Leading officers in the SS were shown falsified evidence on 24 June that Rhm planned to use the SA to launch a plot against the government (Rhm-Putsch). It is otherwise known as coordination or Nazification. With Greg Stebner. [29], In preparation for the purge, both Himmler and Heydrich assembled a dossier of manufactured evidence to suggest that Rhm had been paid 12 million (EUR 29.1million in 2023) by France to overthrow Hitler. The tension between the SA and the Nazi leadership grew. [71], In late 1934early 1935, 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. The elections were neither free or fair. [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. The Night of Long Knives, also known as the Rhm Putsch, was the purge of the SA leadership and other political opponents from 30 June 1934 to 2 July 1934. concentration camp The crowd, which included party members and many SA members fortunate enough to escape arrest, shouted its approval. He lifted his arm in the Nazi salute and called out "Heil Hitler, I love Germany. Give Hitler four years to rebuild it! Over 150 people were murdered and hundreds more were arrested. Although President Hindenburg and the Reichstag continued to exist, Hitler could now govern by decree. One key example of an event posed as moderate was the Night of Long Knives. Definition of night of the long knives in the Idioms Dictionary. What does night of the long knives expression mean? With these measures in place, the Nazification of the judicial system was complete. On 1 July, at Hitler's behest, Theodor Eicke, Commandant of the Dachau concentration camp, and his SS adjutant Michael Lippert visited Rhm. [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 "knives of the long night" episode, as it is now called, took place with brutal swiftness. The widows of the murdered SA leaders received between 1,000 and 1,600 marks a month, depending on the rank of the murdered person. [21] Brning fled to the Netherlands while Schleicher dismissed the tip-off as a bad practical joke. The Night of the Long Knives was "an act of carnage" which had come out of the blue. wikipedia notes: The Night of the Long Knives (German: Nacht der langen Messer) or "Operation Hummingbird," was a purge of Adolf Hitler's potential political rivals in the Sturmabteilung (SA). [1] More than a thousand perceived opponents were arrested. Following the Enabling Law, much of this harassment and imprisonment was legal. 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. Definitions by the largest Idiom Dictionary. To take control of cultural policy, the Nazis appointed Joseph Goebbels as Minister for Public Engagement and Propaganda on the 13 March 1933. Gleichschaltung was applied across every possible aspect of government policy. This was called the "Night of the Long Knives." This cartoon is joking about how these fanatical Nazis who were once Hitler's shock troops now found themselves the target of Hitler. By May, lists of those to be "liquidated" started to circulate amongst Gring and Himmler's people, who engaged in a trade, adding enemies of one in exchange for sparing friends of the other. As the SA were known for being violent and unruly, many saw this as a legitimate move by the government to ensure public order. This betrayal is seen by the image of SA members looking fearful in . A firefighter in the burnt out ruins of the Reichstag building. He stated that 61 people had been executed and 13 had committed suicide. 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. Historian Gavin Mortimer explains how Hitler nearly came unstuck as early as 1934 - and that the bloody purge that followed was a warning of horrors to come. Open navigation menu [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. The SA were the thugs who Hitler had used to help him come to power. The Night of the Long Knives: the bloody purge that secured Hitler's power. Access-restricted-item true Addeddate 2020-03-19 01:01:54 Boxid IA1794905 Camera USB PTP Class Camera Collection_set printdisabled External-identifier urn:oclc:record:1150935398 It was the culmination of a chaotic week in Westminster, which saw furious calls for an overhaul . The SS was moving into position for the first of its many deadly tasks. The day after the Reichstag fire, the 28 February 1933, Hindenburg signed a decree giving Hitler emergency powers. Through these aspects the Nazis suppressed any opposition to their power, and were able to start the road from democracy to a dictatorship. Nazis Hermann Gring and Heinrich Himmler wait for the code word from Hitler to begin what will become known as the "Night of the Long Knives". In response to conservative pressure to constrain Rhm, Hitler left for Neudeck to meet with Hindenburg. Overall, what is the meaning of the cartoon? The Bill passed by 444 votes for to 94 against on the 24 March 1933. Doug and Tony land in nineteenth century Asia, meet Rudyard Kipling and become involved in the conflict between the British and local tribesman for control of the Khyber Pass. Opposition from outside the Nazi party was being strangled . As such the Nazis justified this measure as implementing necessary security measures, rather than revealing their true motive to remove opposition. She even compared him to Frederick the Great, the 18th-century king of Prussia.[2]. How useful is the cartoon in helping us to understand the events that occurred during The Night of the Long Knives? Uploaded: 09/18/2002. [20] Although Schleicher was in fact unimportant by 1934, increasingly wild rumours that he was scheming with Rhm to re-enter the corridors of power helped stoke the sense of crisis. 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 stretch of blood. Political instability in the Weimar Republic, Hyperinflation and the invasion of the Ruhr, Strength and weaknesses of the Weimar Republic. You gave these parties 14 years to ruin Germany! Hitler announced that he would occupy this new role. The Liberals' future leader, Jeremy Thorpe, mocked Macmillan by observing . The three men that stand in front of the SA are Hitler (standing aggressively with an armband that reads: the double cross- a pun about the swastika and Hitlers betrayal), Goering (who is dressed as a violent god of war, showing how the Nazis have abandoned democracy and now rule by terror), and Goebbels (shown as Hitlers poodle, since in Britain, where this cartoon was published,he was seen to be cowardly and extremely loyal to Hitler). [29] On 29 June, a signed article in Vlkischer Beobachter by Blomberg appeared in which Blomberg stated with great fervour that the Reichswehr stood behind Hitler. to control. ", "But in origin the National Socialists had been a radical anti-capitalist party, and this part of the National Socialist programme was not only taken seriously by many loyal Party members but was of increasing importance in a period of economic depression. ", Last edited on 28 February 2023, at 06:34, Night of the Long Knives (disambiguation), The History Place Triumph of Hitler Night of the Long Knives, German Culture The Third Reich Consolidation of Power, The German Embassy in the United States The Era of National Socialism, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Night_of_the_Long_Knives&oldid=1142048294, Operation Hummingbird, Rhm Putsch (by the Nazis), The Blood Purge. Night of the Long Knives: Directed by Paul Stanley. Facebook Twitter Email Copy Link. Night of the Long Knives. The Night of the Long Knives In June 1934, Hitler ordered the SA to go on leave for the entire month. Max Heydebreck, an SA leader in Rummelsburg, denounced the army to his fellow brownshirts, telling them, "Some of the officers of the army are swine. This hysteria helped to turn the public against the communists, one of the Nazis main opponents, and 4000 people were imprisoned. The SA evolved out of the remnants of the Freikorps movement of the post-World War I years. It was all three of these men that were responsible for this night, because Hitler asked Goering and Goebbels to compile a list of disloyal SA members,; this list formed the basis of those killed on the Night of the Long Knives. What were Hitler's and the Nazi Party's ideas? Gleichschaltung was the process of the Nazi Party taking control over all aspects of Germany. [25] While Mussolini's criticism did not win Hitler over to acting against the SA, it helped push him in that direction.[25]. [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. [35] Schneidhuber was executed later that day. 1922 1923 1925 1943 1944 Albert Speer Art Auschwitz autobahn British Pathe Cartoon cartoons Catholic Church Chancellor Dada Denmark Disney Document Documentary Film Final Solution Four Year Plan Goebbels Hindenburg Hitler Holocaust Hyperinflation Jews July Bomb Plot . It's Friday Cartoon Images67,818 Happy Friday Stock Photos and Images. By the end of 1934, the Nazis had managed to infiltrate and take control of every major aspect of German government. Rhm left the Reichswehr in 1923 and later became commander of the SA. The Nazis had the support of the DNVP, and had banned the communist party, the KPD, from attending. [8], On 6 July 1933, at a gathering of high-ranking Nazi officials, Hitler declared the success of the National Socialist, or Nazi, seizure of power. "[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 will first explore this topic in chronological order, from the Reichstag Fire through to the death of President Hindenburg, and then explore it thematically in the last section. Prime Minister Harold Macmillan dismissed seven members of his Cabinet, one-third of the total. night of the long knives phrase. July 14-20, 1934 News articles, editorials, opinion pieces, letters-to-the-editor, and . Let the nation know that its existencewhich depends on its internal order and securitycannot be threatened with impunity by anyone! At first, its architects seemed split on how to handle the event. "[65] Another rare exception was Field Marshal August von Mackensen, who spoke about the murders of Schleicher and Bredow at the annual General Staff Society meeting in February 1935 after they had been rehabilitated by Hitler in early January 1935. . . SS men stormed the hotel, and Hitler personally placed Rhm and other high-ranking SA leaders under arrest. Finally, Hitler used the purge to attack or eliminate German critics of his new regime, especially those loyal to Vice-Chancellor Franz von Papen, as well as to settle scores with old enemies.[a]. They understood the need to appear moderate and take over slowly by democratic means where possible, maintaining the stability and illusion of a democracy. [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. Further, he recognized that the Sturmabteilung was becoming increasingly useless as their main job to intimidate was becoming unnecessary as more people heeled to Hitler's . Several of Hitler's lieutenants feared Rhm's growing power and restlessness, as did Hitler. Definitions by the largest Idiom Dictionary. With Hindenburg gone, there was no longer a limit to Hitlers power. Deprived of Communist party meetings to disrupt, the stormtroopers would sometimes run riot in the streets after a night of drinking; they would attack passers-by and then attack the police who were called to stop them. Night of the Long Knives. This fear was [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 told the gathered officials, "The stream of revolution has been undammed, but it must be channelled into the secure bed of evolution. [24] Before Hitler left, and at the request of Presidential State Secretary Otto Meiner, Foreign Minister Baron Konstantin von Neurath ordered the German Ambassador to Italy Ulrich von Hassell without Hitler's knowledge to ask Mussolini to tell Hitler that the SA was blackening Germany's good name. [22] Himmler named his deputy Reinhard Heydrich to head the Gestapo on 22 April 1934. In 1934, Hitler purged the SA, killed a bunch of its leaders to eliminate the Strasserist faction and made it a largely irrelevant organization. This act legalised removing anyone of non-Ayran descent from the civil service. He took seriously the socialist promise of National Socialism and demanded that Hitler and the other party leaders initiate wide-ranging socialist reform in Germany. [11] Rhm saw violence as a means to political ends. I also almost always agree with what his cartoons are saying. In British politics, the "Night of the Long Knives" was a major Cabinet reshuffle that took place on 13 July 1962. Reichswehr No one in the SA spoke more loudly for "a continuation of the German revolution" (as one prominent stormtrooper, Edmund Heines, put it) than Rhm himself. Because their plans for the army conflicted, Rhm's success could come only at Hitler's expense. It was during this speech that Hitler gave the purge its name: Night of the Long Knives (a phrase from a popular Nazi song). 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. The Night of the Long Knives not only removed the SA leaders but also got Hitler the army's oath that he so needed. ,