Why did Hitler feel intimidated by the SA? Night of the Long Knives, in German history, purge of Nazi leaders by Adolf Hitler on June 30, 1934. Leading figures of the "left-wing" Strasserist faction of the Nazi Party, along with its namesake, Gregor Strasser, were murdered, … This took place in Germany between June 30 and July 2, 1934. Hitler had made it clear that he was the supreme ruler of Germany who had the right to be judge and jury, and had the power to decide whether people lived or died. In 1993 Otto Gritschneder published a book on the post–World War II prosecution of those involved in the killings which lists 90 names of people killed (adding the doctor and Röhm associate Karl Günther Heimsoth to the list). The Night of the Long Knives not only removed the SA leaders but also got Hitler the army’s oath that he so needed. This "Gestapo List" comprised a total of 77 names. Between June 30 and July 2, all SA leaders were “purged” (murdered), as were other Nazi adversaries. 0. "[5] Both of those figures are much higher than the ones most historians of the period rely on, and that Shirer himself was not necessarily citing the figures as accurate, but was simply relaying them in his book. Tags: Adolf Hitler. [6], National Socialist German Students' League (NSDStB), National Socialist League of the Reich for Physical Exercise (NSRL), Combat League of Revolutionary National Socialists (KGRNS), South African Gentile National Socialist Movement, National Socialist Movement in the Netherlands, National Socialist Workers' Party of Denmark, Nationalist Liberation Alliance (Argentina), Estimates of people killed in addition to those on the official list, Rainer Orth: Der SD-Mann Johannes Schmidt. Although the two men were not involved politically, it was deemed that they 'knew too much'. In his speech Hitler revealed the names of 11 of those 77 (Ferdinand von Bredow, Georg von Detten, Karl Ernst, Hans Hayn, Edmund Heines, Peter von Heydebreck, Ernst Röhm, Kurt von Schleicher, Gregor Strasser, and Julius Uhl). Google+. Background to the Purge The Night of the Long Knives, or the Röhm Purge, also called Operation Hummingbird (German: Unternehmen Kolibri), was a purge that took place in Nazi Germany from June 30 to July 2, 1934, when Adolf Hitler, urged on by Hermann Göring and Heinrich Himmler, carried out a series of political extrajudicial executions intended to consolidate his hold on … He was also a well-respected music critic, and wrote for the Munchener Neueste … Hitler feared that some of his followers had taken his early National Socialism propaganda too seriously and thus might compromise hi… The official list of those killed was first published in 1964 by Heinrich Bennecke (1902–1972) in the appendix of his book Die Reichswehr und der "Röhm-Putsch". Results of the Night of the Long Knives • Over 1,000 opponents were killed. In September 1934 Heinrich Himmler—eager to shield his SS men from legal prosecution—managed to convince Hitler to change his mind on the latter six people, whose names as a consequence, were subsequently added to the official list whose killing was to be considered rightful and which now encompassed 83 names. On June 30, Hitler and a large group of SS men arrived at the Hanslbauer Hotel, where Röhm was waiting. It was during this speech that Hitler gave the purge its name: Night of the Long Knives (a phrase from a popular Nazi song). The purge is known as the “Night of the Long Knives” or “Operation Hummingbird.” These murders cemented an agreement between the Nazi Regime and the German army (Reichswehr). info)), or the Röhm Purge, also called Operation Hummingbird (German: Unternehmen Kolibri), was a purge that took place in Nazi Germany from June 30 to July 2, 1934. Finally, it should be noted that many—but not all—of the victims had some role in bringing Hitler to power. In Germany, Nazi leader Adolf Hitler orders a bloody purge of his own political party, assassinating hundreds of Nazis whom he believed had the potential to become political enemies in the future. The Night of the Tech Long Knives. SGT - January 11, 2021. The total number of victims is heavily disputed between historians; some estimates put the number in the hundreds. The most recent study on the matter lists by name 89 people who were definitely killed, as well as two other cases of whom it is unclear whether they were murdered during the events or slightly earlier or later. It was what would later be called The Night of the Long Knives. World War X Wiki is a FANDOM Games Community. People killed during the Night of the Long Knives (German: Nacht der langen Messer) – the Nazi purge in which Hitler and the Nazi regime used the Schutzstaffel (SS) to deal with the problem of Ernst Röhm and his Sturmabteilung (SA) brownshirts (the original Nazi paramilitary organization), as well as past opponents of the party – numbered at least 85 people murdered. The Night of the Long Knives , sometimes called "Operation Hummingbird " or in Germany the "Röhm-Putsch," was a purge that took place in Nazi Germany between June 30 and July 2, 1934, when the Nazi regime carried out a series of political murders. WhatsApp. They were under the control of Ernst Julius Röhm , a loyal … Facebook. But it was not just the SA leadership who suffered during the ‘Night of the Long Knives’. ")[1] it was decided that the killing of everybody on that list was to be considered lawful and that therefore the police and Attorney Offices were prohibited from investigating and prosecuting anyone for those killings. Kershaw notes that "some estimates...put the total number killed at between 150 and 200. The proprietor and the head-waiter of the Bratwurst-Gloeckle in Munich, Röhm's favorite tavern, where Goebbels had met secretly with Röhm prior to the purge. Hitler also used it to eliminate political opponents and settle some old scores. The SS was moving into position for the first of its many deadly tasks. Immediately after the events of the purge the Gestapo compiled an official list of those killed at the order of Hitler himself who wished to gain an overall view on the number and identity of those killed in order to prepare the Reichstag speech in which he intended to present his interpretation of the occurrences of June 30 to July 2 to the German public and the world in general, and which he finally delivered on July 13. 1) Many of their leaders were killed by other Nazis in the night of the Long Knives. Bristol: Aerospace Bristol; The Crown: History vs Myth; As the leader of the SA, Röhm was seen as a threat to Hitler’s power. Email. During that time, Hitler’s SS troopers rounded up and killed approximately 77 men belonging to … he warned Werner von Alvensleben, Schleicher's go-between to Hitler—but not Schleicher—to spend the fateful weekend at his hunting lodge; and was himself only killed after participating in the fateful 20th of July 1944 coup attempt.) The Night of the Long Knives (a phrase from a popular Nazi song) also called “Operation Hummingbird” or the “Rohm- Putch,” is considered an important day and a turning point in Germany’s history. He was consequently shot by two SS officers after being held briefly at Stadelheim Prison in Munic… and Adolf Morsbach, the head of the cosmopolitan-minded Akademischer Austauschdienst (Academic Exchange Programme), who had instead been sent to a Nazi concentration camp. 2) After this "purge," of their leaders, many S.A. members simply "retired" or found new jobs. ... Hitler killed many SA soldiers, the leaders and any other opposition to Hitler. [1] The noted historian Ian Kershaw, author of a two-volume biography on Hitler, also cites the number of deaths at 85. After a law entitled "Gesetz über Maßnahmen der Staatsnotwehr" ("Law pertaining to the Measures of Self-Defense of the State") had been passed by the Reich Cabinet on July 3, which declared: "Die zur Niederschlagung hoch- und landesverräterischer Angriffe am 30. Hitler could not afford to annoy businessmen or the army, so the SS (Hitler's personal bodyguards) murdered around 400 members of the SA, including Röhm, along with a … Because they wanted to take control of the army, therefore gaining more people and furthermore enough to take over Hitler. Heines was eventually shot, but the fate of the other is unknown. Hitler claimed that 61 had been executed while 13 had been shot resisting arrest and three had committed suicide. Chancellor Adolf Hitler, urged on by Hermann Göring and Heinrich Himmler, ordered a series of political extrajudicial executions intended to consolidate his power and alleviate the concerns of the German military about the role of Ernst Röhm and the Juli 1934 vollzogenen Maßnahmen sind als Staatsnotwehr rechtens" ("The measures taken to clamp down on the treasonous attacks of June 30th, July 1st and 2nd are rightful, due to having been acts of self-defense of the State. Wilhelm Eduard Schmid (April 12, 1893 – June 30, 1934), better known as Willi Schmid, was a German music critic, and an accidental victim of the Knight of the Long Knives in a case of mistaken identity.. Schmid studied music under Christian Döbereiner, and founded the Munich Viol Quartet. Although most of those killed in what came to be known as "The Night of the Long Knives" were members of the SA, other victims included close associates of Vice Chancellor Franz von Papen, several Reichswehr (German Army) generals – one of whom, Kurt von Schleicher, was formerly the Chancellor of Germany – and their associates; Gregor Strasser, Hitler's former competitor for control of the Nazi Party; at least one person killed in a case of mistaken identity; and several innocent victims killed because they "knew too much.". At the 1957 trial in Munich the figure 'more than 1,000' was used. 102–112. "[2] The journalist and historian William L. Shirer writes in his Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, that "The White Book of the Purge, published by émigrés in Paris claims 401 deaths, but lists only 116 of them. The Night of the Long The night was 29th June 1934, the Night of the Long Knives. 1. Fearing that the paramilitary SA had become too powerful, Hitler ordered his elite SS guards to murder the organization’s leaders, including Ernst Röhm. At the 1957 trial in Munich the figure 'more than 1,000' was used. Der Mörder des Reichskanzlers Kurt von Schleicher?, Marburg 2011, pp. Historians say that it began on June 29 and ended on June 30. Heinrich Bennecke complemented the names of the city clerk Kuno Kamphausen from Waldenburg and the music critic Willi Schmid to his reprint of the official Gestapo list, whereupon he concluded that at least 85 people were killed during the purge. The precise number of victims of the Night of the Long Knives is disputed and will probably never be known with certainty. It was about 6 a.m. when Hitler, his pistol in hand, apprehended Röhm in his room and put him under arrest. Former chancellor Kurt von Schleicher, who was plotting the return of the Hohenzollern monarchy, was … The list of victims was retrieved from the German Wikipedia unless otherwise stated.[4]. Take your favorite fandoms with you and never miss a beat. Why did Hitler turn on the SA in the Night of the Long Knives? Leading members of the leftist-leaning Strasserist faction of the Nazi Party, including its figurehead, 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 suppressed Hitler's Munich Beer Hall Putsch in 1923. Also killed that night were hundreds of other perceived opponents of Hitler. Röhm’s deputy, Edmund Heines, who was next door, was also ordered to be rounded up, taken outside, and shot. (, "Victims of the Night of the Long Knives", Learn how and when to remove this template message, National Socialist German Doctors' League, An Essay on the Inequality of the Human Races, The Foundations of the Nineteenth Century, Bulgarian National Socialist Workers Party, German National Movement in Liechtenstein, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Victims_of_the_Night_of_the_Long_Knives&oldid=999319872, Articles needing additional references from March 2020, All articles needing additional references, All Wikipedia articles written in American English, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, Fritz Beck, director of the Munich Students' Welfare Fund. Most of those killed were members of the "Storm Division" (SA) (German: Sturmabteilung), a Nazi paramilitary organization. It was an event during which Hitler’ SS troops committed a series of political murders to rid Hitler of possible political threats. The Night of the Long Knives (German: Nacht der langen Messer) was a purge in which Papen and his allies were quickly marginalized by Hitler and he left the government after the Night of the Long Knives in 1934, during which the Nazis killed some of his confidants. The History Place - World War II in Europe Timeline: June 30, 1934 - The Night of the Long Knives At The History Place - A description of the events surrounding Hitler's purge of the SA and the murder of Ernst Roehm. By. People killed during the Night of the Long Knives (German: Nacht der langen Messer) – the Nazi purge in which Hitler and the Nazi regime used the Schutzstaffel (SS) to deal with the problem of Ernst Röhm and his Sturmabteilung (SA) brownshirts (the original Nazi paramilitary organization), as well as past opponents of the party – numbered at least 85 murdered. Moonlight glistened on numerous silvery revolvers, contrasting with the sinister black uniforms. Others have argued that as many as 400 people were killed during the purge. Dachau, which opens in March 1933, sees people killed there. Later, Hans Günther Richardi, in his study on the Dachau concentration camp, added the names of four inmates of Dachau (lawyer Julius Adler (1882–1934), worker Erich Gans (1908–1934), Walter Häbich and worker Adam Hereth (1897-1934)), claiming they were murdered by the SS during the purge. The lists thus were used by the Ministry and the Gestapo as a referential tool which could be consulted to decide, whether requests of relatives and friends of those killed to be given information on the circumstances of death of their beloved ones, or requests to prosecute those responsible for their killing would be answered in the affirmative (people killed and not mentioned on the Gestapo list) or in the negative (people whose names were to be found on the list). List of victims was retrieved from the German Wikipedia unless otherwise stated. [ 4 ] consented... 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