Original subtitles

July the 1st, 1934.

Stadelheim prison, Munich, Germany.

Three black uniformed men enter a cell.

Three shots ring out. It is the climax of an orgy of killing.

An assassination which clears the way for Adolf Hitler to achieve absolute

power.

June 29th, 1934.

Hotel Wiesen, Bad Godesberg, near Bonn.

The final countdown to the assassination begins two days earlier at a luxury

hotel on the banks of the River Rhine.

Adolf Hitler, Fuhrer of Nazi Germany, cut short an inspection tour of work

and arrived here for crisis meetings.

For Hitler is receiving news that a coup is about to be staged against his

regime.

A coup led by a man he believed to be one of his oldest and most loyal

Hitler has been Chancellor of Germany for 18 months, and on the surface his

regime seems secure.

Political opponents have been outlawed.

arrested and imprisoned in concentration camps.

A massive program of public works and secret rearmament is eliminating

unemployment.

But there are still forces which could bring the regime crashing down.

The elderly President Paul von Hindenburg, the war hero who distrusts

a jumped -up corporal.

The army and the traditional Prussian officer corps, which is threatened by

power of the paramilitary Nazi stormtroops, the F .A., and the

traditional industrialists and financiers, who still control the

shocked by the rabble -rousing street tactics of the F .A.

It all comes back to one man, one of Hitler's oldest comrades.

Ernst Röhm.

He has built up the SA from a gang of street fighters to a mass movement of

than three million men.

Röhm has become the focus of hostility from traditional nationalist forces

could derail Hitler's regime.

Hitler's other henchmen are telling him that Röhm and his SA must be muzzled if

his regime is to be secured.

Now they are telling him that the SA is about to lead a putsch.

It is decision time.

Born in 1887 in Munich, Bavaria, Ernst Röhm becomes a professional soldier.

During World War I, he is severely wounded during fighting near Verdun.

After Germany's surrender, Captain Röhm returns to Munich and hopes to arm the

right -wing nationalist Freikorps.

which play a key role in putting down a communist riser.

Röhm's life takes a new turn in 1920, when the army instructs him to

a small right -wing party, the German Workers, or DAP.

He swiftly falls under the spell of one of the party's most accomplished

orators, a fellow war veteran, Adolf Hitler.

who, ironically, has also joined it as an army spy.

Born in 1889 in Austria, Hitler had failed to make it as an artist in Vienna

then Munich.

In 1914, he joins a Bavarian regiment as a volunteer and serves in France as

runner for regimental HQ.

He wins the Iron Cross and is wounded twice.

in the leg in 1916 and temporarily blinded by gas in 1980.

After the armistice, Hitler also returns to Munich and works for army

intelligence. In June 1919, he is assigned to infiltrate the DAP.

He quickly realizes that this can be the vehicle for his political ambitions.

In 1920, Hitler leaves the army and begins to work for the DAP full -time.

By July 1921, Hitler has been elected leader of the party, and on the 29th, he

is first referred to as Führer of what he renames the National Socialist German

Workers' Party, or Nazis.

A few days later, Hitler selects Ernst Röhm to organize an assault section, or

Sturmabteilung, the SA, to guard party meetings and disrupt those of opponents.

But in 1922, Röhm's ambitions suffer a blow.

The aristocratic flying ace Hermann Göring, commander of the Richthofen

after the Red Baron's death, joins the Nazis.

As a popular war hero, Goering is put in over Röhm's head to command the SA.

A feud begins between the two men, which will have fatal consequences.

But both of them are with Hitler on November 9th, 1923, when he attempts a

in Munich.

Goering is shot and severely wounded in the thigh.

He and his Swedish wife have to flee to her homeland.

Röhm is arrested and imprisoned with Hitler.

They become close friends.

But the effect of the failure of the Munich Putsch is to divide the Nazi

into those like Röhm and Josef Goebbels, who believe it must seize power by

force and direct action, and Hitler.

who believes in winning power through legitimate means.

By 1925, Hitler has imposed his authority.

Goebbels falls into line.

Disillusioned, Röhm leaves to become an instructor in the Bolivian army.

By the time he returns, the situation has changed dramatically.

The fortunes of the Nazi Party are transformed by the Great Depression

follows the 1929 Wall Street crash.

There is mass unemployment in Germany and support for extremist parties such

the Communists and the Nazis explodes.

In 1930 the Nazis become the second largest party in the Reichstag with 18 %

the vote.

In 1931, Hitler asks Rome to return from Bolivia and take charge again of the

SA.

This time he will be in full command.

But during his absence, a new rival has appeared.

In 1923, as the SA began to grow, a new personal protection squad for Hitler had

been formed.

The Schutzstaffel, or SS.

In 1929, this was put under the control of Heinrich Himmler, an ambitious and

devious former chicken farmer.

And in October 1931, just as Röhm gets back from Bolivia, Himmler selects 27

-year -old Reinhard Heydrich to start an intelligence and security service for

the SS, the Sicherheitsdienst, or SD.

Heydrich is, if anything, even more ambitious than Himmler to turn the SS

the most powerful force in the Nazi state.

While professing loyalty to Röhm, both men begin to plot his overthrow, with

Heydrich collecting information to be used against the SA.

This is not difficult, since Röhm has never abandoned his belief that the SA

should be a mass revolutionary force to overthrow the traditional powers which

control Germany.

But as Hitler gets closer to his aim of achieving power by constitutional means,

these are the very people whose support he needs.

Also, Röhm is homosexual, and as he builds up the essay, he promotes many

and condones their extreme behavior.

January, 1933.

As head of the largest party in the Reichstag, Hitler is invited to become

Chancellor by President Hindenburg.

Just a month later, the burning of the Reichstag, which is blamed on the

Communists, gives Hitler the excuse to begin ruling by emergency decree.

Nevertheless, he is still trying to persuade the armed forces and President

Hindenburg that he can be trusted.

And as Rome expands the SA from 300 ,000 men to nearly 3 million during 1933,

and unleashes it against the Nazis' opponents, he seems to be increasingly

undermining this.

Goering, now Interior Minister of Prussia, has set up a secret police

Gestapo. This clashes with the local SA leadership.

Soon, Goering has joined Himmler and Heydrich in plotting Röhm's downfall.

They warn Hitler that Röhm is becoming a major threat to the regime and that the

SA must be calm.

By early 1934, Röhm is making no secret of his belief that the SA should be the

leading force in Nazi Germany.

During February, he proposes that the army should be integrated into the SA,

this idea is rejected by President Hindenburg.

An attempt by Hitler to reconcile the leaderships of the SA and the army

Then, in March 1934, the SA commander in Hanover, Victor Lutzer, secretly

denounces Rome to Hitler for openly criticizing the Fuhrer and suggesting

he should be sent on a long holiday.

Hitler replies,

We must let this matter ripen.

April 10th, 1934.

Wilhelmshaven.

Hitler holds a secret meeting on board the pocket battleship Deutschland with

Minister of War, General Wernher von Blomberg, Head of the Army, General

von Fritsch, and Head of the Navy, Admiral Erich Raeder.

Hitler agrees to curb Röhm and the SA in return for army support to make him

president when Hindenburg dies.

And on April 20th, there is an announcement that the SA will go on

during July.

Heydrich is now sending regular reports to Hitler warning that Röhm and the SA

are planning his overthrow.

With Himmler and Goering...

Heydrich prepares detailed plans for eliminating the leadership of the SA.

How much Hitler is aware of this is uncertain, but he does nothing to defend

Rome and seems happy to let matters develop.

June 16th, 1934, Venice.

The pressure on Hitler mounts.

During his first state visit to Italy, Mussolini urges him to act against the

SA.

The next day, as Hitler returns, his non -Nazi vice -chancellor, Franz von

Papen, makes a speech criticizing SA excesses.

Hitler responds publicly, vowing to crush any resistance, whether from right

left.

The SS is now sending ever more lurid details of an SA plot.

But Hitler still hesitates.

June the 21st, 1934.

Hitler sees Hindenburg.

The aged president states that he expects Hitler to act against the SA,

otherwise he will declare martial law and use the army to crush it.

So as not to arouse suspicion, Goering accompanies Rome to the wedding of his

archenemy, Berlin SA commander Karl Ernst, whose name he has already put on

death list.

Then, Röhm and the other SA commanders depart for Bad Wiese near Munich to

their holiday.

Himmler and Heydrich send a secret mobilization order to all SS units.

And as the SA relaxes, the army general staff puts all military districts on

alert.

The pressure on Hitler is now intense, and the opportunity to act while the SA

is off guard is becoming too good to miss.

June 29th, 1934.

The Rhineland.

During the afternoon, Hitler cuts short his visit to work camps and goes to the

Hotel Driesen near Bonn.

At nine that evening, Goebbels arrives from Berlin to warn him that an SA coup

is imminent.

Almost simultaneously, Goering telephones to say that Karl Ernst has

in Berlin on alert.

It appears that their coup is beginning.

At 9 .30, Victor Lutzer arrives and assures Hitler of the loyalty of the

the SA.

Shortly afterwards, Sepp Dietrich, the commander of Hitler's personal

squad, the Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler, arrives.

He is instructed to fly to Munich and take command of SS forces there.

June 30th, 1934.

Shortly after midnight, Himmler phones to tell Hitler that Karl Ernst has

ordered a general mobilization of the Berlin SA for four in the morning.

Goebbels knows that, in fact, Ernst is about to begin a honeymoon cruise to

Tenerife, but he chooses not to tell Hitler.

A few minutes later, Hitler is phoned from Munich.

and told that SA men are now marching through the streets, shouting slogans.

In fact, a few SA demonstrators had been dispersed earlier by their officers.

All is now quiet, with Röhm and most of the top SA leadership sleeping

peacefully in the Pension Hanselbauer at Bad Wiese.

Whether this steady drumbeat of accusations against Röhm and the SA are

a plot encouraged by Hitler, or whether they have been orchestrated by Goering,

Himmler and Heydrich to put pressure on him, has never been made clear.

But now the Führer takes a momentous decision.

Sunday, June 30th, 1934.

Hotel Driesen, Bad Godesberg.

At one in the morning...

Hitler decides to fly immediately to Munich to confront Röhm.

In Munich, Dietrich is instructed to proceed to Bad Wiese and await Hitler's

arrival.

At Bonn airport, Hitler's personal aircraft is prepared for immediate take

Hitler, Goebbels and Victor Lützer leave the hotel.

After a half -hour drive, the cars reach Bonn airport.

and Hitler, Lützer and Goebbels board the plane.

June 30, 1934.

At 1 .50, the plane takes off for Munich.

In Berlin, Himmler and Heydrich go to the Gestapo HQ at Prinz -Albrecht

after a warning that Hitler is on the move.

Goering is also alerted.

As Hitler's plane flies south, the SS convoy leaves for Bad Wiessee.

At the Pension Hankelbauer, the SA leadership sleeps on.

June 30th. At four in the morning, Hitler's plane lands at Munich Airport.

Hitler goes first to the Bavarian Ministry of the Interior, where local SA

commanders have been told to gather.

They are arrested and taken to Stadelheim prison.

Police and SS men surround the SAHQ, the brown house.

The telephone lines are cut.

At six o 'clock, Hitler gets back in his car and sets off for Bad Wiese.

In Berlin, Himmler and Heydrich are warned that he is now left for the final

confrontation.

SS murder squads are alerted to leave for chosen victims' homes.

At 6 .30, the SS cars reach Bad Wiese, picking up the SS trucks waiting at the

outskirts. They race to the Pension Hanselbach.

A few minutes later, they reach the hotel.

There are no guards and the SA leaders are still asleep.

The first SS men burst in and begin rounding them up.

Hitler, with a revolver, goes up to the first floor and hammers on Röhm's door.

When Röhm opens it, Hitler rushes in screaming insults and tells him that he

under arrest.

Then the prisoners are herded down into the cellar.

By 8, it is all over.

Hitler, Goebbels and Lützer drive back to Munich, taking Röhm and other top SA

commanders with them.

They take another route, south of the lake, in case SA fanatics loyal to Röhm

try to intercept them.

June 30, 1934.

By 9 o 'clock, the prisoners are being locked up in Stadelheim prison.

Hitler and Goebbels go to the SA HQ.

At 10 o 'clock, Goebbels phones Göring's HQ in Berlin and says the code word

Kolibri, hummingbird.

Heydrich and the Gestapo receive the message which is relayed to the murder

squad.

Then the killings begin.

11 .30.

General Kurt von Schleicher...

The former chancellor is gunned down in his study.

His young wife is also shot.

His is one of the first of more than 90 murders which take place all over

Germany.

In some cases, it is old scores that are being settled, such as Gregor Strasser,

the former leader of the party who fell out with Hitler.

Or Ritter von Kahn.

the man who put down in 1923 Munich Putsch.

The Brown House, Munich, three in the afternoon.

Hitler puts Lützer in command of the SA.

He then instructs Sepp Dietrich to go to Stadelheim and execute the five top SA

commanders. Only Rome is to be kept alive.

At five in the afternoon, Sepp Dietrich and the firing squad reach Stadelheim.

The five SA leaders are brought out and shot.

That evening, Hitler returns by air to Berlin.

After his arrival, he is told of the killings which have already taken place.

He must now confront the decision of what to do about Röhr.

Sunday, July 1st, 1934, Berlin.

In the Reich Chancellery, during the morning, Hitler is persuaded by Goering

Himmler that Roe must die.

At one o 'clock, the countdown begins.

Hitler telephones Munich and instructs SS General Theodor Eicher, the first

commandant of the first concentration camp at Dachau, to kill Roe.

Eicher takes two other SS officers with him.

Stadelheim, Munich.

At half past two, the three SS officers reach the prison and demand to see Röhm.

At the Reich's Chancellery in Berlin, Hitler is giving a reception and

with his guests.

Back at Stadelheim prison, at 2 .35, the SS men enter Röhm's cell.

He is sitting naked to the waist and sweating heavily.

They slap a newspaper with blazing headlines about his treachery down in

of him.

Then a gun with just one bullet in it.

The SS men leave Rome alone.

The implication is clear.

He will not leave the cell alive.

The Reich's Chancellery, Berlin.

By 2 .45, a crowd has gathered after news of an attempted coup.

Hitler goes out onto the balcony to acknowledge its cheer.

Stadelheim Prison, Munich.

At 2 .50, the SS men go back into the cell.

Röhm is still sitting motionless, staring at the pistol.

They shoot him three times.

A few minutes later, at the Reich Chancellery, as Hitler steps off the

he is given a message.

Ernst Röhm, one of his oldest colleagues,

and the man who had become the greatest threat to the Nazi regime is dead.

August 2nd, 1934.

Just a month later, Hitler gets his payback.

President von Hindenburg dies, and the German army stands by its agreement to

support him for the presidency.

On that same day, all officers and men start taking an oath, pledging absolute

loyalty to Adolf Hitler.

as supreme commander of the Wehrmacht.

August 5th.

Hindenburg is buried, and with him the last chance of opposition to Hitler.

For Ernst Röhm, there is no pomp, just a simple grave in a local cemetery.

But his assassination was the key which gave Hitler absolute power.