Graft, the Fake Moral Scapegoating of Gays, and Fascist Gangsterism
What the Night of the Long Knives Teaches Us About Fascism
Welcome to World War Wednesday, a weekly dive into the continuous, thirty-year epoch of global conflict from 1914 to 1945. Here, I strip away popular myths to analyze the dynamics of industrial warfare, institutional behaviors, and the ideologies that shaped the world we inherited.
Graft (politics): This refers to the dishonest or corrupt acquisition of personal gain or advantage by using one's official position or influence. This can involve misusing public funds, taking bribes, or other unethical actions for personal profit.
The German Langes Messer, or “long knife,” is a late medieval and early Renaissance weapon that is really a type of single-edged sword despite its name. It was a civilian weapon, close in some respects to a machete, with some versions referred to as a peasant’s weapon. It is an interesting irony that the Nazis, derided by many of the elite as jumped-up peasant thugs, should have chosen this name for their summer 1934 purge, as they were themselves inspired by the British legend of the Treason of the Long Knives, when the invading Anglo-Saxons, a Germanic people, betrayed and murdered the indigenous Celts of Britain, the Welsh.
The events of the Night of the Long Knives were mysterious when they first occurred. It took weeks to begin to unravel the events. The US State Department kept itself informed through careful sourcing of German and European news, pronouncements by the regime, and the diligent work of US Embassy staff in Berlin. Ambassador William E. Dodd’s reports were illuminating. By the middle of July 1934, the administration of Franklin Delano Roosevelt was well informed of the barbaric nature of the Nazi regime.
