The Lilac People

by Milo Todd

The Night of the Long Knives (June 30 to July 2, 1934) took place almost exactly one month before the death of President Paul von Hindenburg (August 2, 1934). The attack upon the Institute of Sexual Science was likewise more than a year earlier (May 6, 1933). Hindenburg’s death was nonetheless narratively included ahead of these two events in the several sparse pages illustrating Hitler’s rise to power in order to complete that picture. Besides that jump in time, all other events are narratively portrayed in the order in which they occurred. * The Night of the Long Knives (otherwise known as Operation Hummingbird) was primarily intended to purge Ernst Röhm (well known as homosexual) and the Sturmabteilung (SA), also believed to be notably homosexual. Hitler believed Röhm and his SA were no longer of use and, therefore, now a liability. The degree to which the attacks were motivated by prejudice against Röhm’s and the SA’s homosexuality is muddy, though this prejudice likely played a part. While Röhm and the SA were considered the primary targets, many of Hitler’s other perceived opponents were also targeted; at the time, those were primarily political opponents or LGBTQ+ people. Somewhere between 85 and 1,000 people were murdered during the three days of the Long Knives, and more than 1,000 others were arrested and/or sent to the freshly built Dachau.