Latest / The History of Germany: Kingdoms, War, and Rebuilding Europe — Fexingo History / The Night of the Long Knives: Hitler's Purge of the SA
Transcript
- Lucas: So we've talked a lot about how Hitler consolidated power — the Enabling Act, the Reichstag fire, all that. But there's one event that really sealed the deal, and it's one of the darkest, most brutal moments of the early Third Reich: the Night of the Long Knives. Luna: That's the purge of the SA, right? Where Hitler turned on his own people? Lucas: Exactly. The SA — the Sturmabteilung, the brownshirts — had been Hitler's street army since the early twenties. They were the ones who brawled in beer halls, intimidated opponents, and helped him rise. But by 1934, they'd become a liability. Lucas: The SA had grown to over three million men. Their leader, Ernst Röhm, was a veteran of the Freikorps, a brutal, scarred ex-soldier who saw the SA as the nucleus of a new 'people's army' that would replace the traditional Reichswehr. That put him on a collision course with the regular army generals. Luna: So the army was threatened by the SA's size and ambitions? Lucas: Exactly. The Reichswehr was small — limited to a hundred thousand men by Versailles — and they saw the SA as a rabble of street brawlers. They wanted nothing to do with Röhm's vision of a revolutionary militia. And Hitler needed the army's support, especially after Hindenburg's death was approaching. He knew the generals could still unseat him. Lucas: So in early 1934, a coalition formed against Röhm. The SS, under Heinrich Himmler, had been quietly expanding its own power. Himmler and his deputy Reinhard Heydrich fed Hitler reports of a supposed SA coup plot. Whether it was real or manufactured is still debated, but it gave Hitler the pretext he needed. Luna: And this all came to a head on June 30, 1934. Lucas: Right. That night, Hitler personally flew to Bad Wiessee, where Röhm and other SA leaders were staying at a guesthouse. He had them arrested in their beds. Meanwhile, across Germany, SS and Gestapo units rounded up hundreds of people. The killings went on for three days. Lucas: Röhm was given a chance to commit suicide; when he refused, he was shot in his cell. But it wasn't just SA leaders. Hitler used the purge to settle old scores. Kurt von Schleicher, the former chancellor who had opposed him, was gunned down at his home. So was Gregor Strasser, a former Nazi rival. Even conservative intellectuals like Edgar Jung were killed. Luna: It's terrifying how wide the net was cast. Anyone who might have posed a threat, real or not. Lucas: Exactly. The official death toll was put at 85, but real estimates are much higher — some say over 200. And what's chilling is how it was received. The army, which had been nervous, actually thanked Hitler for purging the SA. Hindenburg sent a telegram of congratulations. The establishment was relieved. Lucas: Hitler then retroactively legalized the whole thing with a law called the 'Law for the Emergency Defense of the State' — essentially making the killings officially state-sanctioned. It was the first time the regime openly murdered its own citizens without trial, and it set a precedent for everything that followed. Luna: And it broke the SA's power for good. The SS became the dominant paramilitary force from then on. Lucas: Right. The SA was sidelined, and the SS grew into the monstrous organization that would run the concentration camps and later the Einsatzgruppen. But that night also sent a signal to the German public: no one, not even the highest-ranking Nazis, was safe from Hitler's will. Lucas: And for the army, the payoff came just a month later, when Hindenburg died and Hitler combined the presidency with the chancellorship. Every soldier in the Reichswehr took a personal oath of loyalty — not to the state, but to Adolf Hitler himself. Luna: That oath bound them to him, and they felt they couldn't break it, even during the war. It's a heavy legacy. Lucas: Absolutely. And it all traces back to those three days in June 1934. The Night of the Long Knives wasn't just a power play — it was the moment Hitler showed that he would stop at nothing. Luna: You know, it reminds me of something. A lot of people don't realize how much the show depends on listener support. We keep it ad-free, and that's only possible because of folks who chip in a few dollars. Lucas: That's a good point. If you've been getting something out of these conversations, buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo makes a real difference. Even a couple of bucks a month helps us keep digging into these stories. Luna: Yeah, it's genuinely what keeps the podcast going. So if you're able, it's really appreciated. Lucas: Anyway, back to the purge. One thing that often gets overlooked is how the legal system just rolled over. The courts accepted Hitler's claim that the killings were 'legitimate state defense.' There was no investigation, no accountability. Luna: So the rule of law was completely suspended. Lucas: Exactly. And that's what makes the Night of the Long Knives a turning point. It wasn't just about eliminating rivals — it was about demonstrating that the Nazi state stood above any legal or moral constraint. That lesson wasn't lost on anyone, inside Germany or out.