Chapter 110: The Long Knives in the Dark Night
Our Discord Server: https://discord.gg/PazjBDkTmW
You can buy coins here to unlock advanced chapters: https://gravitytales.com/coins-purchase-page/
Advanced chapter at Patreon.com/caleredhair
As he reached the door, Tukhachevsky suddenly turned back and looked at Akado. “By the way, Mr. Chancellor, may I ask how you will deal with the German Communist Party?”
“This time, they challenged our bottom line, General,” Akado said in a low voice, avoiding Tukhachevsky’s gaze. “Everyone who supports me now hopes that I will deal with the German Communist Party harshly.”
He did not specify what “harshly” meant, but the implication of the word was enough for Tukhachevsky to understand. The purge had already begun. The streets and alleys of Germany were stained with blood that could not be wiped clean. This place, at least for now, was no communist utopia; on the contrary, it was a hell for communists.
Akado, and the interest groups he represented, were enemies of Bolshevism, so they didn’t mind stabbing Bolshevism in the back when they had the perfect justification. Just two days ago, while waiting to board his plane, Tukhachevsky had heard news that several comrades with whom he had corresponded had been hanged.
“Based on our personal friendship, and the Soviet Union’s concessions on Austria and Czechoslovakia, may I ask you to let some people go?” Tukhachevsky finally asked with a sigh.
“Alright. I’ll give you a limit of 500 people, no more. Choose them from the mid-level administrative cadres. I need to keep the high-profile figures at the top to give my followers an accounting,” Akado replied after some thought.
Tukhachevsky nodded, a sad smile on his face. “Thank you, my friend. To be honest, you and I both know what really happened, yet those poor comrades must shed their blood for your personal ambition.”
“Many times, we are forced to make choices that are not guided by morality and truth, but by interests and power,” Akado offered no defense. In reality, they were both well aware that those lives were nothing more than bargaining chips between two interest groups.
“I once said that I didn’t want to meet you on the battlefield,” Tukhachevsky said suddenly. “Now I’ve changed my mind. If it’s possible, I want to defeat you with my own hands, nail you to a cross, and tear out your guts.”
“I really don’t want to meet you on the battlefield. That’s the truth, from the bottom of my heart,” Akado said with a smile, his expression indescribably eerie. “I will do my best to avoid you, truly.”
Tukhachevsky left. He had arrived in a hurry, and he departed just as quickly. He took with him several battered German communists, figures who were the public face of the Comintern and were deemed worthy of Soviet protection and effort. Many more released German communists were packed onto a train and sent to the Soviet Union. At that moment, they were still unaware that for the sake of their lives and influence, the Soviet government had given up two distant German-speaking regions.
In truth, the owners of many names on the list Tukhachevsky requested were already gone and had to be replaced with other, less important German communists. The slaughter of the German communists had already begun long before. If Tukhachevsky had arrived a few days later, perhaps not a single person the Soviet Union wanted would have been left alive.
On the night before, the purge of the German Communist Party had already been launched in full force. All trade unions across Germany were abolished, and all labor leaders were arrested. Every documented communist was rounded up; not even the communist members of the Reichstag were spared.
Reinhard Heydrich was no saint. On the contrary, he was a shark that went into a frenzy at the smell of blood. That night, the SS under his command swarmed the streets and alleys, arresting every suspicious person they could find.
The SS held a long arrest list. Most were key members of the Communist Party, but there were also many liberal figures who leaned towards communism. Of course, parts of this list also came from the Greater German Party and the Wehrmacht.
The financial conglomerates controlled by the Greater German Party had many rivals. Krupp, Jelinek-Cassia, Bosch, and others did not mind using this golden opportunity to eliminate their competitors. So when the SS made its move, they drew up a long list and handed it to Reinhard Heydrich.
The businessmen of the Greater German Party hoped to use this purge to crush their competition. They knew that as long as they didn’t go too far, they wouldn’t incur Akado’s displeasure. Besides, Akado also needed the vast amount of confiscated assets to support the “MEFO bills” for his rearmament program.
The politicians of the Greater German Party also hoped to eliminate their political enemies in this large-scale operation. Obviously, Akado himself would not pass up such an opportunity to strengthen his dictatorial rule, so the names of some established neutral politicians appeared on the list. They were to pay the final price for their fence-sitting.
Meanwhile, the Wehrmacht had long been furious with the lawless behavior of the SA (Sturmabteilung) and hoped to use this opportunity to weaken its power. Unlike Akado’s SS, the SA was not a group of enforcers recognized by the Wehrmacht.
Because of his deep military background, Akado had assured the Wehrmacht from the beginning that the SS would not threaten the military’s position. On the contrary, the SS was a place for retired military personnel. From its inception, the SS was cultivated as a military reserve force loyal to Akado personally.
When Akado established the SS, he told his confidant Reinhard Heydrich that the SS would one day be organized as a loyal main force under the leadership of the Wehrmacht. What he wanted was loyalty to him personally and obedience to a unified command, not a separate faction that formed its own clique. Heydrich was an intelligent man and executed this vision. Thus, the current SS was a paramilitary organization with a framework of retired military officers and the flesh and blood of fanatics who worshipped Akado.
The SA, however, lacked such self-awareness. The leader of the SA, Röhm, intended to replace the Wehrmacht from the very beginning. This strategy made the relationship between the SA and the Wehrmacht as volatile as fire and water. And because of the hostile relationship between Akado and Hitler—or rather, between the different factions they represented—the SA had never been able to repair the rift with the Wehrmacht.
Thus, the Wehrmacht could tolerate the rise of the SS, with which it had close ties, but it could not ignore even the slightest provocation from the SA. So this time, the Wehrmacht also sent a list to the SS, hoping the SS would use this incident to get rid of some of the SA’s more active members.
However, when Reinhard Heydrich carried out these tasks, he slightly altered some of the criteria, making the purge list better suit Akado’s personal interests.
For instance, he ignored many of the SA’s high-level personnel and deliberately spared the SA’s top leader, Röhm. This was to ensure that the SA would not collapse immediately, giving Akado more opportunities and excuses to integrate the various factions of the Wehrmacht.
For instance, he left many influential non-Greater German Party business leaders untouched to put some pressure on the tycoons within the Greater German Party and prevent them from forming a monopoly. He also avoided more sensitive ethnic issues and other potential future troubles.
In short, during this purge, in Berlin alone, approximately 3,000 communists were arrested or shot, and over 700 so-called radicals had their property confiscated and were expelled from the country.
Of course, this was not the final death toll. In fact, over 4,100 people died in the purges over these few days. Out of love for their country, the German people ignored this brutal suppression. The Reichstag Fire had, to a large extent, made ordinary people understand that war was not far away. So at this moment, facing the terrifying communist threat, the entire nation of Germany united as never before.
Others also died in this suppression. The SA lost 19 high-level administrative cadres, including an internally known but otherwise obscure figure named Himmler. No one knew why Akado personally ordered the elimination of this unremarkable Himmler, but the SS carried out the mission faithfully. A large number of mid-level SA cadres were killed. For a time, the Nazi Party lost all control over the SA. The violent organization was severely damaged and left in a state of paralysis.
The replacement members of the Reichstag were all appointed by the Greater German Party, which now gained an overwhelming majority of seats. Thus, Akado’s proposal was passed.
Party electoral eligibility was canceled. All legislative work would be handled by the executive branch, which would also amend the constitution. Freedoms of speech, assembly, association, and the press were temporarily suspended. Privacy regulations protecting the freedom of telephone and mail communications were repealed. The government was granted the right to interfere in any matter to restore the new order. Furthermore, the government was granted the right to legislate on its own. And the Chancellor would act with the authority of the President.
Far away in East Prussia, President Hindenburg had fallen gravely ill and was in a coma. He couldn’t even sign the bill himself. In the end, medical staff had to take the old President’s finger and press it onto the document to make a print. But regardless of how it was done, Akado had legally been granted the authority to become the country’s legitimate dictator.
The first thing this dictator did after coming to power was to announce the banning of the German Communist Party. All registered communists in the country were required to undergo a notarized process of renouncing their party membership. Communist Party members who were unwilling to comply were either politely escorted out of the country or arrested and sent to a special camp for labor reform. And these camps responsible for holding them were called concentration camps.
After finishing this, Akado’s second act was to, through diplomatic channels, invite the leader of Italy, Mr. Mussolini, to visit Germany to begin consultations between the two nations to reach an understanding on the issues of Austria and Czechoslovakia.
