The Night of the Long Knives

The Night of the Long Knives- Hitler's Rise to Power; A Documentary

The same story can be read by reading William Shirer's account of the rise of the Nazis to power before World War II. This video can be considered an alternative to reading the book, which is over 1000 pages. Folks may not have the inclination nor the time to read such a lengthy book, so it is my intention to present an alternative to that book's truth that must not be forgotten. It also must be understood, and counter measures taken, to insure as much as humanly possible, that this cannot happen again.

There are those who believe "it can't happen here". I would submit that it is indeed happening in this country right now. To me, this pursuit of Trump is following the same pattern that led to Hitler's rise. It is virtually being repeated verbatim by the Democrats ( along with Quislings in the GOP). All of this to prevent Trump from opposing their lust for absolute power.

Keep in mind that the "Night of the Long Knives" was a purge intended to dispose of someone who had become an inconvenience to Hitler's ambitions. That would be Ernst Rohm, the leader of the SA. The SA is perhaps better known as the Brownshirts. An accusation was made against Rohm that was cooked up in order to eliminate the possibility that Rohm could seize power in Germany, which Hitler wanted for himself. Rohm was no angel himself. For all intents and purposes, they might as well have been clones of each other. Therefore, the alleged plot of Rohm to take over Germany was not completely out of the question. Hitler used that fact to have Rohm destroyed, and by destroyed, that is quite literal. Hitler also used that to make himself unquestioned master of Germany.

But Rohm was in no position to actually carry out such a threat. It is true that the Brownshirts were a terror group, and was quite useful in stifling opposition to the Nazis, but by 1934, he was essentially powerless. Rohm was in no position to carry out any coup. The Nazis had Rohm and his followers DISARMED. In fact, the Nazis had the entire country disarmed, with the only exception being the state.

How Hitler carried out his plan is terrifying to behold. That's because it was conceived of in deceit, and executed with the full knowledge and understanding of the power structure in Germany. He could not have been successful without their assistance. However, their assistance was made to appear legal and above reproach. But it was certainly not the case. In other words, Hitler used the apparatus of the state to destroy the Weimar Republic. The Weimar Republic wasn't perfect, but it had civil liberties. It had opposition parties, and it had an element of democracy. Hitler destroyed all that, and made the civil authorities partners in his crime.

The question should be why didn't the civil authorities stop Hitler? Indeed, they HELPED him immensely. Given the extraordinary deceit of the man, it might be explained that these "leaders" couldn't understand the nature and intent of Hitler's deceit. He got everybody to go along with him. Once he had them under his power, they lost all ability to resist. The rest became an unfortunate history.

That they didn't understand is even harder to believe when Hitler wrote it all down in his book-- Mein Kampf. It is hard to believe, but it must be true. It is the nature of deceit that it can only succeed when people allow themselves to be deceived. Without this succeptibility to being deceived, Hitler could have been stopped.

It has been said that those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it. Alarmingly enough, types like Hitler will erase that history if they could. After all, the winners write the history books. Keep in mind that there are those in this country right now who are trying to keep the truth from being told. They are also trying to write a history that favors themselves. It is being done right under our noses. The pattern is very close to what Hitler did in his rise to power, and is being done right now in this country.

It was all being done in the name of the rule of law and democracy. But it was far and away the Big Lie that the Nazis loved to peddle to a gullible public. History may not repeat, but it often rhymes.