Night of the Long Knives Worksheets
Do you want to save dozens of hours in time? Get your evenings and weekends back? Be able to teach about the Night of the Long Knives to your students?
Our worksheet bundle includes a fact file and printable worksheets and student activities. Perfect for both the classroom and homeschooling!
Resource Examples
Click any of the example images below to view a larger version.
Fact File
Student Activities
Table of Contents
Add a header to begin generating the table of contents
Summary
- Causes of the Purge
- Preparation and Execution
- Aftermath and Significance
Key Facts And Information
Let’s find out more about the Night of the Long Knives!
The Night of the Long Knives was a major purge that took place in Nazi Germany between the 30 June and the 2 July 1934. Led by then Chancellor Adolf Hitler, it was a series of extrajudicial killings aimed at strengthening his grip on power.
The purge primarily targeted the Sturmabteilung (SA), a Nazi paramilitary force known as the ‘Brownshirts’, and its leader, Ernst Röhm. Hitler, backed by well-known individuals such as Hermann Göring and Heinrich Himmler, stated that these executions were carried out to thwart the SA’s supposed coup, the ‘Röhm Putsch’.
Adolf Hitler giving the Nazi salute in Nuremberg with SA members, 1928.
Night of the Long Knives: Causes of the Purge
- Hitler had several motives for the purge. Firstly, he was deeply concerned about the SA’s growing independence and its members’ violent behaviour, which had become a source of public criticism. The SA’s street violence was seen as a threat to the stability of his newly established regime.
- Secondly, Hitler needed to appease the leaders of the Reichswehr (the German military), who feared and despised the SA as a potential rival. Röhm’s aspiration to combine the army and the SA under his command was a particular source of concern.
- The military perceived its substantial size as a direct threat to its authority and its long-standing traditions. Thirdly, Hitler employed the purge to eradicate other political opponents, such as conservative critics and those who were loyal to Vice-Chancellor Franz von Papen. The SA was of great importance to Hitler in the 1920s and early 1930s. As a private militia, they drove off rivals and got in the way of meetings of political groups that were at odds with each other, especially the Communists. The fact that they fought violently with the Communists made the Weimar Republic much less stable.
- After Hitler became Chancellor in January 1933, the SA’s purpose shifted. No longer needed to fight political rivals, they continued their thuggish behaviour, which brought complaints from the public and even foreign diplomats. SA members, though loyal to the Nazis, held a more radical vision of ‘National Socialism’. They clamoured for a ‘second revolution’, seeking to break up large landed estates and redistribute wealth.
- Röhm, a World War I veteran and an early supporter of Hitler, was not content with just leading the SA. He loudly advocated for a ‘continuation of the German revolution’, meaning he wanted the Nazi regime to implement radical economic changes, and he demanded to be appointed Minister of Defence.
- His ultimate ambition was to replace the professional army entirely, using the huge SA, which had grown to over three million members, as the core of a new, revolutionary German military.
- Röhm’s vision directly threatened the Reichswehr. The army’s officers, many of whom came from the traditional Prussian nobility, viewed the SA as an undisciplined ‘plebeian rabble’ and feared that Röhm intended to eliminate their leadership altogether. Limited to 100,000 men by the Treaty of Versailles, the army was deeply alarmed by the SA’s massive size. In January 1934, Röhm formally demanded that the SA replace the army. Although Hitler forced him to reluctantly sign a pledge on 28 February 1934 acknowledging the army’s supremacy, the latter later dismissed Hitler as ‘the ridiculous corporal’, demonstrating a clear lack of loyalty and deepening the rift between the two.
- Röhm’s growing independence and power made him a target for other senior Nazis, including Hermann Göring (Prussian Premier), Heinrich Himmler (head of the SS) and Joseph Goebbels (Propaganda Minister). These men feared Röhm’s ambition and began plotting against him. They also capitalised on the growing pressure from conservative elites – in the army, industry and politics – who demanded that Hitler restrain the SA’s violence and revolutionary rhetoric.
- This pressure culminated on 17 June 1934, when conservative Vice-Chancellor Franz von Papen publicly warned of the danger of a ‘second revolution’ in his Marburg Speech. These combined forces – the army’s fear, the plots of Hitler’s inner circle, and the demands of conservative figures – pushed Hitler towards taking decisive action against Röhm and the SA to consolidate his own power.
Preparation and Execution
- The decision to move against the SA and Ernst Röhm was finalised after Hitler met with President Paul von Hindenburg and Minister of Defence Werner von Blomberg. Blomberg severely criticised Hitler for his delay and threatened that Hindenburg was close to declaring martial law, which would put the army in charge of the government. This threat, from the only figure who could legally remove the Nazi regime, forced Hitler’s hand.
The architects of the purge: Hitler, Göring, Goebbels and Hess. Absent are Himmler and Heydrich.
- Sensing an opportunity, Heinrich Himmler (head of the SS) and Hermann Göring (Prussian Premier) worked with Reinhard Heydrich (head of the Gestapo and SS Security Service) to build a case against Röhm. They fabricated evidence suggesting that Röhm was plotting a coup against Hitler, even claiming he was paid by France to do so, a plot they called the ‘Röhm Putsch’. The army, wanting Röhm removed, cooperated by officially expelling him from the German Officers’ League. Hitler then ordered the SA leaders to assemble for a meeting in Bad Wiessee on 30 June.
- Upon returning to Munich, Hitler denounced the SA leadership to a crowd, and Goebbels issued the codeword Kolibri (Operation Hummingbird) to Göring, signalling the start of mass executions across Germany. The purge was not limited to the SA. Hitler and his allies used the opportunity to settle old scores and eliminate conservative critics. Among them were General Kurt von Schleicher, who was Chancellor before Hitler, and his wife, who were killed in their home. Gregor Strasser, a former Nazi enemy, and Gustav Ritter von Kahr, who helped put down the Beer Hall Putsch in 1923, were also killed. Key associates of Vice-Chancellor Franz von Papen were also murdered, though Papen himself was arrested and later released. The killings were carried out by SS execution squads, demonstrating their new role as Hitler’s personal, elite force.
- Röhm was imprisoned in Stadelheim Prison in Munich. On 1 July, Theodor Eicke, Commandant of the Dachau concentration camp, and his adjutant visited Röhm’s cell. They offered him a loaded pistol and ten minutes to kill himself. He defiantly refused, stating: ‘If I am to be killed, let Adolf do it himself.’ When Eicke and his adjutant returned to find Röhm still alive, they shot him. His death marked the end of the SA’s influence and secured Hitler’s control over the Nazi Party and the state.
- Following the purges, the Nazi regime immediately sought to justify the extrajudicial killings. On 13 July 1934, in a nationally broadcast speech to the Reichstag, Hitler personally defended the action. He declared himself the ‘supreme judge of the German people’ and claimed he was responsible for saving the nation from a treasonous plot by Röhm and the SA. Hitler stated he had to ‘cauterise down to the raw flesh the ulcers of this poisoning’ and warned that anyone who threatened the state would face certain death. To give the massacre a veneer of legality, the cabinet, urged by Hitler, passed a law on 3 July that retroactively legalised the murders. This shocking measure, titled the ‘Law Regarding Measures of State Self-Defence’, effectively made the state’s self-defence the highest law, completely sweeping aside centuries of legal prohibitions against killing outside the courts. This act demonstrated that no law could constrain Hitler and cemented his power above the legal system.
Aftermath and Significance of the Night of the Long Knives
- The Army (Reichswehr) largely applauded the Night of the Long Knives, as the immediate threat from the massive SA was removed. Many officers were satisfied, believing Hitler had saved them from Röhm’s ambition to absorb the army. The ailing President Hindenburg supposedly sent a telegram congratulating Hitler, although this was later revealed to have been forged by the Nazis. However, by supporting Hitler and the purge, the army bound itself much more closely to the brutal Nazi regime, a decision that would have terrible future consequences.
- Public opinion was divided. Many Germans questioned the official story, but some believed Hitler had saved Germany from chaos, hailing his ‘personal courage, decisiveness, and effectiveness’. Dissidents remained generally silent out of fear of the Gestapo and the regime’s harshness. Hitler’s rehabilitation of murdered Generals Kurt von Schleicher and Ferdinand von Bredow as ‘in error’ relieved even stunned officers such as General Kurt von Hammerstein-Equord. Fear and legal immunity gave Hitler full power.
- The purge effectively destroyed the power of the SA. Hitler appointed Viktor Lutze to replace Röhm, with explicit orders to reform the organisation and end its violent, undisciplined behaviour. Lutze did little to assert the SA’s independence, and its membership and influence plummeted. The purge was a triumph for Hitler and a turning point for the Nazi state, establishing Hitler as the Führer (Leader) with ultimate authority, putting him completely above the law. The event’s name, the Night of the Long Knives (Nacht der langen Messer), was even adopted by Hitler himself in his justification speech, linking the treachery of the event to older legends.
Frequently Asked Questions About The Night of the Long Knives
- What was the Night of the Long Knives?
The Night of the Long Knives was a political purge carried out in Nazi Germany from 30 June to 2 July 1934, during which Adolf Hitler ordered the execution of leaders of the SA (Sturmabteilung) and other political opponents to consolidate his power.
- Why did the Night of the Long Knives happen?
Hitler feared the growing influence of Ernst Röhm and the SA, who wanted to merge with the army and push for a “second revolution.” To maintain the support of the German military and conservative elites, Hitler eliminated Röhm and others seen as threats.
- Who were the main targets during the purge?
The main targets included Ernst Röhm (leader of the SA), other high-ranking SA officials, former political rivals, and critics such as Gregor Strasser and Kurt von Schleicher, a former chancellor.