Shanna Kelly's List: knight of long knives

• he constantly feared that he might be ousted by others who wanted his powe
• By 1934 Adolf Hitler appeared to have complete control over Germany
• Hitler used the tactic of divide and rule and encouraged other leaders such as Hermann Goering, Joseph Goebbels, Heinrich Himmler and Ernst Roehm to compete with each other for senior positions.
• Roehm was particularly hated because as leader of the Sturm Abteilung (SA)
• , manufactured evidence that suggested that Roehm had been paid 12 million marks by the French to overthrow Hitler.
• The SA under Roehm's leadership had also played a vital role in destroying the opposition during the elections of 1932 and 1933.
• . Powerful supporters of Hitler had been complaining about Roehm for some time
• Roehm would become its overall leader.
• would absorb the much smaller German Army into its ranks and
• Albert Voegler, Gustav Krupp, Alfried Krupp, Fritz Thyssen and Emile Kirdorf,
• were unhappy with Roehm's socialistic views on the economy a
• Adolf Hitler was also aware that Roehm and the SA had the power to remove him
• Their masterstroke was to claim that Gregor Strasser, whom Hitler hated, was part of the planned conspiracy against him
• With this news Hitler ordered all the SA leaders to attend a meeting in the Hanselbauer Hotel in Wiesse.
• Goering and Himmler were drawing up a list of people outside the SA that they wanted killed
• Gustav von Kahr, who crushed the Beer Hall Putsch in 1923.
• Hitler's predecessor as chancello

• and Gustav von Kahr, who crushed the Beer Hall Putsch in 1923.

  On 29th June, 1934. Hitler, accompanied by the Schutzstaffel (SS), arrived at Wiesse, where he personally arrested Ernst Roehm. During the next 24 hours 200 other senior SA officers were arrested on the way to Wiesse. Many were shot as soon as they were captured but Hitler decided to pardon Roehm because of his past services to the movement. However, after much pressure from Hermann Goering and Heinrich Himmler, Hitler agreed that Roehm should die. At first Hitler insisted that Roehm should be allowed to commit suicide but, when he refused, Roehm was shot by two SS men.
• where he personally arrested Ernst Roehm.
• During the next 24 hours 200 other senior SA officers were arrested on the way to Wiesse.
• captured but Hitler decided to pardon Roehm because of his past services to the movement.
• At first Hitler insisted that Roehm should be allowed to commit suicide but, when he refused, Roehm was shot by two SS men
• Hitler agreed that Roehm should die.
• The purge of the SA was kept secret until it was announced by Adolf Hitler on 13th July.
• Hitler claimed that 61 had been executed while 13 had been shot resisting arrest and three had committed suicide.
• Others have argued that as many as 400 people were killed during the purge.
• "In this hour I was responsible for the fate of the German people, and thereby I become the supreme judge of the German people. I gave the order to shoot the ringleaders in this treason."
• had the power to decide whether people lived or died.

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• Generals were afraid that the Sturm Abteilung (SA), a   force of over 3 million men, would absorb the much smaller German Army   into its ranks and Röhm   would become its overall leader.
• Gregor Strasser,   whom Hitler hated
• With   this news Hitler ordered all the SA leaders to attend a meeting in the   Hanselbauer Hotel in Wiesse.
• was part of the planned conspiracy against him
• list of people outside the SA that they wanted killed. The list   included Strasser, Kurt von Schleicher, Hitler's predecessor as chancellor,   and Gustav von Kahr, who crushed the Beer   Hall Putsch in 1923.

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• assassinating hundreds of Nazis whom he believed had the potential to become political enemies in the future.
• he leadership of the Nazi Storm Troopers (SA), whose four million members had helped bring Hitler to power in the early 1930s, was especially targeted.
• Nazis launched the "Beer Hall Putsch"--their first attempt at seizing the German government by force
• the uprising was immediately suppressed, and Hitler was arrested and sentenced to five years in prison for high treason.

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• in June 1934
• Hitler, he still felt threatened by some in the Nazi Party.
• regular army had not given an oath of allegiance
• The Night of the Long Knives not only removed the SA leaders but also got Hitler the army's oath that he so needed.
• summer of 1934, the SA's numbers had swollen to 2 million men.
• January 1933
• there is no evidence that Röhm was ever planning anything against Hitler.
• June 29th - June 30th 1934, units of the SS arrested the leaders of the SA and other political opponents.
• Men such as Gregor Strasser, von Schleicher and von Bredow were arrested and none of them had any connection with Röhm. The arrests carried on for 2 more nights.
• Röhm was shot. Others were bludgeoned to death.

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