Its codeword was ‘Kolibri’ (the German for Hummingbird) – the instruction given to the death squads on the day of the purge. The ‘Night of the Long Knives’ was actually nights plural, taking place between 30th June and 2nd July 1934. At least 85 political opponents to Adolf Hitler were liquidated; some estimates run as high as 1,000. The purge established Hitler as the pre-eminent and unchallenged administrator of the German state. The rest is dark history..