Night of the Long Knives

From 1926 to 1933, the paramilitary organisation known as Sturm Atbeilung led by Ernst Röhm greatly supported Hitler and contributed to his rise. Yet, these "SA" troops were deemed too radical by the army and the conservative political parties. And Hitler needed the latter's support to access power...

Himmler, Göring and Heydrich, all three very close to Hitler found the solution: they invented a coup supposeddly prepared by Ernst Röhm against Hitler. This was the excuse to get rid of the powerful Sturm Atbeilung.

During the night of 29 to 30 June 1934, Hitler ordered the execution of the leaders of the SA troops... This event is known as the "night of the long knives". The exact number of people who were executed that night ranges from 70 to 200. Göring made sure the press did not publish the names of victims (or what he called traitors) and all documents related to this event were disgarded...