Hitler arrived and personally placed Röhm and other high ranking SA leaders under arrest. The leaders of the SA were ordered to attend a meeting at a hotel in Bad Wiesse, Bavaria. On 30 June 1934 these tensions came to a head. The tension between the SA and the Nazi leadership grew. They understood the need to appear moderate and take over slowly by democratic means where possible, maintaining the stability and illusion of a democracy. Hitler and the rest of the Nazi leadership disagreed with their approach. However, following Hitler being elected chancellor, the SA, and particularly Röhm, were keen to continue the ‘revolution’ and replace the traditional conservative elite with Nazis. During the years of the rise of the Nazi Party, the SA had been instrumental in helping the party to gain support. In addition to this, there was a mutual dislike between the traditional conservative elite – who maintained many key positions in the government and the army during the first years of the Third Reich – and the SA. This fear wasīy Göring and Himmler, who gave Hitler news of Röhm organising a potential Hitler feared that the SA and Ernst Röhm, their leader, were a potential threat to his leadership. They were often given a free rein on their activities and were violent and difficult to control. By June 1934 this had grown to over 3,000,000 members. In August 1932 there were approximately 445,000 members of the SA. Carried out primarily by the SS and the Gestapo, over 150 people were murdered and hundreds more were arrested. ![]() The Night of Long Knives, also known as the Röhm Putsch, was the purge of the SA leadership and other political opponents from 30 June 1934 to 2 July 1934. The Bill passed by 444 votes for to 94 against on the 24 March 1933.Īlthough President Hindenburg and the Reichstag continued to exist, Hitler could now govern by decree. After Hitler had promised to protect the interests of the Catholic Church, the party conceded and supported the bill. , which opened just a few days before the vote on the 20 March 1933. The SA and the SS had also been on a month long campaign of violence to scare or imprison other opponents to the party. The Nazi’s had the support of the DNVP, and had banned the communist party, the KPD, from attending. The law needed two thirds of the Reichstag to vote for it to pass. The atmosphere of terror that had followed the Reichstag Fire, and Hindenburg’s and von Papen’s support, made the proposal seem legitimate and, to some, necessary. If passed, the law would establish the conditions needed for dictatorial rule. This new law gave Hitler the power to rule by decree rather than passing laws through the Reichstag and the president. On the 23 March 1933, Hitler proposed the Enabling Law to the Reichstag. The day after the fire, Hindenburg signed the Emergency Decree for the Protection of the German People. This hysteria helped to turn the public against the communists, one of the Nazis main opponents, and 4000 people were imprisoned. Göring declared that the communists had planned a national uprising to overthrow the Weimar Republic. The Nazi Party used the atmosphere of panic to their advantage, encouraging anti-communism. This continued when a young Dutch communist, Van der Lubbe was arrested for the crime. An atmosphere of panic and terror followed the event. ![]() On 27 February 1933, as the campaign moved into its final, frantic days, the Reichstag, the German Parliament building, was set on fire and burnt down. Over the next two months, they launched themselves into an intense election campaign. This would allow them to rule unopposed and unhindered by coalition governments. The Nazis aimed to increase their share of the vote so that they would have a majority in the Reichstag. On the 31 January 1933, Hitler, conscious of his lack of a majority in the Reichstag, immediately called for new elections to try and strengthen his position.
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