Victims of the Night of the Long Knives

The Night of the Long Knives (German: Nacht der langen Messer) was a purge in which the Nazi regime executed at least 85 people for political reasons. This took place in Germany between June 30 and July 2, 1934. Most of those killed were members of the "Storm Division" (SA) (German: Sturmabteilung), a Nazi paramilitary organization.

Debate over number of victims[]

The precise number of victims of the Night of the Long Knives is disputed and will probably never be known with certainty. Adolf Hitler claimed in his speech in the Reichstag on July 13 that 61 persons had been shot during "the action", 13 had died resisting arrest and three committed suicide. This understates the number killed. The British historian Richard J. Evans, whose books on the subject have been called "the definitive study for at least a generation," said that at least 85 people were killed, and more than 1,000 were arrested.^[1] The noted historian Ian Kershaw, author of a two-volume biography on Hitler, also cites the number of deaths at 85. Kershaw also notes that "some estimates...put the total number killed at between 150 and 200."^[2] The journalist and historian William L. Shirer writes in his Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, that "The White Book of the Purge, published by émigrés in Paris claims 401 deaths, but lists only 116 of them. At the 1957 trial in Munich the figure 'more than 1,000' was used."^[3] It must be noted that both of those figures are much higher than the ones most historians of the period rely on, and that Shirer himself was not necessarily citing the figures as accurate, but was simply relaying them in his book. Finally, it should be noted that many—but not all—of the victims had some role in bringing Hitler to power.

Partial list of victims[]

Herbert von Bose, associate of Franz von Papen
Ferdinand von Bredow, close associate of Kurt von Schleicher
Georg von Detten, member of the Reichstag, department chief of the highest SA-leadership
Karl Ernst, member of the Reichstag, leader of the SA-lower group East
Fritz Gerlich, publicist, Catholic Action
Alexander Glaser, lawyer
Hans Hayn, member of the Reichstag, SA-group leader of Sachsen
Edmund Heines, SA-senior group leader in Breslau
Peter von Heydebreck, member of the Reichstag, SA-group leader
Anton von Hohberg und Buchwald, SS Obergruppenführer, the only SS victim, killed on the orders of Obergruppenführer von dem Bach Zelewski
Edgar Julius Jung, lawyer, author of the "Marburg speech" of Franz von Papen
Gustav Ritter von Kahr, former prime minister of Bavaria, Member of Triumvirate who ruled Bavaria during the Beer Hall Putsch
Dr. Kuno Kamphausen, architect, member of the Zentrum political party
Eugen von Kessel
Erich Klausener, leader of the police department in the Prussian ministry of internal affairs, member of Catholic Action
Hans Koch, member of the Reichstag, SA-general in the group of Westmark
Fritz von Krausser, member of the Reichstag, chief the leading office of the OSAF
Adalbert Probst, leader of the Sport Federation of the Reich (German:Deutsche Jugendkraft-Sportverbands)
Hans Ramshorn, member of the Reichstag, SA-general in Oberschlesien and chief of police of Gleiwitz
Ernst Röhm, SA-chief of staff
Paul Röhrbein, SA-captain, leader of the first SA of Berlin
Alfons Sack, lawyer
Elisabeth von Schleicher, wife of Kurt von Schleicher
Kurt von Schleicher, former Chancellor of Germany
Willi Schmid, the music critic of the Muenchener Neuste Nachrichten, a Munich newspaper (killed in a case of mistaken identity)
Ludwig Schmitt, SA-group leader in Hochland, chief press officer of the ministry of internal affairs of Bavaria
August Schneidhuber, member of the Reichstag, chief of police of Munich
Johann Konrad Schragmüller, member of the Reichstag, chief of police of Magdeburg
Emil Sembach, member of the Reichstag, ex-SS-general
Father Bernhard Stempfle, defrocked priest, former co-prisoner in Landsberg, Bavaria, and by few sources considered to have been one of the editors of Mein Kampf
Gregor Strasser, former high-ranking Nazi party member, father of Hitler’s godchildren
Gerd Voß, lawyer
Ernestine Zoref, Housewife and mistress to SA supporter Baron Paul Edmund von Hahn

The list of victims was retrieved from the German Wikipedia unless otherwise stated.^[4]

Citations[]

↑ Evans, Richard (2005). The Third Reich in Power. Penguin Group. pp. 39. "At least eighty-five people are known to have been summarily killed without any formal legal proceedings being taken against them. Göring alone had over a thousand people arrested."
↑ Kershaw, Ian (1999). Hitler: 1889-1936 Hubris. W. W. Norton & Company. pp. 517.
↑ Shirer, William J. (1960). The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich. Simon and Schuster. pp. 221–222.
↑ The list of victims was retrieved from the German Wikipedia unless otherwise stated."Röhm-Putsch" (in German). German Wikipedia. http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/R%C3%B6hm-Putsch. Retrieved 2007-06-17.

References[]

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External links[]

Victims of the Night of the Long Knives

de:Röhm-Putsch

[1] Evans, Richard (2005). The Third Reich in Power. Penguin Group. pp. 39. "At least eighty-five people are known to have been summarily killed without any formal legal proceedings being taken against them. Göring alone had over a thousand people arrested."

[2] Kershaw, Ian (1999). Hitler: 1889-1936 Hubris. W. W. Norton & Company. pp. 517.

[3] Shirer, William J. (1960). The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich. Simon and Schuster. pp. 221–222.

[4] The list of victims was retrieved from the German Wikipedia unless otherwise stated."Röhm-Putsch" (in German). German Wikipedia. http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/R%C3%B6hm-Putsch. Retrieved 2007-06-17.

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