Victims of the Night of the Long Knives

There were at least eighty-five victims of the Night of the Long Knives who were executed during the purge, although the number may have been in the hundreds. There were more than a thousand victims if those who were arrested are counted along with those who were executed. The Night of the Long Knives ( _de. Nacht der langen Messer) took place in Germany between June 30 and July 2, 1934, when the Nazi regime executed at least eighty-five people for political reasons. 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 sixty-one had been shot during "the action", thirteen 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 eighty-five people were killed, and more than one thousand arrested. [ cite book |last=Evans |first=Richard |title=The Third Reich in Power |publisher=Penguin Group |year=2005 |pages=39 |quote=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.] The noted historian Ian Kershaw, author of a two-volume biography on Hitler, also cites the number of deaths at eighty-five. Kershaw also notes that "some estimates...put the total number killed at between 150 and 200." [ cite book |last=Kershaw |first=Ian |title=Hitler: 1889-1936 Hubris |publisher=W. W. Norton & Company |year=1999 |pages=517] The journalist and historian William J. Shirer writes in his "Rise and Fall of the Third Reich", that "The White Book of the Purge", published by emigrés in Paris claims 401 deaths, but lists only 116 of them. At the 1957 trial in Munich the figure 'more than 1000' was used." [cite book |last=Shirer |first=William J. |title=The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich |publisher=Simon and Schuster |year=1960 |pages=221-222] It must be noted that both of those figures are wildly 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.
* Edgar Julius Jung, lawyer, author of the "Marburg speech" of Franz von Papen
* Gustav Ritter von Kahr, former prime minister of Bavaria
* 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
* 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. [The list of victims was retrieved from the German Wikipedia unless otherwise stated.cite web |url=http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/R%C3%B6hm-Putsch |title=Röhm-Putsch |accessdate=2007-06-17 |format= |work=German Wikipedia |language=German |quote=]

Citations

References

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External links

* [http://www.axishistory.com/index.php?id=4558 Victims of the Night of the Long Knives]