What happened on the Night of the Long Knives?

On the night of June 30, 1934, Adolf Hitler ordered a bloody purge of his political rivals.

The so-called Night of the Long Knives was a massacre that claimed the lives of hundreds of people, including many high-ranking members of the Nazi Party.

What prompted Hitler to order such an atrocity?

Why did he feel the need to kill his own comrades?

By the middle of 1934, Hitler appeared to be in complete command of Germany. He had banned political opposition parties, taken over the media, and prohibited contentious trade unions.

Communists and other political dissidents were imprisoned in concentration camps.

The Reichswehr (military), wealthy industrialists, and some higher levels of the bureaucracy were the only parts of Germany not controlled or infiltrated by the Nazis.

Hitler now focused on internal issues and potential dangers in the Nazi movement, particularly the SA.

The SA had a significant part in Hitler's rise to power, especially during the three Reichstag elections of 1932-33.

Voting irregularities were reported in the recent local council elections, with an estimated 50,000 members of the SA serving as polling booth officials and sheriffs. 

They also intimidated political opponents, disrupted left-wing gatherings and demonstrations, threatened individuals, distributed party propaganda, and even tore down anti-Nazi pamphlets.

This increase in street violence alarmed many Germans; they had voted for Hitler believing he would control the drunken and thuggish Brownshirts.

The SA expanded dramatically after Adolf Hitler was named chancellor in January 1933.

The SA had about 500,000 members in January 1933. Its membership grew to 2.5 million in just eight months; by January 1934, it was almost 3 million.

The SA's rapid membership increase was also thanks to the efforts of its leader Ernst Rohm.

Without the approval of Hitler, Rohm worked hard to publicise and recruit for the SA, using propaganda and imposing harsh standards.

The Stahlhelm was absorbed into the SA at Rohm's command.

By the middle of 1934, the Nazi paramilitary organization boasted 4.5 million members.

The swollen SA was continuously short of competent organizers and street-level commanders, which resulted in several local branches having a shortage of leadership and poor discipline among its troops.

Some SA stormtroopers became bored when there were no elections to disrupt, unionists to assault, nor communist meetings to gatecrash.

They succumbed to inebriation, wreaked havoc on private property, and launched minor assaults on average Germans. 

With SA membership approaching that of the NSDAP, Hitler was facing an internal struggle.

By 1934, the SA had become somewhat of an embarrassment to the more "respectable" elements of the Nazi Party, including the SS and the army.

Their unruly behavior and revolutionary rhetoric were seen as threats to the stability and legitimacy of the Nazi regime.

In German cities, certain branches of the SA were out of control, sullying the party's reputation and costing it local support. 

The political rhetoric of Ernst Rohm concerned Hitler. Hitler had made Rohm commander of the SA with the express purpose of restoring discipline and loyalty - a goal he had so far failed to achieve.

Instead, Rohm was becoming a challenge to Hitler's own power.

By early 1934 Rohm's personal reputation within the SA had almost surpassed that of Hitler himself.

Rumors began to circulate in the NSDAP in Spring of 1934 that Rohm and the SA were planning a revolution to dethrone Hitler.

The SA spoke of a radical push for a "second revolution" that would have further socialized the German economy.

This was at odds with Hitler's goals and the interests of the industrialists and army leaders who supported him.

Several Nazi leaders, pro-Nazi industrialists, and Reichswehr generals urged Hitler to dismiss Rohm.

For weeks, Hitler vacillated over what to do. A letter was sent from Hindenburg, which stated that the old man was thinking of enacting martial law to handle the SA and prompted Hitler into action. 

On June 30th, 1934, Hitler ordered his fiercely loyal Schutzstaffel (SS) to arrest Rohm and other prominent SA leaders.

Those arrested were either murdered on the spot, captured while fighting back, or forced to take their own lives; the death toll was stated as 85 people, though it is likely that it was considerably higher. 

The term "Rohm-putsch" was coined by the Nazis to describe a three-day wave of raids, arrests, and killings that they claimed was an effort to cleanse the party of corruption.

However, it was called the "Night of the Long Knives" outside the Nazi Party, and it demonstrated Hitler's ruthless determination to keep power using force against all who challenged his position.

Ernst Rohm himself was imprisoned for two days. Then, Hitler ordered his execution.

When the SS officers gave Rohm the pistol and instructed him to commit suicide, he refused. As a result, the SS did the deed themselves. 

But it wasn't just the SA leadership who got hurt throughout the "Night of the Long Knives."

It was also used to eliminate political opponents and fix some old vendettas, including Kurt von Schleicher, Erich Klausener, and Gustav Ritter von Kahr.

In the wake of the July 1934 purges, Hitler weakened the SA so that it could never again rebel against party authority or challenge his power.

Victor Lutze, a minor official with no political ambitions, was named commander.

In 1938, the SA was down to 1.2 million members – a quarter of the numbers from four years previously. 

The Himmler-led SS was the main beneficiary of this purge, taking over as the NSDAP's main paramilitary organisation in its place.

The SS was an elitist group with stringent entrance criteria, so it never grew to the size of the SA in 1933-34.

Nonetheless, by January 1939, SS membership had reached 300,000.

The Night of the Long Knives was a watershed moment in Nazi history. It demonstrated that Hitler was not afraid to use violence against his enemies, real or perceived.

From this point on, no one within the Nazi Party would ever seriously challenge his authority again.