ON THIS DAY

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June 30, 1934

Night of the Long Knives

The Night of the Long Knives was a purge that took place in Nazi Germany from 30 June to 2 July 1934.

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 Sturmabteilung (SA), the Nazis' paramilitary organisation, known colloquially as "Brownshirts". Nazi propaganda presented the murders as a preventive measure against an alleged imminent coup by the SA under Röhm – the so-called Röhm Putsch.

Ernst Rohm

Röhm, standing fifth from left behind Hitler and Himmler, pictured as a member of "the staff of the Führer taken on the day of his appointment as Reich Chancellor" on 30 January 1933

The primary instruments of Hitler's action were the Schutzstaffel (SS) paramilitary force under Himmler and its Security Service (SD), and Gestapo (secret police) under Reinhard Heydrich, which between them carried out most of the killings. Göring's personal police battalion also took part.

Many of those killed in the purge were leaders of the SA, the best-known being Röhm himself, the SA's chief of staff and one of Hitler's longtime supporters and allies. The murders of SA leaders were also intended to improve the image of the Hitler government with a German public that was increasingly critical of thuggish SA tactics.

Hitler saw the independence of the SA and the penchant of its members for street violence as a direct threat to his newly gained political power. 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 Röhm's ambition to merge the army and the SA under his own leadership. Additionally, Hitler was uncomfortable with Röhm's outspoken support for a "second revolution" to redistribute wealth. In Röhm's view, President Paul von Hindenburg's appointment of Hitler as chancellor on 30 January 1933 had brought the Nazi Party to power, but had left unfulfilled the party's larger goals. 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 enemies.

At least 85 people died during the purge, although the final death toll may have been in the hundreds, with high estimates running from 700 to 1,000] More than 1,000 perceived opponents were arrested.

The Night of the Long Knives marked Hitler's absolute consolidation of judicial power and was a turning point in the establishment of Nazi Germany. Hitler would then go on to label himself "the administrator of justice of the German people" in his speech to the Reichstag on July 13, 1934.

BTW

The phrase "Night of the Long Knives" in the German language predates the massacre itself, and it also refers generally to acts of vengeance. Its origin might be the "Night of the Long Knives", a massacre of Vortigern's men by Angle, Jute, and Saxon mercenaries in Arthurian myth.

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