The night of the long knives seen from the Spanish press – Archivos de la Historia

The call “night of the long knives» not only involved the purge of the Nazi Party militia (the Sturmabteilung, or SA), but also constituted a repressive movement that affected more political sectors. Ultimately, it was the definitive settlement of the power of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi dictatorship. As such, this movement had a great impact abroad, something that can be seen today through the historical press. The Spanish press of the time also echoed the events in Germany, and an ideological division could already be perceived in it.

Historic context

In the complicated context that prevailed in Germany after the First World War, the SA (acronym for Sturmabteilung, or “raid section”) were a key instrument in the Nazi Party’s rise to power. The same served to silence other political forces through the use of violence and intimidation, or to carry out large parades through the streets that served to show their power. With their uniforms and brown shirts they managed to attract many Germans to their ranks., which would increase its size considerably. Many of its members had been veterans of the Great War, and they shared the pain of defeat. To this state of things, a decade later, the effects of the economic crisis of 1929 would be added. All this set of factors constituted the perfect context to propitiate the expansion and activity of an organization such as the SA.

When Adolf Hitler was appointed Chancellor of the ReichIn January 1933, the Nazi Party had already become the political party with the most votes (although it still did not have an absolute majority in the Reichstagthe German parliament). With Hitler in the chancellery came the accession to power of the Naziswhich —after the suspicious fire of the Reichstag— they would succeed in establishing a one-party dictatorial regime that would outlaw left-wing parties and unions. The other forces of the right, which had supported Hitler in his accession to power, were politically annulled and in some cases had to be forced into the Nazi Party.

By the summer of 1933, the Nazis enjoyed vast levels of power. within the state apparatus, although the constitution and parliament were still in force in theory. There was, however, a part of the State that continued to retain its autonomy: the armed forces, whose officers constituted an elitist and eminently conservative body. Many senior officers, although they welcomed Hitler’s promises to rearm the country, distrusted the National Socialists, and especially the SA, which they saw as a direct threat and as an openly revolutionary group.

Indeed, after the seizure of power within the National Socialist ranks, it became evident two streams: one, conservativein favor of establishing power and reconciling positions with the upper bourgeoisie and ruling elites; another, of a more revolutionary cut, he aspired to develop the more socialist aspects of the Nazi Party’s political programme. This second current was largely made up of members of the SA, making Röhm its most visible head. The party’s militia also aspired to replace the army, whom he considered a representative of the old order. However, in February 1934, Hitler stopped these claims after subordinating the SA as an auxiliary force to the army. Röhm ended up agreeing to this arrangement, but only reluctantly and did not back down from his plans. This fact hinted at the separation that already existed between the two leaders.

But army officers weren’t the only ones who were apprehensive about the Sturmabteilung. Many conservatives and members of the bourgeoisie viewed with increasing distaste the violence that their members practiced in the streets, as well as their revolutionary aspirations or their fondness for banquets and high-end cars. The conservative classes, among which Vice-Chancellor Franz von Papen stood out, continued to retain a certain autonomy and sometimes made thinly veiled criticism of some government policies.

By the end of June of that year, Hitler and his closest collaborators had already prepared the plan to behead the SA and silence those sectors that still constituted opposition to the regime.

The night of the long knives

Hitler had summoned the chiefs and main commanders of the SA to attend a meeting to be held in the Bavarian spa of Bad Wiessee on June 30. That day, at dawn, the Nazi leader and his closest circle traveled by plane to Munich. Upon arrival, they headed to the Bavarian Ministry of the Interior, where they met with several local Nazi leaders, including August Schneidhuber, a local SA leader and Munich police chief. The night before there had been serious street riots, which was the focus of Hitler’s criticism. After a violent argument (and after Hitler ripped off his SA epaulettes), Schneidhuber was arrested and sent to prison, where he would later be killed without trial. Schneidhuber would be the first to fall into the purge that, officially, paradoxically began to be described as a reaction to the Röhm-Putsch (or “Röhm coup”).

The SS were the main actor that carried out the repressionin addition to the secret police (Geheime Staatspolizei, or “Gestapo”) and other security forces. Hitler, accompanied by troops from these corps, then moved to Bad Wiessee, where he personally arrested Röhm and a large number of SA leaders. This would be the case of the regional head of the SA in Breslau, the feared and violent Edmund Heines. The local commander of the stormtroopers in Berlin – and a close associate of Röhm – Karl Ernst was arrested after returning to Germany from his honeymoon trip. In addition, as many other leaders of the Sturmabteilung who had traveled to Bavaria to attend the meeting were arrested upon arrival in Munich.

Both Heines and Röhm were caught in bed with young men, having homosexual relations, something that the Propaganda Minister would later take advantage of in order to justify actions against the SA. Heines and Ernst were murdered that same day without further ado, while Röhm would be gunned down in his cell on July 1, after refusing to commit suicide.

Nevertheless, this purge extended beyond the SA and was used to assassinate other annoying characters for power. That was the case of Erich Klausener, leader of “Catholic Action” and a person very close to Vice Chancellor Franz von Papen; or Gregor Strasser, former Nazi leader of the on the left who had distanced himself from and clashed with Hitler in 1932. The repression also reached enemies of Nazism from its early days. This was the case for Gustav Ritter von Kahr, a former staatskomissar (State Commissar) of Bavaria who had had a complex relationship with Hitler. Furthermore, von Kahr had been one of those responsible for the failure of the putsch from Munich in 1923.

The massacre of SA leaders was intended to make the high command of the Reichswehr not mistrust the Nazis and that mutual understanding be facilitated. However, there were two high-ranking officials who would be assassinated: General Kurt von Schleicher, Hitler’s former chancellor and predecessor, who was assassinated in his residence along with his wife; and Colonel Ferdinand von Bredow, a close associate of Schleicher who had also been head of the military secret service (the Abwehr). Schleicher had tried to articulate in 1932 a government with the participation of Nazi critics of Hitler (such as Strasser).

Contrary to what the expression seems to indicate, the “night of the long knives” would extend from June 30 to July 2. During this period, between 80 and 200 people would be killeddepending on the source consulted. It did not take long for it to become clear what had happened, so the Ministry of Propaganda of the Reich he prepared a version which was distributed to the German people and to the foreign press. It explained that in reality the State had reacted preventively against a leftist revolutionary attempt.

The reaction of the Spanish press to the night of the long knives

While the definitive settlement of the Nazi regime was taking place in Germany, the internal situation in Spain was very different. The centrist government of Ricardo Samper was facing a bitter conflict with the Government of Catalonia over issues of competence. At the same time, in those days the leader of the right, José María Gil-Robles, had just gotten married. Outside of politics, a good part of the population tried to cope with the strong heat of those dates.

Initially the information that began to circulate in the Spanish newspapers was very confusing. Regarding Ernst Röhm, some headlines even pointed out that he – after being arrested – had committed suicide and, shortly after, ended up stating that he had been shot. Initially, part of the Spanish press subscribed to the version of events distributed by the Nazi regime, with more or less nuances. This version, which maintained that the SA had actually tried to carry out a coup leftistwas reproduced by the newspaper ABC July 3:

We are not mistaken in affirming that the vanquished are the leftists of the National Socialist Party. Certainly, this does not mean the triumph of the ‘reaction’, although it can be foreseen that Adolf Hitler will take a more right-wing orientation According to a telegram, the plan of the seditionists consisted of proclaiming the socialist dictatorship, to destroy the Bank and socialize the industry. As the head of state writes, the German people owes gratitude to Hitler for having saved them from great danger.

There were left-wing newspapers that, although they maintained a critical position, partially subscribed to the version distributed by the Deutsches Nachrichtenbüro (DNB), the official news agency of Nazi Germany. Although it may seem incoherent, this should not be surprising since at that time the DNB was cited regularly and in fact this agency even opened a branch in Madrid from which it contributed to spreading Nazi propaganda in the Spanish context. DNB even signed a collaboration agreement with the Fabra news agency, which was then the most important of the Spanish agencies.

For The Liberal what happened was more about a struggle between internal factions of the Nazi Party, although he took for good the version that maintained that the SA had attempted a revolution. the leftist Herald of Madridechoed the supposed revolution leftist against Hitler and the official version that “explained” the arrest or assassination of figures Ernst Röhm or General von Schleicher; Despite this, the newspaper remained critical of the German regime,…