The Night of the Long Knives: Murder Without Consequences

Image caption reads: “They salute with both hands now”

 

The Nazis are known for performing many terrible and extremely illegal actions during their regime, but one that is generally overshadowed by events such as Kristallnacht and the Holocaust is the Night of the Long Knives. While some may say that this was a Nazi attempt to stop an “SA Putsch“, the real truth behind this event was that it was the cold-blooded murder of those who threatened Hitler’s power. On this night, Hitler used the power of the SS to arrest and kill  the leaders of the SA, but also “used the opportunity to settle old scores with enemies past and present” (1). Over one hundred people were brutally murdered in one night, and so ended the main opposition to the dictatorship. Hitler claimed that he had done this in defense of the state, and so essentially legalized the murder of any who opposed him.

What is so unbelievable about this event is the fact that a large part of the German nation did not completely oppose Hitler’s actions. Nowadays, if a political leader very obviously murdered all of his opponents, there would be public outrage. Back then though, that was not the reactions of most German people. Yes, there were those, who as Spielvogel states “were shocked by the brutality of the Nazi regime” (2), but many others welcomed this purge. They wanted the Nazis to get rid of this radical group within the Party, preventing a second revolution. They were afraid of the power and brutality of the SA, and so welcomed their eradication. Yet, what is even more amazing, is that some people even thought that with this purge of the radicals, “the Nazis would become a respectable government” (2). Looking back at this now, we can only laugh at how naive this was. How could anyone who had seen the Nazi rise to power possibly believe that they could be a legitimate and respectable government? One answer to this is that we see what we want to see. The German people wanted a change from the crumbling Weimar Republic, and the Nazis stepped in as their savior.

If only more people saw the Nazis as they truly were. If only they had known that this would not be an end to violence, brutality, and cold-blooded murder. Yet even if they had known, would there have been anything the German people could have done? It was obvious that the Nazis had complete power by the time of the Night of the Long Knives, and by this action, Hitler had made it known that he “quite openly claimed the right to rid himself of his opponents without either legal investigation or trial” (1). When the government has taken away all your rights, has control of the police and military, and can murder without any consequences, what can you really do? In the end, you could either stay quiet or stand in line to be next on the ever growing list of the Nazis’ victims.

 

1. Kuntz, Dieter and Sax, Benjamin. Inside Hitler’s Germany: A Documentary History of Life in the Third Reich (Canada, D.C. Heath and Company Publication, 1992), 130, 154.
2. Jackson Spielvogel, Hitler and Nazi Germany: A History (United States: Pearson Education, 2014), 79. 

Image Source:

Low, David. the Evening Standard, July 1934

Accessed from: British Cartoon Archive

https://www.cartoons.ac.uk/record/LSE2086