Wikipedia:Today's featured article/October 9, 2007

The Night of the Long Knives 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), a Nazi paramilitary organization. Adolf Hitler moved against the SA and its leader, Ernst Röhm, because he saw the independence of the SA and the penchant of its members for street violence as a direct threat to his power. Hitler also wanted to forestall any move by army leaders, who both feared and despised the SA, to curtail his rule. Finally, Hitler used the purge to act against conservative critics of his regime, especially those loyal to Vice-Chancellor Franz von Papen, and to settle scores with old enemies. The Schutzstaffel (SS), an elite Nazi corps, and the regime's secret police, or Gestapo, carried out most of the killings. The purge strengthened and consolidated the support of the army, or Reichswehr, for Hitler. The phrase "Night of the Long Knives" in the German language predates the massacre itself, and until it became synonymous with the purge, it referred generally to acts of vengeance. (more...)

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