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On 30 January 1933, President Hindenburg made Adolf Hitler chancellor. Hindenburg was acting under the emergency clause, Article 48, of the Weimar Constitution and believed that Hitler's appointment would be [...]

The article discusses and presents the August 1, 1934 article "The Führer Protects Justice," by political theorist Carl Schmitt in the periodical "Deutsche Juristenzeitung," which defends the actions of politician Adolf Hitler following Hitler's role in the June 30, 1934 political assassinations known as The Night of the Long Knives. The article is said to have followed a July 13, 1934 speech in which Hitler spoke in the Reichstag on issues of law and justice.

Early in the morning of June 30, 1934, SA Chief of Staff Ernst Röhm and other leaders of the National Socialist storm troopers, the Sturmabteilung or SA, were arrested by Adolf Hitler in the Bavarian resort town, Bad Wiessee. Further arrests followed across Germany during the day. Many SA leaders, various German politicians, two generals, some dissident Nazis, and some of Röhm's friends were shot. Finally, Röhm himself was killed late the next day. This was the only violent internal party purge to occur in the entire history of Nazism. Some ninety people were killed, with the greatest proportion being in Berlin, Munich, and Silesia. At the time the purge was justified by the allegation that the SA leaders were plotting to overthrow Hitler, carry out a “second revolution,” and seize power in collusion with former Chancellor General von Schleicher (also shot) and with the aid of an unnamed foreign power (France). The need to rid the SA of corruption and decadence was emphasized; in this context Hitler's alleged discovery of Röhm's homosexuality was publicized. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]