Night of the Long Knives (1934)

Full Description

A purge carried out by the Nazi regime between 30 June and 2 July 1934, in which Hitler ordered the killing of SA (Stormtrooper) leader Ernst Röhm and dozens of other perceived rivals. The operation eliminated the SA as an independent political force and was justified to the German public as the suppression of a coup plot. It also saw the killing of conservative politicians and former chancellors who had underestimated Hitler.

Critical Perspective

The Night of the Long Knives did not simply eliminate a rival faction — it demonstrated to the German army, the conservative establishment, and the world that the Nazi regime would murder its own without legal constraint. The German judiciary’s subsequent exoneration of the killings showed that the rule of law had already ceased to function in Germany by mid-1934.