Night of the Long Knives

The Night of the Long Knives (1934) (German, Nacht der langen Messer), also known as Reichsmordwoche or "the Blood Purge", was a lethal purge of potential political rivals in the Sturmabteilung (SA) paramilitary wing of the Nazi Party. Occurring late on a Saturday night, the murders targeted Nazi members who were associated more with socialism than with nationalism, and hence were viewed as a threat by Chancellor Adolf Hitler. It took place a year after the SA had itself been used to expel Communist deputies from the Reichstag, which had permitted the passage of the Enabling Act giving Hitler dictatorial powers.

The purge

With all these groups aligned against Röhm, Hitler decided to act. He ordered all SA leaders to attend a meeting at the Hanselbauer Hotel in Bad Wiessee near Munich. On June 30 Hitler took personal command of Röhm's arrest. He then ordered Göring's Landespolizeigruppe General Göring and Himmler's Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler into action. Alfred Rosenberg's diary provides an account:

Related Topics:
Bad Wiessee - Munich - June 30 - Landespolizeigruppe ''General Göring'' - Leibstandarte SS ''Adolf Hitler'' - Alfred Rosenberg

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

:With an SS escort detachment the Führer drove to Bad Wiessee and knocked softly on Röhm's door: ?Message from Munich,? he said with disguised voice. ?Well come in,? Röhm called to the supposed messenger, ?the door is open.? Hitler tore open the door, fell on Röhm as he lay in bed, seized him by the throat and screamed, ?You are under arrest, you swine.? Then he turned the traitor over to the SS. At first Röhm refused to get dressed. The SS then threw his clothes in the Chief of Staff's face until he bestirred himself to put them on. In the room next door, they found young men engaged in homosexual activity. ?And these are the kind who want to be leaders in Germany,? the Führer said trembling. (Spielvogel, 78)

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In the following hours other SA leaders were also arrested, and many were shot out of hand. Apparently Hitler intended to pardon Röhm, but eventually decided to have him executed. It is believed that Röhm was offered a chance of suicide but was eventually shot. Hitler also used this purge of the SA to settle old scores: Third-Positionist Gregor Strasser, former Bavarian Commissar and Triumvir Gustav von Kahr, former Chancellor Kurt von Schleicher and Conservative Revolutionary figure Edgar Jung, among others, were all murdered. The current Vice Chancellor, Franz von Papen, was put under house arrest.

Related Topics:
Suicide - Third-Positionist - Gregor Strasser - Gustav von Kahr - Chancellor - Kurt von Schleicher - Conservative Revolutionary - Edgar Jung - Franz von Papen - House arrest

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

On July 3, the Reich government decided upon the Law Regarding Measures of State Self-Defense, consisting of a single article simply declaring the "measures taken" to be "legal State self-defense."

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Hitler announced the purge on 13 July, claiming 61 had been executed, 13 shot while resisting arrest, and 3 had committed suicide. In announcing the purge he stated, "If anyone reproaches me and asks why I did not resort to the regular courts of justice, then all I can say is this: In this hour I was responsible for the fate of the German people, and thereby I became the supreme judge (oberster Gerichtsherr) of the German people". - from William L. Shirer, The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, Simon and Schuster, New York, 1959.

Related Topics:
13 July - Justice

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

As a result of the purge, Hitler gained a measure of gratitude and support from the Reichswehr. On July 26th, the SS was made independent of the SA, with Himmler as its Reichsführer, answerable only to Hitler. Victor Lutze became the new leader of the SA, and it was soon marginalized in the Nazi power structure.

Related Topics:
Reichswehr - Reichsführer - Victor Lutze

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~