What happened on the Night of the Long Knives?

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 already being imprisoned in concentration camps.

Many industrialists and bureaucrats had already aligned with or supported the Nazi regime by 1934, and only small parts of Germany were not directly controlled or infiltrated by the Nazis.

In particular, the Reichswehr (military) was not yet fully Nazi-controlled.

Hitler now focused on internal issues and potential dangers in the Nazi movement, particularly the Sturmabteilung, a paramilitary group more commonly known as the SA.

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

For example, 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 (short for Schutzstaffel) political soldiers 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.

This included Franz von Papen, the former Chancellor, who had delivered the Marburg Speech on June 17, 1934, in which he criticized the Nazi regime and called for an end to SA violence.

For weeks, Hitler vacillated over what to do. In June 1934, a letter was sent from Paul von Hindenburg, which stated that the aging president was thinking of enacting martial law to handle the SA.

This finally prompted Hitler into action. 

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

Many of the arrests took place in Berlin, where key SA leaders and political figures were detained.

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.

Among them was Karl Ernst, who was the leader of the SA in Berlin and who had played a major role in helping Hitler rise to power.

He was arrested in Bremen on June 30, as he was about to embark on a honeymoon trip.

He was subsequently tortured and interrogated by an SS unit and then flown back to Berlin, where he was executed by a firing squad.

Later, 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 former German Chancellor Kurt von Schleicher, Catholic conservative Erich Klausener, and Gustav Ritter von Kahr.

Franz von Papen himself was placed under house arrest and some of his close associates were killed.

Then, on July 13, 1934, Hitler delivered a speech to the Reichstag, where he justified the Night of the Long Knives as a necessary move to prevent a coup, claiming he acted as "the supreme judge of the German people".

Realistically though, the purge was partly done to win over the military, especially key figures like Defense Minister Werner von Blomberg and General Werner von Fritsch, who had been concerned about the SA's growing influence.

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.

After the purge, Hitler appointed Victor Lutze, a relatively unknown and politically unambitious figure, as the new leader of the SA, ensuring that the organization would remain subordinate to the SS and the military.

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.