At the end of 1943 the Schutz Staffeinel (SS) and the Gestapo managed to arrest several Germans involved in plotting to overthrow Adolf Hitler. This included Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Klaus Bonhoeffer, Josef Mueller and Hans Dohnanyi. Others under suspicion like Wilhelm Canaris and Hans Oster were dismissed from office in January, 1944.
During the summer of 1944, a secretive network of German officers and civilians banded together for Operation Valkyrie, which was a final attempt to assassinate Adolf Hitler.
The plot to kill Hitler needed to use this plan to take control from the SS because only the death of the Fuhrer would release their oath of loyalty till death, sworn by every SS member. Simply arresting Hitler would incur the wrath of the entire SS. Hitler had to be assassinated. At Ploetzensee, the Nazis executed hundreds of Germans for opposition to Hitler, including many of the participants in the July 20, 1944, plot to kill Hitler. Berlin, Germany, postwar.
Major Claus von Stauffenberg now emerged as the leader of the group opposed to Nazi rule. In 1942, he decided to kill Adolf Hitler. He was joined by Wilhelm Canaris,Carl Goerdeler, Julius Leber, Ulrich Hassell, Hans Oster, Peter von Wartenburg, Henning von Tresckow, Friedrich Olbricht, Werner von Haeften, Fabian Schlabrendorft, Ludwig Beck and Erwin von Witzleben.
The plot was developed as a modification of Operation Valkyrie (Unternehmen Walküre), which was approved by Hitler for use if Allied bombing of German cities or an uprising of forced laborers from occupied countries working in German factories resulted in a breakdown in law and order. Members of the Reserve Army, including members of the Kreisau Circle, modified the plan and decided to assassinate Adolf Hitler, Hermann Goering and Heinrich Himmler. Afterward, they planned for troops in Berlin to seize key government buildings, telephone and signal centers and radio stations. Hitler's death was required to free German soldiers from their oath of loyalty to him. Operation Valkyrie was meant to give the plotters control over the government so they could make peace with the Allies and end the war.
At least six attempts were aborted before Claus von Stauffenberg decided on trying again during a conference attended by Hitler on July 20, 1944. It was decided to drop plans to kill Goering and Himmler at the same time. Stauffenberg, who had never met Hitler before, carried the bomb in a briefcase and placed it on the floor while he left to make a phone-call. The bomb exploded killing four men in the hut. Hitler's right arm was badly injured but he survived the bomb blast.
The plan was for Ludwig Beck, Erwin von Witzleben and Friedrich Fromm to take control of the German Army. The coup failed in part because they delayed implementing the plan until official confirmation of Hitler's death could be received. When they learned that Hitler had survived, Valkyrie was not put in effect.
Plots To Kill Hitler Wikipedia
In an attempt to protect himself, Fromm organized the execution of Claus von Stauffenberg along with two other conspirators, Friedrich Olbricht and Werner von Haeften, in the courtyard of the War Ministry. It was later reported the Stauffenberg died shouting 'Long live holy Germany'.
As a result of the July Plot, the new chief of staff, Heinz Guderian demanded the resignation of any officer who did not fully support the ideals of the Nazi Party. Over the next few months Guderian sat with Gerd von Rundstedt and Wilhelm Keitel on the Army Court of Honor that expelled hundreds of officers suspected of being opposed to the policies of Adolf Hitler. This removed them from court martial jurisdiction and turned them over to Roland Freisler and his People's Court.
Over the next few months most of the group, including Wilhelm Canaris, Carl Goerdeler, Julius Leber, Ulrich Hassell, Hans Oster, Peter von Wartenburg, Henning von Tresckow, Ludwig Beck, Erwin von Witzleben and Friedrich Fromm, were either executed or committed suicide. Ninety of the supposed conspirators were executied between August 1944 and April 1945 at the Plotzensee Prison.
It is etimated that 4,980 Germans were executed after the July Plot. Hitler decided that the leaders should have a slow death. They were hung with piano wire from meat-hooks. Their executions were filmed and later shown to senior members of both the NSDAP and the armed forces.
In March 2013, the last surviving member of the plot - Ewald-Heinrich von Kleist-Schmenzin - died in Munich.
German Plots To Kill Hitler
In A Nutshell
Just like in the Tom Cruise movie Valkyrie, the July 20 plot failed when the bomb didn’t kill Hitler. As the members of the coup were rounded up, Hitler ordered some of the conspirators shot and others killed by hanging with piano wire. The worst execution was reserved for the brother of one of the conspirators. Just before death, Berthold von Stauffenberg was resuscitated and then hung again, over and over. To top it all off, Hitler ordered the other hangings and the torture-execution to be filmed so he could watch at his convenience.
The Whole Bushel
While on the surface it seems that all of Germany was behind Hitler, there were significant portions of the population fighting against him. However, his security details (first the Storm Troopers and then the SS) were very efficient in crushing any sort of dissent. Of course, that didn’t stop everyone, and Hitler was the target of dozens of assassination plots against his life. Obviously, none were successful, but a few came close. None is more famous than the failed July 20 plot.
The plotters hoped to successfully behead the Nazi regime by arresting or killing the top leadership of Germany during World War II. To free up German soldiers from their oath to Hitler, the plot required Hitler be killed. They planned to do this with a bomb in the infamous Wolf’s Lair, during one of Hitler’s military planning sessions. Through luck and an ill-conceived explosive device, Hitler survived the blast and was able to maintain his position in power while successfully tracking down and killing every member of July 20 Plot. The ringleaders were shot as Claus von Stauffenberg (Tom Cruise’s character) famously shouted, “Long live our sacred Germany!” just before the bullets ripped into his chest.
What’s not talked about are hundreds of others who were also rounded up—some for the crime of just being related to the conspirators. Alexander von Stauffenberg, Claus’s brother who was fighting in Greece and had nothing to do with the conspiracy, was sent to Dachau and was able to live long enough to be liberated by the Allies. Claus’s other brother Berthold was not so lucky. Berthold had actually taken part in the conspiracy, and he and hundreds of prisoners were sentenced to death by hanging. Berthold’s hanging was especially cruel.
How Many Plots To Kill Hitler
Under Hitler’s orders, they were hung by nooses made from piano wire to ensure that they slowly strangled to death. But right before he would have died, Berthold was revived and then executed again, only to be revived and strangled again, at least a third and fourth time. And to really cap it off, all the executions were filmed so that Hitler could watch the torture-executions at his own pleasure.
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