Nineties. Kempka, Erich October 15, Image and Reality in the Third Reich.

I Will Bear Witness: The Diaries of Victor Klemperer. The German Army and the Nazi Party — Class and Status in Nazi Germany, — Generalfeldmarschall August von Mackensen, eine politische Biographie.

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