Franz von Papen (3/4): Night of the Long Knives & The Road to Nuremberg

Franz von Papen thought he controlled Hitler. By 1934, he learned otherwise—when the Night of the Long Knives murdered his staff and nearly killed him.January 1933: Von Papen becomes Vice-Chancellor of Nazi Germany, believing he's the real power behind Hitler's throne. The Reichstag Fire changes everything. Civil liberties suspended. Enabling Act passed. One-party state established. Papen supports it all.June 1934: The Marburg Speech. Von Papen's aide Edgar Jung writes a speech condemning Nazi terror. Days later, the Night of the Long Knives purge begins. Jung is shot. Herbert von Bose, Papen's chief of staff, is murdered at his desk. Papen is placed under house arrest by the SS.Then he's released. And instead of resisting, he praises Hitler and accepts a new mission: undermine Austria from within.1938: The Anschluss. German troops annex Austria. Von Papen's four years of diplomatic work paved the way.1939-1944: Ambassador to Turkey. Von Papen manages Operation Cicero, one of WWII's greatest espionage operations—the British Ambassador's valet photographing top-secret Allied documents. Survives assassination attempt in Ankara.1945: Nazi Germany collapses. The man who enabled Hitler's rise, negotiated the Vatican Concordat, facilitated the Anschluss, and served the Third Reich for twelve years faces the Nuremberg Trials.Next episode: The courtroom that would decide his fate.Keywords: Franz von Papen, Night of the Long Knives, Nazi Germany, Hitler, Marburg Speech, Operation Cicero, Anschluss Austria, Nuremberg Trials, WWII espionage, Reichstag Fire, Enabling Act, Third Reich, Edgar Jung, 1934 purge