The Night of the Long Knives: On This Day. 2.7.1935

Hitler's most dangerous enemies weren't outside the Nazi Party—they were inside it. In this episode, historian Roger Moorhouse takes us inside the dramatic events of 30 June–2 July 1934, when Hitler unleashed a wave of assassinations against his own comrades in what became known as the Night of the Long Knives. Except it wasn't just one night. It was a murderous long weekend that cemented his dictatorship and changed the course of history. Why did Hitler betray Ernst Röhm, one of his oldest allies? How did the SA become a threat to the regime it helped create? And what role did the army, conservative elites and Himmler play in one of the most shocking political purges of the twentieth century? We discuss: Why Hitler turned on his closest supporters. Ernst Röhm, the SA and the power struggle at the heart of the Nazi regime. The dawn raid at Bad Wiessee and the purge's most notorious killings. The murder of former Chancellor Kurt von Schleicher and the widening of the purge beyond the Nazi Party. How the Nazis dressed up political murder as an act of state. Why the purge marked the moment Hitler became untouchable. How ordinary Germans reacted as the true nature of the regime became impossible to ignore. Roger also reveals why he's writing the first major English-language history of the Night of the Long Knives in decades—and why this pivotal episode deserves far more attention than it has received.