The announcement of the deaths of five patriotic Germans reminds visitors of the last serious attempt of a section of people, who really cared for Germany, to assassinate Der Führer Adolf Hitler (1889-1945). They were bent on protecting their fatherland from being completely destroyed by heavy Allied bombings. William L. Shirer, between pages 1356 and 1405 of his The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich (New York: Fawcett Crest, 1962. Rpt. 1983) gives a graphic though poignant description of the 20 July 1944-plot to kill Hitler and his powerful Nazi officials – the plot was a failure and eventually led to the execution of at least four thousand nine hundred and eighty people and the arrest of seven thousand. Shirer writes, “The revolt, the only serious one ever made against Hitler in the eleven and half years of the Third Reich, had been snuffed out in eleven and a half hours” (pp. 1387-8). There have had been other planned attempts on the Nazi leader’s life too. To exemplify, the English Special Operations Executive (S.O.E.) plotted Operation Foxley to kill Hitler at Berghof in July 1944, but this was not executed.
Between 1943 and 1944, senior anti-Nazi German officers tried to assassinate their supreme commander through a variety of procedures – collectively called ‘Operation Spark’ – but the Austrian-German general survived each and every one of these. At last, on 20 July 1944, came the bomb blast that failed, once again, to kill Hitler but set into motion an operation of seeking vengeance that even subsumed and led to the forced suicide of the Field Marshal and one of Germany’s greater military geniuses, Erwin Rommel (1891-1944).
Among the principal participants of the 20 July 1944-plot {in which the colonel and Catholic aristocrat, Claus von Stauffenberg (1907-1944),
The attack against Hitler, which ultimately occurred on 20 July 1944, was being planned by the anti-Nazi conspirators in the German Army since 1938. They were in regular touch with like-minded civilians. Initially, von Moltke was against killing Hitler, and wanted to have him put on trial. Later, he relented. In 1941, a new group was formed by von Tresckow. However, they could do little, and were understandably demoralised. The conspiracy got a new lease of life when it was joined in August 1943 by von Stauffenberg, a Lieutenant Colonel who had had been badly wounded in North Africa. He wanted to save Germany immediately and undertook to kill Hitler as soon as possible.
The patriotic German military officer’s attempts to assassinate the Führer began in earnest on 1 July 1944, when he was appointed Chief of Staff to General Friedrich Fromm (1888-1945), later executed for maintaining silence about the conspirators, at the Reserve Army headquarters in Berlin. This position enabled the conspirator to be present at different conferences presided over by Hitler. On 11 July 1944, von Stauffenberg went to a conference carrying a bomb in his briefcase, but because he was supposed to kill Hermann Göring (1893-1946) and Heinrich Himmler (1900-1945) as well, he desisted. Four days later, another golden opportunity was lost for though at the meeting, Göring and Himmler were present, Hitler left the room before the bomb could explode. With a great difficulty, von Stauffenberg recovered his briefcase, preventing the plot to be discovered.
On 18 July 1944, von Stauffenberg was alarmed at the falsified news that the agents of the dreaded Geheime Staatspolizei (the German Secret State Police, or Gestapo) were suspicious about his activities and might arrest him any moment. The German nobleman acted under panic, reaching Rastenburg in a great hurry at ten in the Thursday morning of 20 July 1944. Half an hour past noon, when the conference was underway, von Stauffenberg excused himself to one of the washrooms of Keitel’s office, where he prepared the one kilogram-weighing plastic explosive and returned back, placing the briefcase under the conference table near Hitler. Interestingly, Brandt, who later died in the explosion that occurred sometime between forty minutes past noon and 12:50 p.m., unknowingly pushed the briefcase away from the table, thus shielding the Führer.
The bomb detonated right on time, but Hitler, in spite of being lacerated, was saved. On the other hand, the Jettingen-Scheppach-born assailant, after hearing the explosion, was confirmed in his mind that he had accomplished his mission. With von Haeften, he forced his way through three checkpoints and ascended a Junkers Ju 52 aircraft to fly to Berlin, which he reached around four in the late afternoon. By the time he reached Bendlerblock, he found his co-conspirators in a state of confusion. General Fritz Erich Fellgiebel (1886-1944) had rung them up from the Wolf’s Lair to notify that the Führer had survived. It took considerable efforts on part of the infuriated von Stauffenberg to convince them that Hitler had perished, and Operation Valkyrie was finally ordered a little after 04:00 p.m.
Friedrich Fromm had, by that time, turned completely against the plotters in order to save himself. He had already had been rung by Keitel who was enquiring about von Stauffenberg’s whereabouts. Close to five in the evening, he was arrested by the plotters as Himmler desperately tried to contain the implication of Operation Valkyrie. Meanwhile, at Berlin, von Hase ordered Major Otto-Ernst Remer (1912-1997) to arrest Göbbels. It was unaccomplished because just on the point of incarcerating the Propaganda Minister, Remer was persuaded by him to speak on phone to Hitler himself. Asked by the German Dictator to control the rebellion, Remer returned to the office of von Stauffenberg and began attacking his aides to arrest them. Around six in the evening, the conspirators had subdued even General Joachim Kortzfleisch (1890-1945), but made little advancement in forming the provisional government. The original plan to completely disarm the Sicherheitsdienst (S.D.) (that is, the 'German Security Service') and the Schutzstaffel (S.S.) (in English, the 'German Protection Squadron') cadres – which was principally undertaken by General Carl-Heinrich von Stülpnagel (1886-1944) – had also not been fully accomplished. Finally, Hitler himself addressed the perplexed German people around seven in the evening, and the plot was over for von Stauffenberg and his aides. Fromm, who finally took over control around 11:00 p.m., undertook some damage control measures. He hastily convened a court martial during which he sentenced Beck, Olbricht, von Stauffenberg, von Quirnheim, and von Haeften to death by firing. The first named, however, chose to commit suicide, in which he was aided by a sergeant. The four others were shot to death ten minutes past midnight, on 21 July 1944.
Between 1951 and 2011, at least four critically-acclaimed English films had been produced to commemorate the 20 July 1944-plot and the last effort to save Germany. Henry Hathaway directed The Desert Fox in 1951, which was starred by James Mason, Cedric Hardwicke, and Jessica Tandy. The Night of the Generals, directed by Anatole Litvak and distributed by Columbia Pictures, premiered in 1967. Its cast included Peter O’Toole, Tom Courtenay, Donald Pleasence, and Joanna Pettet. The Plot to Kill Hitler, in which Brad Davis, Ian Richardson, Michael Byrne and Helmut Griem acted, was a 1990 television movie, directed by Lawrence Schiller. However, the most popular film about the conspiracy – Valkyrie – was released in end-2008 by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Incorporated. Directed by Bryan Singer, the film stars Tom Cruise (as von Stauffenberg), Kenneth Branagh, Bill Nighy, Carice van Houten, Eddie Izzard, Terence Stamp, and Tom Wilkinson. It is almost an unaltered depiction of the cosipracy and the aftermath, and people interested in knowing more about the plot to kill Adolf Hitler should refer to the film.
