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The Night of the Long Knives (German: Nacht der langen Messer, also called Operation Hummingbird (German: Unternehmen Kolibri) or, in Germany, the Röhm Putsch, was a purge that took place in Nazi Germany from June 30 to July 2, 1934, when the National Socialist German Workers Party, or Nazis, carried out a series of political extrajudicial executions intended to consolidate Adolf Hitler's absolute hold on power in Germany. Many of those killed were leaders of the Sturmabteilung (SA), the Nazis' own paramilitary organization, colloquially known as the "Brownshirts" due to the color of their uniforms. The best-known victim of the purge was Ernst Röhm, the SA's leader and one of Hitler's longtime supporters and allies. Leading members of the Strasserist faction of the Nazi Party, including its figurehead, Gregor Strasser, were also killed, as were establishment conservatives and anti-Nazis, such as former Chancellor Kurt von Schleicher and Bavarian politician Gustav Ritter von Kahr, who had suppressed Hitler's Munich Beer Hall Putsch in 1923. 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 Brownshirt tactics.
Hitler moved against the SA and its leader, Ernst Röhm, because he 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. Hitler also wanted to conciliate leaders of the Reichswehr, the official German military who feared and despised the SA, in particular Röhm's ambition to merge the Reichswehr (German 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 Hindenburg's appointing of Hitler as German Chancellor on January 30, 1933, had accomplished the "nationalistic" revolution but had left unfulfilled the "socialistic" purpose of National Socialism. 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.[b]
At least 85 people died during the purge, although the final death toll may have been in the hundreds,[c][d][e] with high estimates running from 700 to 1,000.[1] More than a thousand perceived opponents were arrested.[2] Most of the killings were carried out by the Schutzstaffel (SS) and the Gestapo (Geheime Staatspolizei), the regime's secret police. The purge strengthened and consolidated the support of the Reichswehr for Hitler. It also provided a legal grounding for the Nazi regime, as the German courts and cabinet quickly swept aside centuries of legal prohibition against extrajudicial killings to demonstrate their loyalty to the regime. The Night of the Long Knives was a turning point for the German government.[3] It established Hitler as the supreme administrator of justice of the German people, as he put it in his July 13 speech to the Reichstag.
Before its execution, its planners sometimes referred to the purge as Hummingbird (German: Kolibri), the codeword used to send the execution squads into action on the day of the purge.[4] The codename for the operation appears to have been chosen arbitrarily. The phrase "Night of the Long Knives" in the German language predates the killings and refers generally to acts of vengeance. German historians still largely use the term Röhm-Putsch to describe the killings, the term given to it by the Nazi regime, despite its unproven implication that the executions were necessary to prevent a coup. Authors often use quotation marks or write about the sogenannter Röhm-Putsch ("so-called Röhm Putsch") for emphasis.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Night_of_the_Long_Knives
Sniper channel
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3kKkEVyoHa9cSIjldTQITA/videos
The Night of the Long Knives (German: Nacht der langen Messer, also called Operation Hummingbird (German: Unternehmen Kolibri) or, in Germany, the Röhm Putsch, was a purge that took place in Nazi Germany from June 30 to July 2, 1934, when the National Socialist German Workers Party, or Nazis, carried out a series of political extrajudicial executions intended to consolidate Adolf Hitler's absolute hold on power in Germany. Many of those killed were leaders of the Sturmabteilung (SA), the Nazis' own paramilitary organization, colloquially known as the "Brownshirts" due to the color of their uniforms. The best-known victim of the purge was Ernst Röhm, the SA's leader and one of Hitler's longtime supporters and allies. Leading members of the Strasserist faction of the Nazi Party, including its figurehead, Gregor Strasser, were also killed, as were establishment conservatives and anti-Nazis, such as former Chancellor Kurt von Schleicher and Bavarian politician Gustav Ritter von Kahr, who had suppressed Hitler's Munich Beer Hall Putsch in 1923. 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 Brownshirt tactics.
Hitler moved against the SA and its leader, Ernst Röhm, because he 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. Hitler also wanted to conciliate leaders of the Reichswehr, the official German military who feared and despised the SA, in particular Röhm's ambition to merge the Reichswehr (German 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 Hindenburg's appointing of Hitler as German Chancellor on January 30, 1933, had accomplished the "nationalistic" revolution but had left unfulfilled the "socialistic" purpose of National Socialism. 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.[b]
At least 85 people died during the purge, although the final death toll may have been in the hundreds,[c][d][e] with high estimates running from 700 to 1,000.[1] More than a thousand perceived opponents were arrested.[2] Most of the killings were carried out by the Schutzstaffel (SS) and the Gestapo (Geheime Staatspolizei), the regime's secret police. The purge strengthened and consolidated the support of the Reichswehr for Hitler. It also provided a legal grounding for the Nazi regime, as the German courts and cabinet quickly swept aside centuries of legal prohibition against extrajudicial killings to demonstrate their loyalty to the regime. The Night of the Long Knives was a turning point for the German government.[3] It established Hitler as the supreme administrator of justice of the German people, as he put it in his July 13 speech to the Reichstag.
Before its execution, its planners sometimes referred to the purge as Hummingbird (German: Kolibri), the codeword used to send the execution squads into action on the day of the purge.[4] The codename for the operation appears to have been chosen arbitrarily. The phrase "Night of the Long Knives" in the German language predates the killings and refers generally to acts of vengeance. German historians still largely use the term Röhm-Putsch to describe the killings, the term given to it by the Nazi regime, despite its unproven implication that the executions were necessary to prevent a coup. Authors often use quotation marks or write about the sogenannter Röhm-Putsch ("so-called Röhm Putsch") for emphasis.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Night_of_the_Long_Knives
Sniper channel
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3kKkEVyoHa9cSIjldTQITA/videos
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