The rise of Hitler and the German Workers Party (NSDAP), the Nazi party, German government to power in 1933 , was with the help of fundamental Sturmabteilung or SA, a Nazi paramilitary militia with great influence and power within Germany. Led by a hero of World War I, Captain Ernst Röhm, and formed by the less privileged sectors of the German nation, as the unemployed, poor men and without the privileges of the secular elite, SA exercised his power through violence and coercion of who opposed it and the Nazi concepts. Its members were known as brownshirts "due to the color of the uniforms they wore. In the 1920s, as the militia of Adolf Hitler, were used to intimidate political opponents, highlighted the social democrats and communists. Great battles were fought between members of the SA and the Communists in the streets of German cities, leading the country into chaos and destabilization that allowed Hitler's rise to power.
Ernst Röhm was known for his great capacity for organizing the masses. It was a cruel man and political ambitions that bother the German elite. When the Nazis came to power, guaranteed the autonomy of Röhm SA within the party itself. Continued through street violence, to intimidate any enemy. In power, paraded through the streets of limousines, beating drunk; promoted extravagant banquets, and mainly among homosexual orgies urged their leaders. The condition explicit homosexual Ernst Röhm was the most powerful and upset the German conservatives. Röhm SA dreamed of transforming the mighty German army. His claims have attracted to himself the pressure of politicians, army and German industrialists, who demanded of Adolf Hitler to his head. The elites have threatened to withdraw its support for the Nazis. Breathless, Hitler think twice, that would remove any obstacles to the consolidation of Nazism in Germany, choosing to eliminate former comrades of the party itself. Thus, engineered a plan to purge that resulted in the killing of persons appointed from a list as barriers to Hitler's power. Ernst Röhm and several members of the SA were the most affected. On the night of June 30 to July 1, 1934, dozens of people were arrested and executed in a bloody operation that went down in history as the "Night of Long Knives " or "Night of Long Knives . After the bloodshed, the way was open for Hitler to consolidate his absolute power over Germany.
Ernst Röhm and Sturmabteilung
The history of Sturmabteilung or SA, is closely linked to the biography of Ernst Röhm, a genuine representative of the generation Germany lost the First World War. Wounded three times during the war, bore deep scars on his face that he bestowed the title hero. Röhm joined the Nazi party in 1918, the year of its founding. In 1919 it became part of the closed group of friends of Adolph Hitler. versions of history suggest Ernst Röhm as responsible for Hitler's entry into politics. After an exalted speech of the future Führer in a bar in Munich and inspired him and encouraged him to participate in German political life.
de1921 On July 29, Hitler became the leader of the Nazi party, initiating a process of radical and revolutionary search power. It was also in 1921 that the Sturmabteilung, SA, an assault force, was founded within the Nazi party. It was developed from the Freikorps, the nationalist organization that emerged after World War I, its members were people financially disadvantaged and impoverished by war. The Freikorps condemned the German government, blaming him for the humiliation of the country to sign the Treaty of Versailles. Ernst Röhm was the chief commander.
SA, to replace the Freikorps, used as a means of expansion of Nazi ideology intimidation, fear and violent attacks on other parties. Besides having as members the unemployed and disadvantaged social recruited to their ranks thieves and murderers, forming a violent Nazi stormtroopers, and constant boiling. Bloody confrontations were caught between the Nazis and Communists in SA.
Ernst Röhm was always a talented organizer, drawing to the Nazi party and its paramilitary militia a large number of adherents. He said that the organization of a peasant army would bring back the German honor, lost the war. Was always on Hitler's side, even when he was arrested in 1923 on charges of treason after failed coup that became known as the Beer Hall Putsch, a movement intended to seize power in Bavaria by Nazis, who then follow on the march across Germany. The coup was a clear imitation
the march on Rome that brought Mussolini to power in Italy. homosexual, Ernst Röhm was a man who gave a high value on friendship and loyalty between the men's barracks, a characteristic he inherited from his days of war. It was cruel and bloody, with a vein by a criminal dressed eloquent revolutionary nationalism. In the fight for the Nazi party came to power, he believed that would happen only through revolutionary violence. He had come to announce that twelve men to kill each member of the SA who was assassinated. The constant clashes with the communists have generated large numbers of dead and wounded, bringing instability to the German government, encouraging the rise of Hitler to power.
Emergence of SS
SA members became Known as the "Brownshirts " due to the color of their uniforms. They became feared by the population because of the use of intimidation on the streets. Hitler promised to end the urban violence that came to power, as if the militia of the Nazi party itself was not the main propagators of such violence. The promise earned her political rise in 1933. Ernst Röhm transformed the SA, the paramilitary force that deprived of Hitler, became a large militia popular, formed in essence, by fighters and street thugs. In little over a year, their ranks were swelled from 70 to 170 000 members.
parallel, was created within the SA in 1925, a highly disciplined organization, the Schutztaffel (SS), in charge of personal protection of Adolph Hitler. Soon the SS was designated as protection force of the Nazi party and its leaders. From 1925 to 1929, the SS was taken as a battalion of the SA, having 280 members. In 1929, Heinrich Himmler was appointed their leader, until 1932 it expanded to 52 thousand members. If the ranks of
Sturmabteilung were rough men, moved by the violence latent in Schutztaffel men were found with a logistic tactic aimed at the military intelligence, without ever losing the bloody aspect of a stress ; the paramilitary defense. Eventually, the SS would be a major cause of the fall of SA.
SA becomes an obstacle to Hitler
Even after the arrival of the Nazi party to power, the violence of the SA has not ceased. Its members continued to promote riots in the streets, beating and torturing drunk and racial minorities, killing often innocent. They were known by the general apparatus that promoted, parading the streets in luxury limousines. Lavish feasts washed down with booze, gave way to luxurious adventures, many involving men of the same sex. The open practice of homosexuality in the ranks of SA, served as a repudiation of German society supposedly more conservative and more religious. Once in power, Röhm's ambition was to become supreme commander of the German armed forces. Hitler wanted to incorporate the army SA, forming a powerful military. After all, soon after the arrival of the Nazi party to power, the Sturmabteilung had a contingent of about three million men, while the army succumbed to the resolution of the humiliating Treaty of Versailles that it can not have more than one hundred thousand men. Hitler had Röhm, old fellow party, have signed expansãoe military power of the SA.
Even in power, Hitler had absolute control. Needed the support of the German middle class, the traditional and powerful aristocracy, the owners of industries and the army. The populism of Röhm was exacerbated against those sectors. For the militias of the SA, the privileged classes were to blame for the deterioration of Germany and the humiliation that had been imposed after defeat in the First World War. Violence in SA, their orgies, the open sexual attitude of their leaders, contributed to that was opposed by the German middle class.
violence against the population of the Sturmabteilung, its manifestations rowdies, everything went against what Hitler promised the German people to come to power. Powerful aristocrats, industrialists, the German army, threatened to withdraw their support for Hitler and Röhm dismissed if not ended with power and violence in SA. On another front, the Nazi militia leader pressed the chancellor to give more powers to what was a military organization instrumental in
ascendancy to power. Röhm condemned all ties with the conservative German government considering them traitors and enemies of Germany, was irritated by the sudden bureaucratization of the Nazi party. But Hitler needed more support from all sectors of German society than the old ideology of the former party colleagues. He intended to expand the German army, controlling it completely, incorporating the best of SA men to him, turning him into a force that would serve him for ambition war he had in mind. Röhm, old comrade and friend, became a concern, a major obstacle Hitler's political plans. It was necessary to be neutralized.
Operation Hummingbird
In early 1934, the defense minister of Germany, General Werner von Blomberg, wrote a memorandum to Hitler that the SA incorporated the Reichswehr (army). In response, Hitler held a meeting between him, Blomberg and Röhm. Röhm lobbied Hitler, reluctantly, was forced to sign an agreement acknowledging the superiority of SA over the Reichswehr. When Hitler withdrew, Röhm has publicly stated that he would not take orders the " ridiculous." Since then, he began to make public speeches against what he called the Nazi bureaucracy, increasing its detractors within the party and angering Hitler. pressure against Röhm came from all sectors of the conservative Germany. The Vice-Chancellor Franz von Papen, a Catholic conservative, in an impassioned speech, he criticized the Nazis, condemned the sexual conduct of members of the SA, warned about a possible revolution organized by organizaçãoe , threatened to resign if Hitler did not act against their leaders. Given the impasse, President Paul von Hindenburg, who appointed Hitler chancellor, threatened to pore country under martial law. By that time, Röhm had fallen into disgrace in front of Hitler, his contribution to history the rise of Nazism have nothing worth, your life a lot less. Rather than dismiss
Röhm, Hitler pursued a purge that would reach not only the SA and its leaders, but all his enemies. In preparation purge, Heinrich Himmler and Reinhard Heydrinch deputy, members of the SS, forged a dossier suggesting that the receipt of twelve million German marks by Röhm, coming from the French government, which testify to Hitler. The two spread that the SA was to promote a violent coup to take power. Was created "Operation Hummingbird " with the mission of enabling the purge.
Hermann Goering and Himmler, prepared on 26 June 1934, a list with the names of all persons who might, one way or another, threaten Adolf Hitler and the Nazi party. Who is on the list should be killed on the day of operation.
Following the plans, on June 27, Hitler appointed a special tactical group to carry out IDB operations, planning every detail. Everything would have to be done with discriçãoe in a single night, Hitler's own requirements.
The next day, June 28, being at ease, the chancellor honored the wedding of Gauleiter Josef Terboven, going to the ceremony in Essen. In marriage, a phone call, probably part Humbug, warned that Hitler had been an alleged coup attempt coming by Röhm and the SA.
On June 29, Hitler was in a hotel in Bonn, when Himmler informed him that SA knew of Operation Hummingbird, and that its troops had gone into the street in Munich. Hitler decided to go to Munich and overthrow the SA. In another version of history, Hitler ordered Röhm's personal assistant to gather all the troops from SA and met him the next night, June 30. Lured into a trap, Röhm and his companions did not realize the ruse that they would slaughter.
Put in motion the Night of Long Knives
Hitler arrived in Munich on Saturday, June 30. As soon as we landed, ordered the prisoners were members of the SA who were in the Nazi party headquarters in the city. Then sailed to the Interior Ministry, meeting the leaders of SA that had promoted an urban brawl the previous night. In a fit of hysterics, Hitler took the medals and the top of the uniform of a police chief, accusing him of not obeying his orders to maintain order in the city. It was dawn when Hitler went to Bad Wiesse, site near Munich, where Röhm and his men were staying at the Hotel Hanselbauer near the lake Tegernsee.
Without suspecting the trap that was perceived, Ernst Röhm and his men drank and partied that night, making the hotel the setting for a sumptuous feast now traditional among members of the SA. Intoxicated, gradually, the men retired to their rooms, alone or with others.
Hitler arrived at the hotel escorted by a large column of troops and vehicles. Records differ on how he entered the premises of the hotel. There are those who say that carrying a gun in his hand, others point to a whip. Went to the room where Röhm, accompanied by two police officers who carried guns drawn. Found lying the leader of the SA. Shouted angrily:
" Röhm, you're stuck! "
Still sleepy, hard by remnants of the drink ingested, Röhm, without realizing what was going on, raised his head from the pillow, looked surprised and said Hitler," Heil mein Führer . Hitler repeated his order of arrest, shortly after leaving the room.
The same order went through all the rooms of the hotel, met the leaders of SA, in seconds, they were transformed from fellow Nazi traitors to the cause. In one room, the officer and deputy Edmund Heines, was found in bed with another young fellow
SA. By knowing the fact, Hitler ordered that Heines was killed. He was executed there in the room they occupied at the hotel. Several SA leaders who arrived at the hotel for a meeting with Röhm, were immediately arrested by the SS. Röhm and his companions were sent to prison Stadelheim in Munich.
Hitler telephoned from Munich to Göring in Berlin using the code "Hummingbird," which sparked a bloody operation, with numerous arrests and executions that has swept the major cities of Germany. It was the hunt for the leaders of the SA and the political enemies of Hitler, whose names appear on the list. It was the realization of Nazi barbarism against their own comrades, who would go down in history as the "Night of Long Knives " or "Night of Long Knives .
executions and deaths
Far Hotel Bad Wiesse, the witch hunt began in Berlin and 20 more cities in Germany. In Bremen, Karl Ernst, a member of the Berliner SA, the Nazi leader who was involved in the burning of the Reichstag building in 1933, was arrested shortly after his marriage, he was preparing to embark on a honeymoon to the island of Madeira. When arrested, Karl Ernst thought it was a joke from his bachelor party. Taken to Berlin, he smiled and showed his arms handcuffed, always believe it was a joke. He was leaning against the wall Lichterfeld being shot. Not believing in the tragedy that awaited him, even cried a " Heil Hitler ", seconds before having his body pierced by bullets. macabre list of the Nazis, included not only the old comrades of the SA. Among the unfortunate were: Gustav Ritter von Kahr
, a former commissioner who had opposed Hitler in the Beer Hall Putsch in 1923. Kahr was cut by the body blows of pick and thrown into a swamp on the outskirts of Dachau, Father Bernhard Stemple, expert and critic the book "Mein Kampf " written by Hitler, the priest was executed by a bullet; Kurt von Schleicher, former Chancellor of Germany, a specialist in engendering political intrigue, was executed with his wife in his house; Gregor Strasser, a primitive member of the Nazi party, who left him in 1932, Erich Klausener, leader of the German Catholic action, Franz von Papen, vice-chancellor of Germany, arrested for having spoken against Hitler and Nazism, was pardoned by Hitler, being forbidden to comment on the incident, Herbert von Bose, secretary of Papen, was not so lucky being executed by the Nazis, Edgar Jung, a partner of Papen and author of his speech
against the Nazis, was also executed. Willi Schmidt, music critic for a Munich newspaper, was arrested at his home when he played cello. Led by four SS men, was executed by mistake, being confused with another Willi Schmidt on the list. His body was returned to the family in closed coffin, forbidden to be opened by order of the Gestapo.
Ernst Röhm was kept in prison Stadelheim in Munich until the 2nd of July. Hitler decided that the former friend and companion was sentenced to the death penalty. Two SS officers, including Theodor Eicke, who would later, head of the Dachau concentration camp were sent by Hitler's cell Röhm. Leader of the SA led to a pistol and ten minutes before he killed himself. Röhm refused to commit suicide, uttering: "If 'll be dead, let Mr. Hitler do it." After waiting for ten minutes, seeing that nothing happened in the prisoner's cell, members of the SS again. Opening the door, they encountered Röhm standing completely naked. One of the officers, suspicious of that provocative attitude, lightning struck a shot into Röhm. Reportedly, the last words of the former Nazi leader would have been: "Mein Führer ! "
Germany welcomes the Night of Long Knives
after terror, several members of the SA oposiçãoa abandoned any idea of Hitler and the leaders ; the Nazi party. Hitler justified the killings as an act of state defense threatened by a bloody attempt coup promoted by leaders of the SA. Joseph Goebbels, Propaganda Minister, planted the idea of conspiracy in all German news organizations. Göring ordered that all documents of the past two days that preceded the "Night of Long Knives ," were burned. Speaking to the Nation on July 14, Hitler showed himself as a savior of the German threat to the sovereignty and customs of its people. He was applauded by the German army and much of the population. Hitler banned in SA practice of homosexuality, the common practice in that organization, hitherto known and tolerated by him. Banned banquets, drunkenness and profanity in the militia. He named Victor Lutze to take the place of Ernst Röhm. With the death of Rohm and under the direction of Lutze, the militia was gradually losing its importance and its members.
The "Night of Long Knives " served to Hitler and the Nazi regime in the early their deployment, were consolidated and that ended the autonomy of various entities in the power of centralized Führer. The operation elucidated the Germans that any opposition to the regime would be punished with death. Due to the complete burning of files, never became clear the death toll in the massacre of "Night of Long Knives ", some 85 dead point, there are those who argue between 200 and 250 victims . Later, theories that were advocated Hitler's alleged homosexuality was the real cause of the massacre of members of the SA. Since then, homosexuality was persecuted in Nazi Germany, leading to prisãoe to concentration camps thousands of people. Whatever the cause, the "Night of Long Knives " represented the execution of bloodthirsty men, by their old comrades in arms, even more bloody and atrocious.
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