The Night Of The Long Knives

Many course-changing events have happened in the month of June in Indian and world history.

- Krishna Kumar Mishra

In recent Indian history the first of its kind, Operation Blue Star occurred between 1 June and 6 June 1984, ordered by the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, to remove militant religious leader Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale from the Golden Temple. It was again this month when nine years back on June 25th, 1975 she had clamped a state of internal emergency in the country and curbed civil liberties and ordered the press to be censored. I discussed Emergency Days last year in our inaugural issue in detail. This June we’ll have a peek in the world history.

The Night of the Long Knives (a phrase from a popular Nazi song) also called “Operation Hummingbird” or the “Rohm- Putch,” is considered an important day and a turning point in Germany’s history. It was an event during which Hitler’ SS troops committed a series of political murders to rid Hitler of possible political threats. These murders of the leaders took place between 30 June and 2 July 1934. Many of the people who were killed were the very people who had been loyal to Hitler and helped put him in power. It was the night, Adolf Hitler, too obsessed with fear and jealousy, got rid of all those players who could challenge his authority. In the list, mostly were his one time supporters, including his most loyal friend and devotee and head of his paramilitary wing, the SA.

In that summer of 1934, with one quick and hard action, Hitler had made it clear that he was the supreme ruler of the country who had the right to be judge and jury. The murders cemented an agreement between the Nazi regime and the German Army that enabled Hitler to proclaim himself Führer of National Socialist Germany and to claim absolute power.