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Sub units: Background | Reasons | The Night of the Long Knives | Results

  • Hitler drew up a list of names of people who had to be killed, including anyone he had ever suspected of being disloyal to him.
  • The day before the attack Goebbels accused Rohm and other SA leaders of a plot to kill Hitler.

no
Who was Goebbels? He was in charge of propaganda almost from the time that the Nazi Party was established.


  • The Night of the Long Knives took place on June 30, 1934.
  • The purge was carried out by the SS, whose services Himmler had offered to Hitler.
  • The 'Night' lasted for three days.
  • At least 400 and probably more than 1,000 people were executed in this purge.
  • The dead included Rohm (who was shot when he refused to commit suicide), Schleicher and his wife, Gregor Strasser, and many Catholic Church leaders.

no
The top leaders of the SA were all reputedly homosexual. On the Night of the Long Knives many of them were found sleeping in a hotel, some with their male companions.

Sub units: Background | Reasons | The Night of the Long Knives | Results
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